A Lutheran Welcome on the Corner of Eighth and Hudson
St. Matthew Trinity Lutheran Church anchors the corner of Eighth and Hudson Streets in Hoboken, New Jersey, inside a Romanesque-style sanctuary built in 1877 and crowned by a George Jardine and Son tracker pipe organ. The motto on its materials, "where tradition and inclusivity meet," captures the dual character of the place: a liturgy shaped by two thousand years of Christian worship, and a daily soup kitchen that opens its doors four mornings a week to anyone who walks in hungry.
The congregation belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America through the New Jersey Synod. The Rev. Gary LeCroy has served as pastor since at least the early 2020s. A native of the South Carolina Lowcountry, he holds a B.A. in political science from the College of Charleston, an M.Div. from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, and a D.Min. from Luther Seminary. Before coming to Hoboken he served for over a decade at St. Paul Lutheran in Teaneck and ten years at St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Newark, with earlier ministries in Virginia and Hawaii. His volunteer commitments extend to chaplaincy with the Bosnia Servant Project, the Synod Anti-racism team, Garden State Equity, the Elizabeth Detention Center, and the NJ Synod LGBTQ+ Task Force.
Three Congregations Become One
The present congregation carries on the ministries of three earlier Lutheran churches in Hoboken. St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church was formed in 1858, made up predominantly of people of German ancestry. They first worshipped on the corner of Washington and Third Streets, in a building that still stands, altered into Hoboken's McDonald's. In 1878 the congregation moved into the new sanctuary on Hudson and Eighth Streets, then the edge of town.
Across town in 1890, members of Norwegian and Swedish ancestry organized the Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Church at Ninth and Clinton Streets. Thirteen years later, in 1903, a third congregation, the Holy Trinity English Evangelical Lutheran Church, was founded at Tenth and Garden Streets by people of German and English background. In 1948 the two Trinity congregations merged to form Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. In 1969 Trinity and St. Matthew's joined to create today's St. Matthew Trinity Lutheran Church, taking the Hudson and Eighth sanctuary as its home.
Two major building projects have followed. A substantial renovation in 2007 stripped generations of paint from the sanctuary to reveal deep reds, teal blues, and original stenciling that were then incorporated into the present design. In 2024 the south-facing slate roof was replaced by Brady Roofing of Bergen County after rotting nails and falling tiles had damaged the gutter system and interior walls.
Sunday Worship at 10:30 in the Historic Sanctuary
The principal Sunday service begins at 10:30 a.m. and runs roughly an hour. It includes a reading from the Bible, a sermon, and Holy Communion. During the school year the assembly gathers in the historic sanctuary; in the summer months worship moves to the renovated SMT Center on Washington Street for a more casual, informal style. The service is livestreamed on the church's Facebook page for those unable to be present.
Children are an expected and welcomed part of worship. Parents are encouraged to keep children in the pews, where a children's sermon is offered and young worshippers are invited forward with questions. A "prayground" sits near the front, a changing table is available downstairs in the nursery, and parents are welcome to nurse wherever they are comfortable. Busy boxes and illustrated children's Bibles wait at the back of the sanctuary.
Visitors wondering what to wear will find a range. Some attenders come in suits and ties or dresses; many others come in jeans and t-shirts. The pastoral team is clear that either is welcome. The sanctuary is reached by a chair lift; because of the age of the structure, the restrooms are not fully ADA compliant. The renovated SMT Center is fully accessible.
An 1877 Sanctuary, a Jardine Organ, and an 1884 Steinway
The Romanesque sanctuary was completed in 1877, and the historic pipe organ followed soon after. Built by the George Jardine and Son company of Manhattan and donated by the Women's Club, the tracker organ remains a centerpiece of the worship life. Its twenty-six ranks and nearly sixteen hundred pipes range in height from a few inches to sixteen feet, all enclosed in a casing of walnut and oak. The instrument is entirely mechanical except for the air blower that supplies wind, and its stops can mimic twenty-eight different orchestral instruments. Recordings of the organ can be heard on the church's YouTube channel.
To the left of the altar stands an 1884 Steinway and Sons concert grand piano, also still in regular use for worship and for the church's afternoon and evening concert series. Together the organ and piano form the foundation of the music program.
