Roots in Saxony, a Home in Soulard
Tucked into the brick streets of Soulard, one of St. Louis's oldest neighborhoods, Historic Trinity Lutheran Church has stood at the corner of 8th and Soulard since 1864. The congregation itself is much older. In 1839, Saxon immigrants who had originally hoped to settle in Perry County, Missouri, gathered in the basement of what is now Christ Church Cathedral to begin a new life of worship. They named their church Dreieinigkeitskirch, the German word for Trinity, and committed themselves to a confessional Lutheran identity free from the state church they had left behind.
By the fall of 1842, the young congregation had built its first church at Lombard Street between 2nd and 3rd. Twenty-two years later, having outgrown that building, Trinity moved to its present home on Soulard. The Great Cyclone of 1896 destroyed the structure, and the building that rose in its place is the one still in use today. Trinity is also the church where C.F.W. Walther, the founding figure of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, served as pastor and from which the first LCMS hymnal and the newspaper Der Lutheraner were produced. That early publishing work helped unite like-minded Lutheran congregations into the Joint Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Other States, with Walther as its first president in 1848.
Worship on Soulard Street
Trinity describes itself as an open and caring, radically Christ-centered, deeply sacramental, and sometimes eclectic ministry in the heart of Soulard, and worship is built around the historic liturgy and the two Lutheran sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. Three weekend services gather each week: a Saturday evening service at 5:00 p.m. and two Sunday morning services at 8:15 and 10:15 a.m. The 10:15 a.m. service is livestreamed on YouTube for those who cannot attend in person. Bulletins are published for each service in PDF form so that members and visitors can follow along before or after watching.
Baptism is offered both privately and as part of any of the regular worship services, and the congregation's statement of faith emphasizes that in baptism Christ claims his children and joins his death and resurrection to theirs. Communion, likewise, is the central meal of the assembly, in which Christ gives his true body and blood to eat and drink for the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of faith.
A Warm Door for Families with Small Children
Trinity makes a point of welcoming families with young children. Senior Pastor Josh Hatcher has written an open letter to parents explaining that wiggles, whispers, and the occasional trip back to the narthex are all part of being a church that grows. Parents are invited to sit near the front so children can see and follow the service, to quietly explain what is happening, and to sing the hymns and pray the responses themselves, since children learn by imitation. A busy-box of quiet activities is available by the entrance, and other members are asked to welcome children and offer a smile or a hand when parents are struggling.
Sunday School meets for children ages three through ten after the Children's Message at the 10:15 a.m. service. Youth in fifth grade and older are invited into the two-year Confirmation program, which meets on Sundays at 9:15 a.m. in the youth room on the second floor of the school building. Over two years, students work through the Six Chief Parts of Luther's Small Catechism, a survey of the Bible, and a unit on worship, with First Communion instruction offered each summer.
Bible Study Throughout the Week
Christian formation at Trinity is built around four weekly Bible studies. An adult study meets on Sundays at 9:15 a.m. in the second-floor meditation room of the school building, the same hour as Confirmation. On Mondays at 6:30 p.m. and Tuesdays at 10:00 a.m., the Women's Bible Study gathers in the TLC Cafe on the first floor of the school building. A Wednesday morning Adult Bible Study meets at 10:00 a.m. in the same space. Studies follow the church year and typically run September through May, with recent series including a study of Isaiah by Melissa Spoelstra.
The Schantz Organ and the Music Ministry
Music has been part of Trinity's story since two reed organs were carried over from Germany in 1839, one of which was lost when a ship sank. A Metz tracker organ followed in 1846, a Pfeffer organ in 1864, and a Kilgen organ in 1898 after the cyclone. The present instrument is a 52-rank Schantz pipe organ, installed in 2014, with twenty ranks of the older Pfeffer and Kilgen pipes retained within it. Frederick Swann dedicated the new organ in the spring of 2014, and the Easter debut was covered by local television.
The Sanctuary Choir sings twice monthly at the 10:15 a.m. service and at festival services throughout the church year, with Wednesday evening rehearsals at 7:00 p.m. The Trinity Handbell Choir rings once a month at the same service, rehearsing Wednesdays from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Both ensembles are open to singers and ringers of all levels, and both follow a season that runs from the Wednesday after Labor Day through Trinity Sunday in late spring. Instrumentalists and vocal soloists also serve the services, with the Pastor and Minister of Music making the final selection of music to ensure each piece fits the character of worship.
Soup Alley: A Daily Open Window
Trinity's most visible work in the neighborhood is Soup Alley, a meal and hospitality ministry that has served the Soulard community for years. Every Monday through Saturday from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., volunteers serve hot meals and distribute essentials through the window of the Parish House to anyone who comes by. On Fridays, the same hours double as a food pantry, when families in the 63104 zip code can pick up a bag of groceries every two weeks by showing a photo ID, a current utility bill, and proof of income.
