On a block of North Fourth Street, just up the hill from the St. Croix River in downtown Stillwater, Minnesota, Trinity Lutheran Church has made a one-word declaration central to its life: welcome. The congregation is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the St. Paul Area Synod, was recognized as a Reconciling in Christ community in 2019, and describes itself in plain language as a place where the good news of Jesus Christ is "expansive, inclusive love and forgiveness for every person." Trinity lives that welcome out across two Sunday services, a Wednesday-night Dinner Church, a full slate of formation programs for children and adults, a long-running companion relationship with a Lutheran parish in rural Tanzania, and a small army of small groups, justice teams, and care ministries that keep the building busy seven days a week.
Two Sunday Services, One Open Table
Trinity gathers twice on Sunday mornings in its Worship Center, a roughly five-hundred-seat sanctuary known locally for its acoustics and audio-visual capability. Holy Communion is celebrated at both services, and everyone - without exception - is invited to the table.
The 9:00 a.m. service is the traditional liturgy, led by the Trinity Choir along with organ, instrumentalists, and robed clergy. The congregation sings hymns, psalms, and liturgy from the worship book and hears a sermon rooted in Scripture and daily life. The 11:00 a.m. service carries the same Lutheran shape - Gathering, Word, Message, Meal, and Sending - but trades the organ for a contemporary worship band and the hymnal for newer songs of praise.
Children are always welcome in worship. Around the Worship Center and the Narthex, four inclusive "Grace Spaces" offer spots to play, color, and follow the service, and worship bags geared to different ages are tucked nearby. A "Calm Lounge" in the adjacent Chapel gives caregivers a place to diaper, feed, or settle a child while still watching the livestream.
In summer - from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend - worship moves into a different rhythm. An indoor service is held at 8:30 a.m., and at 10:00 a.m. the congregation heads east across the Stillwater bridge to the Hilltop Drive-In Theater in Houlton, Wisconsin. Worshippers stay in their cars and tune to 91.9 FM, or set out a lawn chair under the open sky. Dress is casual, fellowship is warm, and the entire service is broadcast on the radio dial.
The traditional service is also rebroadcast on local cable through Valley Access Channels (channel 14) on Sundays at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., and again on Mondays at 7 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Dinner Church on Wednesday Nights
Weekends, Trinity recognizes, are already crowded. So a second full rhythm of worship has grown up on Wednesdays, organized around a shared meal. The evening is structured as follows:
- 4:30 - 5:15 p.m.: Youth Choir rehearsal (kindergarten through middle school) in the Choir Room.
- 5:20 - 6:00 p.m.: Children's Faith Lab (ages 4 through grade 5) in the Library.
- 5:30 p.m.: Community Meal served in the River Room.
- 6:15 - 6:45 p.m.: Dinner Church worship for all ages in the River Room.
- 6:45 - 7:45 p.m.: Small groups split off - Middle School Confirmation (grades 6-8), Adult Faith Lab, FAFA (Faith & Fellowship Affinity) for elementary ages, and supervised gym play for younger children.
The model, the church says, "offers a different kind of space to build on Trinity's values of dialog and discussion, room to accommodate our whole bodies, mingling with multiple generations, and a chance to lift our shared joys and challenges as followers of Jesus."
Faith Formation for Every Age
Children, birth through grade 5
Sunday School for the youngest members meets between services, beginning at 10:15 a.m. in the Lake Area Discovery Center classroom on the lower level, where parents and children together hear stories of Jesus healing and forgiving. On Wednesdays, Faith Lab gathers ages four to grade five for interactive play, art, singing, and Bible exploration. A Youth Choir sings in worship once a month, alternating between the two Sunday services, and presents a musical each May.
Trinity also hosts the Lake Area Discovery Center, a Christian preschool and childcare center that has occupied the building since 2006 and operates Trinity's largest Pre-K classroom, an indoor gym, and a community playground shared with Stillwater Head Start. LADC is the church's longest-running community partnership, and the church describes its work as fostering "a creative environment, promoting Christian values, honoring diversity, and encouraging fellowship."
Youth, grades 6 through 12
Confirmation at Trinity is described as a milestone rather than a graduation - a stop on a lifelong journey that the congregation calls the "Affirmation of Baptism." The middle-school program uses a large-group / small-group format, mixing instruction in the Old and New Testaments, Martin Luther and the Small Catechism, and contemporary topics with art, music, video, and skits. Each youth is placed in a small group of about six to eight with a caring adult leader, and parents are kept close to the process through weekly emails and periodic "All-In" gatherings with outside speakers. The 9th-grade year culminates in Confirmation Day, after which they enter high-school ministry.