Music as Reformation Heritage
Music Minister Matthew Hummel leads the music program. A native of Mount Union, Pennsylvania, he studied organ and piano with Beverly Tilson, organist at First United Methodist Church in Mount Union, and continued his organ studies with Rev. Cyprian Constatine, O.S.B., while attending St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. After serving as music director at St. Alban's Anglican Church in Murrysville, Pennsylvania, and taking private lessons with Sr. Cynthia A. Pock, he moved in 2013 to Columbus, Ohio, where he spent six and a half years as organist at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Newark, Ohio. He lives in the West Village and works as a project manager in Manhattan for the Girl Scouts of the USA.
The adult choir is made up of volunteers who rehearse each Sunday after the liturgy and sing twice a month plus major feast days. Hummel counts Bach, Paul Manz, Hugo Distler, and Carl Schalk among his favorite composers, and follows the church year for a wide range of styles. The congregation also embraces the Lutheran conviction, expressed by Martin Luther in the sixteenth century, that music is "second only to the Word of God." Lutherans have long emphasized congregational singing, hymn writing, and the formation of choirs as a central part of Christian life, and St. Matthew Trinity continues that tradition with both its liturgical music and its concert offerings. Anyone interested in singing can contact the Music Minister to join the choir.
Lunchtime Ministry: A Daily Welcome
Lunchtime Ministry (LTM) is the church's signature outreach. It began in the 1970s, when members of St. Matthew Trinity started handing out sandwiches to anyone who came to volunteer at Parish Center events and went home hungry. From those first sandwiches grew a drop-in soup kitchen that today serves eighty to one hundred guests each day it is open. Four days a week, Monday through Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to noon, the Parish Hall under the main church becomes a place of warm food and conversation for neighbors who are homeless, marginally housed, or simply hungry.
Stanley "Spike" Enzweiler serves as the Lunchtime Ministry Program Manager. In Temple Talks delivered during worship he has reminded the congregation that at least a quarter of LTM guests have apartments, that many work, and that the program's commitment is to welcome each person without asking for their story. Volunteers help prepare and serve meals, sort donations, and keep the space clean during open hours from 8:30 a.m. to noon, and large groups are welcome.
Food arrives from a network of Hoboken-area restaurants and stores including Bagels on the Hudson, Johnny Pepperoni, Vito's Deli, Chick-fil-A, Choc O Pain, Whole Foods Weehawken, and Paris Baguette. Donations of staple supplies - styrofoam cups, plates, and bowls, plastic forks and spoons, coffee, sugar, milk, napkins, fresh produce, and cleaning supplies - are accepted year-round, along with socks, underwear, blankets, sleeping bags, razors, deodorant, and toilet paper for guests who need them. The ministry keeps an Amazon Wish List of specific items most needed at any given time.
Beyond the kitchen, LTM partners with an extensive network of local organizations including the Hoboken Shelter, In Jesus' Name Charities, Catholic Charities, Bridgeway Behavioral Health Services, the Community Food Bank of NJ, Hudson River Care and Counseling, the Hoboken Public Library, Stevens Institute of Technology, the City of Hoboken social worker program, the Hudson County One-Stop Career Center, the Hoboken Community Center, the Hoboken Family Planning clinic, the Hudson County Community Wellness Center, and Backpacks for Life. Together they connect LTM visitors with housing, healthcare, mental health support, legal aid, addiction recovery, education, and food assistance.
The SMT Center and Recovery Community
A short walk from the sanctuary, the renovated SMT Center on Washington Street extends the church's ministry into the wider community. Once called the Parish Center, the building served in the 1960s and 1970s as a youth gathering space with concerts, drama performances, and a safe place to meet away from drugs and alcohol. The kitchen that grew out of those youth events eventually became Lunchtime Ministry. A recent gut renovation replaced plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and the basement foundation; installed ADA accessible bathrooms and full-size glass windows; and added high-end sound and screen-sharing technology.
Today the SMT Center is home to seventeen weekly AA and Twelve-Step meetings, providing dedicated space for the recovery community that has long been part of the church's identity. It also serves as the summer worship space, a venue for Bible study, fellowship, and confirmation classes, and a place for concerts and community events. The building is available to rent for nonprofit and for-profit gatherings with a two-tiered pricing system; renters may bring their own food and non-alcoholic beverages, music, and decorations. The congregation is also exploring after-school programming for children and teens, plus fitness and wellness offerings for Hoboken neighbors.