Soup Alley is also supported by a steady stream of donated supplies: new men's underwear and sport socks, winter coats, hoodies, gloves, and stocking caps, plus individually wrapped sandwiches, snacks, canned goods, and hygiene items. Volunteers can sign up to bake and drop off sandwiches on Mondays and Thursdays, and a Sammie Sunday ministry makes sandwiches after worship on the second weekend of each month. Sandwiches can also be dropped off before or after any of the weekend services.
Utility Assistance and the Bounce Back Project
Trinity helps neighbors in the 63104 zip code stay connected to their utilities. The congregation will pledge fifty dollars toward an Ameren or Spire bill for households facing a disconnection notice, with applications reviewed each Wednesday. The church does not provide rental assistance.
The Bounce Back Project is a partnership with Urban City Services that helps guests move back into the workforce. Trinity helps fund and host the program, which combines neighborhood trash pickup through the Soulard Klean Krewe with computer access, interview coaching, skills assessment, counseling, and resume writing. Volunteers can donate lunch, teach basic computer skills, serve as a life coach or mentor, donate bus passes, or hire program participants directly.
Weddings at Historic Trinity
Couples are invited to hold their wedding at Trinity, where the service is understood as an act of worship first and a celebration second. Weddings are offered on Saturdays at 11:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 6:30 p.m., with rehearsals scheduled by mutual agreement. A free two-hour premarital workshop is required if a Trinity pastor is to officiate. The sanctuary is filled with live music, and the Pastor and Minister of Music make the final choices on each piece. A campus wedding coordinator guides the day, and the campus also offers a bride's room and a groom's room, available ninety minutes before and sixty minutes after the service. The campus facilities fee is nine hundred dollars, with separate fees for the pastor, organist or pianist, and any instrumentalist or soloist.
Concordia Cemetery and the Heritage of Records
Trinity shares stewardship of Concordia Cemetery, formally the First Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery Society at Saint Louis, together with Holy Cross Lutheran Church. The cemetery sits at 4209 Bates Street in Saint Louis. Trinity also maintains archival records of baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and burials reaching back nearly two centuries, and visitors and family historians can contact the church's genealogy volunteer to request information from those records.
The Building Together Campaign
The oldest part of Trinity's campus that still stands is the 126-year-old school building, whose parochial day school closed in 2004. The Building Together Capital Campaign aims to raise $5,314,441 to renovate the building for new ministries, including parish fellowship and discipleship spaces, student ministries, and expanded community-care work with the unhoused and the wider neighborhood. Plans shown in the campaign include a courtyard, entry vestibule, warming kitchen with cafe seating, a gymatorium, meeting rooms, and combined classroom space on the lower level. A parallel goal of $1,000,000 in planned gifts is intended to sustain the ministry in perpetuity.
Lutheran Education and Scholarships
Although Trinity's own elementary school closed in 2004, the congregation continues to invest in Lutheran education through the Trinity Educational Endowment Fund, managed by the LCMS Foundation. Scholarships help members attend LCMS elementary, middle, and high schools, and post-secondary scholarships are available to members pursuing rostered church work. The scholarship page lists the area's Lutheran schools, including Word of Life Grade School in South City, Lutheran High School North and Lutheran High School South, and the Concordia University System, as well as Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis and Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne.
Pastoral Care and the Ministry Team
Senior Pastor Rev. Dr. Josh Hatcher is joined by Associate Pastor Rev. Steve Albers and Preaching Assistant Rev. Dr. Travis Scholl. Jeff White serves as Minister of Music, with Nicole Heerlein as Cantor. Dianne Davis leads Congregational Care, Kim Dann-Messier directs Community Care, Bob Kurtz coordinates Soup Alley, Susan Gould serves as Volunteer Coordinator, Heather Forbes serves as Parish Nurse, and Dre Cole leads the Bounce Back Project. The pastors encourage members of the wider community to reach out not only for traditional pastoral moments such as a birth, a hospital visit, or a death in the family, but also when wrestling with a spiritual question, a hard decision, stress in marriage or family, or simply the need to talk and pray.
Beliefs in Brief
Trinity holds to the historic Lutheran confession. The congregation confesses one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and receives the Bible as the inspired Word of God centered in Christ Jesus. It teaches that all people are born sinful and cannot save themselves, and that God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, true God and true man, to live, die, and rise again for the forgiveness of sins. Faith itself is a gift of God, received through the Word and the sacraments. Baptism claims the baptized as Christ's children, and the Lord's Supper gives the true body and blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of faith. The congregation also confesses the resurrection of the body, the return of Christ, and the calling of all believers to love and serve every neighbor.