On a hilltop along Corridor G in Charleston, West Virginia, St. Timothy Lutheran Church has been a steady Lutheran presence on the south side of the capital city since the early 1940s. What began in 1941 as a canvass by one layman who dreamed of a new mission in South Charleston has become a congregation of more than six hundred baptized members, gathered around the preaching of the inerrant Word and the regular celebration of the Lord's Supper. The current pastor is the Rev. John W. Morley III, and the church is affiliated with the American Association of Lutheran Churches.
From a Canvass on Chestnut Street to Ohio Street
The story of St. Timothy starts with Henry F. Nunnenkamp Sr., a member of the vestry of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Charleston. Concerned that no Lutheran congregation served the South Charleston area, he pushed for a canvass in the summer of 1941. A second canvass that October turned up thirty people interested in a mission. Under the leadership of the Rev. Herman Mees Meyer, pastor of St. Paul, the small group leased an abandoned Methodist church on Chestnut Street in the Spring Hill neighborhood on January 1, 1942. Meyer preached an early service there each Sunday, then drove back to St. Paul for the second.
In October 1942 the mission called its first parish worker, Miss Martha Walck of Columbus, Ohio, who began her duties on January 1, 1943 and spent more than three years visiting, teaching, and growing the work. By December 1945 the little chapel applied for membership in the Eastern District of the American Lutheran Church and formally organized itself as an autonomous congregation. The members chose the name Timothy, recognizing that just as the apostle Timothy was a spiritual child of St. Paul, this new body was a spiritual child of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Charleston. The Rev. C. G. H. Mengering of Hudson, New York was installed as the first installed pastor on March 24, 1946, and forty-eight members of St. Paul transferred in as Charter Members on April 1.
Growth came quickly. A site next to Thomas Memorial Hospital was purchased in the spring of 1946, the present name St. Timothy Evangelical Lutheran Church was adopted in March 1948, and ground was broken for a new building on Ohio Street the same day. The lower level was ready on December 12, 1948, with one hundred communicant members by year's end. The joyful Dedication Service followed on March 6, 1949, and the magnificent Rose Window depicting the Lamb of God, designed by the Henry Hunt Studios of Pittsburgh and gifted by the Sunday School children who had collected coins for it, was installed above the altar.
Surviving a Four-Year Pastoral Vacancy
The next decades were not easy. After Pastor Mengering's departure, a succession of shorter ministries followed: Bob Gibson for two years, Warren Bieber for eight and a half, Ernest Dietz for two and a half, and Doug Diehl for three. Then came a four-year pastoral vacancy beginning in 1968. Membership slipped from 250 to 120, and the American Lutheran Church considered closing the church. Substitute preachers filled the pulpit, and St. Timothy entered into a joint agreement with the nearby Redeemer Lutheran Church, a Missouri Synod body, to share a pastor.
The Eastern District bishop, after conversations with the vestry, saw a new spirit taking hold and gave the congregation a chance to revive. On February 1, 1972 the call went out to the Rev. Richard Mahan, a Charleston native then serving a church in Jersey City, New Jersey. He accepted, moved into the parsonage with his wife Donna Jean and their children Kristi and Brent in May 1972, and stayed for forty years. With steady preaching of the Gospel and the faithful administration of the sacraments, attendance climbed. In 1978 the men of the congregation built a twenty-four-hour Prayer Chapel open to the public at all hours. By December 2011 the church reported 657 baptized and 627 confirmed members.
The Move to Lawndale Lane
Around the turn of the millennium the Ohio Street building had become too small. Neighboring Thomas Hospital, which had tried for years to buy the property, finally made a serious offer when the church floated a sanctuary expansion. After much prayer and negotiation the Ohio Street church and lot were sold for $3.5 million on April 11, 2002. The hospital allowed the congregation to remain in place for three years while the new facility was planned and built.