High-school youth meet twice a month for Youth Group, with Bible study, games, large- and small-group time. A new Sunday-morning high-school Bible study launches each October, and Trinity is sending a delegation to the 2027 ELCA Youth Gathering in Minneapolis. The Trinity Lutheran Scholarship Fund, established through a bequest by long-time member Jeanette Johnson, supports baptized and confirmed members pursuing higher education.
Adults
Between the Sunday services, the Sunday Forum gathers adults from 10:00 to 10:55 a.m. for an hour of speakers and conversation on the year's chosen theme; the 2026-27 program is titled "Sacred Practices, Service, and Stories: Connecting with God and One Another" and will touch on topics ranging from Indigenous Minnesota history to financial stewardship to funeral pre-planning. Adult Faith Lab, meeting on Wednesday evenings at 6:45 p.m., is a deeper dive into theology, social justice, and Scripture; this fall the group is studying the work of the Holy Spirit, Biblical translations, and the documentary "1946: The Mistranslation that Shifted a Culture." The church library on the lower level offers a curated collection - including a notable Hazelden Recovery Resource section - that members may borrow any time the building is open.
A Welcoming, Justice-Seeking Community
Trinity's Statement of Inclusion, approved by the congregation in November 2024, names people of every ability, age, ethnicity, family structure, gender identity and expression, immigration status, neurotype, political affiliation, race, sexual orientation, and socio-economic situation as full members of the community. The statement commits the congregation to being "agents of healing within our society and to act as advocates working towards ecological, economic, LGBTQIA+, and racial justice." A land acknowledgement recognizes the church's location on the original homelands of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ Dakhóta people - specifically the Wahpekute Nation - and on Dakota and Anishinaabe land.
Pride Justice
The Pride Justice team hosts learning activities, community art projects, a booth at the Valley Wide Pride Fest in Hudson, book discussions, and advocacy opportunities. "All God's Beloved children are created in God's image, and we intentionally seek to be Jesus' hands and feet for our LGBTQIA+ siblings." Karen Gieseke leads the team.
Racial Justice
The Racial Justice Ministry Team keeps a busy year of observances and study, including ABIDE Readers - a monthly book discussion held over Zoom and focused on accountability, belonging, inclusion, diversity, and equity - and periodic Sacred Sites Tours led by Indigenous facilitators. The team is responding to the ELCA's "Now Is the Time" call to face uncomfortable truths and pursue racial justice and reconciliation, and points members toward the churchwide strategy, repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery, and related resources.
Music that Spans Centuries and Genres
Music is central to worship at Trinity. The Trinity Choir, directed by Clark Weyrauch, rehearses on Wednesday evenings and sings at the early service from September through May, with anthems, psalm settings, and hymn stanzas, plus occasional concerts. The worship Band - a rotating slate of vocalists, keyboard, acoustic and electric guitar, bass, and percussion - leads the 11:00 a.m. contemporary service during the program year and the outdoor summer drive-in services. A bell choir, handbells, and the Youth Choir round out the program's offerings, and Trinity's instrumental roster has been known to stretch from the organ to the mandolin.
Missions: Local, Global, and Neighboring
St. Croix Valley
Locally, Trinity's Outreach Missions Team supports Valley Outreach's food shelf and clothing closet (members drop non-perishable items in a bin at the top of the 4th Street stairs; donations are delivered by the team). The congregation takes part in the Angel Tree Christmas gift ministry, contributes to Community Thread programs including medical transport rides, social calls, and yard care, and supports Dream of Wild Health Farm in Hugo, which empowers Indigenous youth through traditional foods and medicines. A weekly free community dinner, the Last Sunday Supper, is hosted next door at Ascension Episcopal Church.
Housing Advocacy
The Housing Strategy and Advocacy Team (HSAT), a collaborative effort of congregations across Washington County and the St. Croix Valley, educates the community about homelessness, identifies solutions, and advocates for emergency and affordable housing. Trinity members have partnered with the nonprofit Settled to sponsor a tiny home now placed in a Sacred Settlement for a person moving out of chronic homelessness.
Tanzania
Trinity's longest-standing international relationship is with Mwatasi Lutheran Church in the rural high country of the Iringa district. The companion-congregation relationship rests on shared prayer, mutual visits, and three lines of practical support: secondary-school and college scholarships (around twenty-six students sponsored annually, with payments each December), water projects in Mwatasi village, and medical ministries in Arusha initiated by the late Dr. Mark Jacobson. Trinity also partners with Iringa Hope (savings and loan, agricultural cooperatives), St. Paul Partners (water engineering), and Global Health Ministries.
