On the south side of West Main Street in the small borough of Trappe, just minutes from Collegeville in Montgomery County, a stone sanctuary built in 1874 still opens its doors every Sunday morning at nine. St. Luke's Fellowship Church offers one Sunday worship service, blending hymns and contemporary songs with biblical preaching, and invites anyone walking through the door into what its members describe as a warm and transformative faith family. The congregation is non-denominational, has a single weekly gathering in its historic building, and is known across the Perkiomen Valley as one of the few churches offering a 9 AM blended service on Sunday mornings.
A Story That Begins in 1742
The current name is recent, but the story is not. In July of 2024 the congregation stepped away from its former United Church of Christ identity and chose to become St. Luke's Fellowship Church, a non-denominational Christian church. The decision is a deliberate one, written into the timeline of a much older community of faith.
That story begins in 1742, in a place called Providence long before anyone called it Trappe. The Reverend John Philip Boehm, a former schoolmaster from Germany, had settled in the area and founded twelve churches. In November of that year, nineteen members gathered in a barn and held the first recorded communion of the Reformed Church at Providence, with the first services conducted in German. By 1747 the small flock had grown enough to build a log church at the corner of what is now Route 113 and Ridge Pike. During the Revolutionary War, that log building served as a hospital for soldiers wounded at the Battle of Brandywine.
By 1835 the congregation built a more permanent stone church on the same site. The members honored the role the previous building had played as a hospital by naming their new church St. Luke's, recalling Luke as "the beloved physician" from Colossians 4:14. Membership fluctuated through the years, especially during the Civil War, but the people stayed. In 1867 ground was purchased for a new building, and in 1874 the present sanctuary was completed using materials from the second church as well as stone from a quarry in Yerkes. The total cost was eight thousand dollars.
The buildings, pastors, and church affiliations have changed since then, but the spirit of the congregation has not. The members of St. Luke's remain rooted in a deep faith in God that they say will lead them into the future.
Blended Worship at 9 AM
Worship is at the heart of life at St. Luke's Fellowship. The single Sunday gathering begins at 9:00 AM in the historic sanctuary and runs about an hour. The service is blended, pulling together traditional hymns and contemporary songs, biblical preaching that is meant to be both relevant and life-giving, and a community atmosphere where regulars know newcomers by name.
The third Sunday of each month is given over to a children's service and Sunday School, so families with younger children have a Sunday that is built around them. Other Sundays include a children's moment during the regular service. Visitors are welcome to come as they are. Parking is available behind the church.
Those who cannot make it in person can still join. Each Sunday's service is offered as a virtual service through Zoom and is livestreamed on YouTube, and a daily devotional sign-up allows anyone to receive a short devotional by email.
Meet the Pastor
The Reverend W. Douglas Banks leads St. Luke's Fellowship as its pastor. A graduate of Ohio State University now continuing his education at the United Lutheran Seminary, Reverend Banks is a dynamic leader with a calling to transformation and reconciliation. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Thomas Jefferson University, where he teaches courses on diversity, equity, and racial justice. His family story, his heritage as the fifth great-grandson of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, has shaped much of his public speaking and teaching work.
Beyond the church and the classroom, Reverend Banks is a long-time advocate for mental wellness in the African American community, with a particular focus on destigmatizing therapeutic support for Black men. That commitment has drawn him into anti-gun violence work in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, where he leads community-based initiatives focused on engagement and neighborhood beautification. He and his wife Tesemma are raising five sons.
Reverend Banks also leads an online Bible Study that streams on the church's Facebook page and YouTube channel, extending his teaching reach well beyond the sanctuary on West Main Street.
Hosts of the Community
St. Luke's Fellowship is not only a place of worship; it is also a busy community building. The church opens its doors to several long-running organizations that meet on a weekly basis.
Boy Scout Troop 113 has been meeting at St. Luke's since 1834, the longest-running tenant of the building. The troop welcomes boys in sixth through twelfth grade and gathers on Monday evenings at 7:00 PM. Girl Scouts also meet at the church on Thursday evenings at 7:00 PM.
Bright Spot Nursery School and Kindergarten has called St. Luke's home for thirty-three years. The program serves children ages three to six, with classes taught by Pennsylvania certified teachers, and is a well-established early childhood learning center in the area.
The Audubon Symphony Orchestra, a full community orchestra, rehearses in the building every Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM from October through May and performs Christmas and spring concerts at venues around the region. Gamblers Anonymous meets on Thursday evenings at 7:30 PM, offering support to those working through gambling addiction. The church's relationship with these groups is a quiet but consistent part of its ministry in the borough.
Wednesday Wavers
For anyone driving past St. Luke's on a summer morning, the Wednesday Wavers are hard to miss. The outreach began more than seven years ago as a simple, friendly gesture to the surrounding community. From Memorial Day through the Wednesday after Labor Day, members of the church stand outside the building between 7:00 and 7:30 AM, rain or shine, holding signs that read "God loves you, St. Luke's loves you too." They wave and smile at every car that passes.
Over the years, drivers have honked, waved back, and on at least one memorable occasion, opened the doors of a work van to wave and shout a morning greeting. Members have been thanked with coffee, notes, and emails from people who say they go out of their way on Wednesday mornings just to start their day on an "up note."
Bible Study, Breakfasts, and Small Groups
Outside of Sunday worship, St. Luke's offers several regular ways to gather, study, and connect. Bible Study meets on Tuesdays at 10:00 AM and runs through noon, giving members and visitors a weekly block of time to dive deeper into Scripture together.
Fellowship over food is a recurring rhythm at St. Luke's. A monthly women's breakfast meets at the Spring-Ford Diner, and a monthly men's breakfast also brings members together around a table. A coffee hour is held after Sunday worship on some Sundays, providing a casual space to meet the people behind the service.
Small groups are an emerging part of the church's ministry, with new groups in the works as an open invitation to anyone looking for a closer community within the larger congregation.
Get Involved and Stay Connected
Volunteer opportunities, prayer and care ministries, and local outreach and missions are all part of the way members are invited to live out their faith at St. Luke's. The church encourages anyone interested to reach out through the office, attend a service, or stop by a Bible study or breakfast to see where they might fit in.
The church's office can be reached at (610) 489-4933 or by emailing administrator@stlukesfellowshipchurch.org. The building sits at 200 West Main Street in Trappe, Pennsylvania, postal address 19426. Sunday worship is at 9 AM, in person and online, and a livestream runs through the YouTube channel so no one has to miss a Sunday.