Property was found on a hilltop along Route 119, one of the busiest highways in the state, and a groundbreaking ceremony took place on Sunday, September 29, 2002. The lead architect, Jody Driggs of Silling and a member of the congregation, designed the new facility. A local contractor, Plott and Holbrook, Inc., began work on August 11, 2003. The new building at 900 Lawndale Lane off Corridor G grew to 26,000 square feet on nearly eight acres, more than sixty percent larger than the old church. It includes a gym and fellowship hall, nine Sunday School rooms, a chapel, and a sanctuary that seats over four hundred with overflow space for another two hundred, all wired with modern audio and video technology. The Rose Window from the 1949 building was carefully removed and reinstalled as the centerpiece of the cross above the new altar. Stained glass panels crafted by local artist Nancy Williams in 1983 were taken down and hung as free-standing art in the narthex and by the fellowship hall doors.
The Ohio Street building was deconsecrated on October 31, 2004 by the Rev. Dr. Ralph Dunkin, Bishop of the West Virginia - Western Maryland Synod of the ELCA. Three weeks later, on November 21, 2004, the first worship service was held in the new sanctuary, and that afternoon, with almost six hundred people present and many visiting clergy participating, the new church was dedicated to the glory of God.
Sunday Mornings at 10:30
Weekly worship at St. Timothy follows a single, consistent pattern. Sunday Morning Worship begins at 10:30 a.m., with Holy Communion celebrated at every service. Children age three through third grade are dismissed during the service for Children's Church, where they discover more about God and His love. Children from birth up to age three are cared for in the nursery, and a Cry Room with privacy glass and piped-in sound is available in the back of the sanctuary for parents who want to stay with little ones. Coffee Fellowship usually follows the service in the fellowship hall.
Adults looking for deeper study gather on Tuesday mornings at 10:00 a.m. for Bible Study, held except during the summer. The service calendar, including seasonal services for Lent, Easter, Advent, and Christmas, is posted online through a Google Calendar linked from the church's pages.
The Proclamation of Word and Sacrament
The congregation teaches that the Bible is inspired, authoritative, and without error, and that Scripture interprets Scripture. The theology of the Reformation is summarized in the historic slogans Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura - salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone. Jesus is confessed as fully God and fully human, and His death and resurrection are held to be the only basis for salvation. The distinction between God's Law, which exposes sin, and God's Gospel, which gives forgiveness and life in Christ, is kept central to preaching and teaching.
Two sacraments are recognized. Baptism is understood to save, with God working faith through it, and infants are baptized as well as adults. In the Lord's Supper, Christ's true body and blood are really present in, with, and under the bread and the wine. The congregation is careful to say that the Real Presence is neither a bare symbol nor the doctrine of transubstantiation, but a mystery at the heart of Lutheran worship.
Worship and Music
A standing Worship and Music Committee supports the Sunday liturgy with a mix of choral and contemporary music. The Chancel Choir leads and enhances the services, while a Praise Band provides praise and worship music for services and special occasions. Scripture Readers proclaim the lessons. Ushers welcome worshipers, hand out bulletins, assist during the service, and tidy up afterward. The Altar Guild cares for the altar before and after worship, especially around Communion. A Worship Media Team runs the audio and video systems so services are recorded and shared online. Bulletins and Marketing keep the parish informed.
Children, Youth, and Christian Education
Christian Education at St. Timothy seeks to help people of all ages hear, read, study, and share the Word of God. Alongside the Sunday morning Nursery and Children's Church, the church offers a one-year Confirmation Class for youth in grades seven through twelve. Vacation Bible School is held each summer, drawing children from the church and the wider community.
The Youth Committee promotes spiritual growth among older children and teens through events, meetings, service projects, and Bible studies. JOY Club - Jesus and Others before Yourself - serves children from age three through grade five with music, games, and Scripture memorization. A Junior and Senior High Youth Group for grades six through twelve gathers for fellowship, service, and the study of God's Word.
