Trinity celebrates 125 years
By BRIAN SLUPSKI - bslupski@nwherald.com
HARVARD – Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church has played a large role in Bob Burton’s life.
He began attending church there when he was in the seventh grade. He was married there. His children were baptized there, as were many of his grandchildren.
“It was a community of faith that supported our family,” Burton said.
And it was at Trinity that Burton heard the call to become a pastor himself. He had worked in the agriculture business as part of Burton Farm Supply for 28 years, but slowly he came to the realization that he had another calling in his life. He was asked to help out around Trinity as an usher and then as an assistant minister.
“I felt like this was something I should have been doing my whole life and that it was something I could do for the rest of my life,” Burton said.
Now the pastor of the Bethesda Lutheran Church in Morrison, Burton returned to Trinity as a guest pastor and a son of the congregation as part of Trinity’s 125th anniversary celebration.
Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized Oct. 26, 1884. Church officials say that the first worship services were held in a farm home in Alden. Eventually church services were held on Hart Boulevard in a building that now is the Harvard Historical Society Museum.
The church was founded by German Lutherans, and services were in German for many years. The last German Communion service was in 1943, said church member Joanne Burtness, who has served on Trinity’s Anniversary Committee.
In 1889, the current location of Trinity was bought for $443.40, and in 1891 the congregation built a church. Eventually the congregation outgrew its building, and construction on a new church began in 1950. In 1972, the church was expanded to include an education wing.
The Rev. Herb Priester has been the pastor at Trinity since July 2008.
“It’s still a very vibrant congregation,” Priester said. “We still are very conscious of our mission and are trying to reach out to people and connect with them.”
The congregation now has about 800 members.
“The congregation is very accepting of people who come to the church, and they are very responsive to people’s needs,” Priester said.
Throughout the last year, Trinity has had a variety of events meant to mark the congregation’s 125th anniversary.
The culmination of those activities will happen this weekend, Burtness said.
“We are having quite a few people coming back for it,” Burtness said.