Refugee Support
Together with other area congregations, Trinity has directly sponsored an Afghan refugee family now resettled in Minnesota and continues to walk alongside them with school support, work help, transportation, and friendship. Members also volunteer with Lutheran Social Services as ESL tutors, with the Minnesota Council of Churches as Befrienders and Resettlement Assistants, and with Bridging to furnish apartments for newly arrived neighbors.
Care for One Another
The Care & Connections ministry weaves a tight net around members and neighbors. A Prayer Group receives confidential requests and prays faithfully for each one. Birthday Call volunteers check in with members on their big day. Caring Friends maintain intentional relationships with members eighty and older. A Make a Meal Ministry delivers food during times of crisis. Knitting and Piecemakers Quilting ministries produce prayer shawls, baptismal shawls, hats, mittens, and quilts that are given away locally and shipped overseas. Grief Groups offer peer support, and a Sunshine Ministry sends flowers on milestone birthdays beginning at seventy-five. For body and spirit, Trinity also offers weekly Tai Chi sessions and YogaDevotion, a Thursday-morning practice that meets in person and online.
Earth Keepers
The Earth Keepers ministry team has championed recycling and composting systems, community gardens, a solar panel initiative, and an LED retrofit of the building. The team's current project is Community Charging at TLC - the purchase and installation of electric-vehicle charging stations in the church parking lot, open to the congregation and the wider Stillwater community.
The Building and Practical Details
The church building sits on Fourth Street with the St. Croix River and downtown within walking distance. Parking is available in the large lot the church shares with the post office, and there are accessible spots directly in front of the main entrance and in the shared lot near the crosswalk. The city's 3rd Street parking ramp is also an option. An elevator is just inside the main entrance near the restrooms.
Inside, the Worship Center (the sanctuary) seats about five hundred and is sought out by area musicians for its acoustics and lighting. The River Room on the lower level, with an adjacent kitchen, hosts the Wednesday community meal, Sunday coffee fellowship, and can be rented to community groups that adhere to Trinity's mission and values. The Chapel is adjacent to the Worship Center and houses the Calm Lounge. The lower level also holds the Library, the LADC preschool classrooms, and an indoor gym.
Office hours are Monday through Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., or by appointment. The church office can be reached at 651-439-7400 or info@trinitylc.org. Worship is livestreamed on YouTube, Facebook, and BoxCast, and recordings are posted for later viewing. A members' app is available through ShelbyNext / Ministry One.
Trinity hosts weddings in the Worship Center for member and non-member couples alike, including same-sex couples; ceremonies are generally scheduled on Saturdays between 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., with a Friday-evening rehearsal. No weddings are held in December. Couples are required to receive premarital counseling, and the building is alcohol- and smoke-free.
Small Groups, Teams, and Ways to Plug In
Beyond the Sunday services, Trinity's life is built on small groups and volunteer teams. Book discussions (Tuesday Morning Book Group, ABIDE Readers, Circles), Bible studies (Men's, Women's, and others), a Bridge card club, a gardening crew ("Diggin' In"), a Tuesday Crew for light repairs, Group Spiritual Direction, and Solo 55 Plus for active singles keep the week humming. Worship volunteers serve as audio-visual technicians, communion bakers, greeters, ushers, communion servers, flower arrangers, fine-arts collaborators, and Thursday Tidiers who prepare the building for Sunday.
A Ways 2 Serve form helps newcomers match their gifts to the congregation's many needs, and a downloadable Ministry Guide summarizes the full menu of opportunities.
Pastoral Transition and Governance
Trinity is currently between called pastors, working through the ELCA's structured transition process. Interim Lead Pastor Jen Hackbarth and Interim Pastor of Lifelong Faith Formation Kristine Stedje are shepherding the congregation alongside Parish Administrator Sarah Kinsman, who serves on the Congregational Council as a non-voting, ex-officio member. A Call Committee, chaired by Jenn Swenson and including Lisa Bien-Sinz, Bob Boyd, Gary Cross, Annika Gossai, Britta Levenhagen, Zach Michalk, Diane Sauers, and Michael Switzer, is using a Ministry Site Profile to search for the next lead pastor. The Endowment Fund, established in 1997, continues to underwrite new and emerging ministries from investment earnings.
Through all of it - the choirs and justice teams, the Wednesday soup and the Sunday hymn, the Mwatasi scholarships and the Valley Outreach donations - Trinity's stated frame remains simple: "Because God first loved us, we live as Jesus in the world, loving God and loving neighbor."