Evangelism and Outreach in Charleston
The Evangelism Committee announces the Gospel in word and deed through a network of small, hands-on ministries. Blanket Ministry assembles and delivers blankets, towels, washcloths, pillowcases, and personal hygiene items to the Union Mission Crossroads Men's Shelter and to other mission partners. Feed My Sheep cooks and serves meals at local shelters. Helping Hands meets once a month to cook and deliver meals to people in need. Neighbors In Need, the food basket ministry, helps feed the hearts, minds, and bodies of people in crisis in the community. A Prayer Chain receives prayer requests and circulates them among members, and Welcome Greeters with name tags make hospitality a regular part of Sunday mornings.
Fellowship and Parish Life
Parish Life at St. Timothy weaves congregational dinners, coffee fellowship, and small groups into the rhythm of the week. Coffee Fellowship follows Sunday worship. Congregational Dinners are held periodically. Martha Ministry provides meals and longer-term support to the grieving, the sick, and the elderly. Mercy Meals offers a meal to a bereaved family after the funeral of a member. OWLS - Older, Wiser, Lively Seniors - meets monthly for food, fun, and fellowship. A Saturday Prayer Breakfast gathers periodically, and Women of St. Timothy offers a variety of programs and social events with a focus on benevolence.
The Rose Window and the Columbarium
The Agnes Dei, or Lamb of God, Rose Window above the altar is the visual centerpiece of the sanctuary. Designed and executed by the Henry Hunt Studios of Pittsburgh, it uses hundreds of ecclesiastical symbols to depict the words of Revelation 5:12, with the seven attributes of the slain Lamb arranged in seven sections and the Lamb itself at the center. Originally donated by the Sunday School children in 1949, the window was carefully moved during the 2004 construction and set into the stone pillar with cross-shaped windows that now looks across the hills from the Lawndale Lane sanctuary.
St. Timothy is also home to a Columbarium, a stand-alone project financed by purchasers and benefactors and maintained in a separate parish account. The sacred space offers forty-eight double niches, each able to hold two cremation urns, with engraved plaques listing name, date of birth, and date of death. The site includes a teaching that cremation is theologically acceptable and that the resurrection is the gift of a new body to a distinct, individual self. Niches remain the property of the congregation and are available to present and former members, with flowers permitted only on the day of interment.
Heritage and Pastoral Lineage
St. Timothy can be rightly proud that seven sons of the congregation have entered the seminary and entered the full-time ministry of the Lutheran Church, with others serving in other denominations. After forty years of ministry, the Rev. Richard Mahan retired in 2012 and was named Pastor Emeritus by the congregation. The audio and video of many of his sermons and midweek Lenten teachings, going back to 2015, are preserved on the church's SoundCloud and YouTube channels. Subsequent pastors have included Rafe Allison, Jerome Klotz, and Jamie Strickler.
The current pastor, the Rev. John W. Morley III, previously served as pastor of Christ the Ray of Hope Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For ten years he served on the Commission of American Missions and continues to serve as Assistant to the Presiding Pastor of the AALC, as well as a member of the ALTS Commission on Higher Education. He is married to Jennine "Gigi" Morley. Rev. Morley's sermons are posted on the congregation's Facebook page, and recordings of past services, including Christmas Eve, Easter, Reformation Sunday, and other holy days, are kept on YouTube.
Faithfulness on a Hilltop
From a canvass of thirty families in 1941 to a sanctuary that seats four hundred on Lawndale Lane, St. Timothy Lutheran Church has been marked by what the congregation calls the faithful work of Word and Sacrament. The members have walked through a four-year pastoral vacancy, a sale to a hospital, the building of a new facility, and a decision in 2010 to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and unite with a theologically conservative Lutheran body. The conviction that shaped the mission on Chestnut Street is the same one that gathers the church today: that no other foundation can be laid than Jesus Christ, and that the mercy of God in baptism, in preaching, and at the table of the Lord is enough for every generation.