Children, Youth, and Family
St. Matthew Trinity takes seriously its call to include children in every part of congregational life. Sunday School meets at 9:30 a.m. from September through May in the SMT Center, welcoming children ages four through twelve. Lessons follow the Whirl Lectionary curriculum and are led by congregational members and Youth and Family volunteers; children are then encouraged to remain for the 10:30 worship service, where they hear a children's sermon and can ask questions.
Confirmation is taught by Pastor Gary and combines learning, service projects, and time at Cross Roads Camp. The wider Youth and Family ministry also offers Baptism preparation, a Cradle Roll program from birth to age five that includes the Frolic Newsletter, an annual Rally Day wiffle ball game and picnic that marks the return of Sunday School in the fall, a fully staged Christmas pageant, a First Communion class, Vacation Bible School in the summer, and the ELCA Youth Assembly. Older students are connected with campus ministry at Stevens Institute of Technology. Contemplative yoga and meditation sessions are offered for parents after bedtime.
Family comfort is built into Sunday mornings. Busy boxes and illustrated Bibles sit at the back of the sanctuary, a changing table is available downstairs in the nursery, and a fully stocked nursery space in the Parish Hall is open during worship. Children are invited to participate in the life of the congregation in small ways as well as large - lighting altar candles, baking communion bread, arranging flowers, or playing the chimes alongside adults.
Beliefs and the Wider Lutheran Church
St. Matthew Trinity teaches the historic Lutheran summary of the Christian faith: word alone, faith alone, grace alone. The Bible is the congregation's highest authority. Lutherans trust that the Triune God created and loves all of creation, that Jesus Christ transforms lives through his death on the cross and resurrection, and that the Holy Spirit is active in the world today. Salvation comes through God's grace alone, received by faith.
The congregation lives out its reading of the gospel by welcoming women and LGBT people into all levels of congregational leadership, and by standing in solidarity with those who are homeless, undocumented, or in recovery. As a member of the ELCA, St. Matthew Trinity shares in full communion agreements with the Moravian Church, the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Reformed Church in America, the United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church, and continues an ongoing dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church through the 1999 Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.
Beyond Hoboken: Local and Global Reach
On the same city block as the church, six affordable apartments allow people to live safely in the heart of Hoboken, and space is rented to a counseling agency. St. Matthew Trinity is a founding member of the Clergy Coalition that supports the Hoboken Shelter; member Mark Singleton serves as the Shelter Board's president, and many congregation members prepare and serve dinner there. The church also supports In Jesus' Name Charities, which has provided emergency food, formula, milk, and winter clothing to vulnerable families in Hoboken for more than twenty years.
Globally, St. Matthew Trinity partners with the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), which works to resettle refugees, protect unaccompanied refugee children, and seek alternatives to detention for those in immigration proceedings. It also supports Lutheran World Relief, whose partners in thirty-five countries help people grow food, improve health, and recover from disasters, and contributes to ELCA Disaster Response for hurricanes, floods, and other emergencies. Designated giving funds are available for the general offering, Lunchtime Ministry, flowers, the music ministry, world hunger, and Lutheran Disaster Response.
The Rhythms of the Year
The congregation keeps the seasons of the Christian year together. Each Lent begins with a Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner in the Parish Hall and an Ash Wednesday service. Holy Week brings a Holden Evening Prayer in Lent, a church spring cleaning day, a continental breakfast and palm processional on Palm Sunday, a potluck and foot-washing service on Maundy Thursday, an afternoon of quiet reflection and evening worship on Good Friday, and a Holy Saturday preparation for Easter. Easter Sunday itself opens with breakfast and an Easter egg hunt for children of all ages, a short music prelude, and the festive 10:30 a.m. service.
Summer brings Vacation Bible School for children five and older (with caregivers welcome for children under five), a more casual style of worship in the SMT Center, and the chance for choir members to rest. Rally Day in September marks the return of weekly Sunday School with an all-age wiffle ball game and picnic in the afternoon. Advent and Christmas close the year with temple talks from members reflecting on stewardship, a fully staged Christmas pageant, and the lighting of Advent candles each Sunday as the days grow shorter. Through all of it, Lunchtime Ministry keeps its steady four-day-a-week rhythm, the choir rehearses after Sunday worship, and the doors at Eighth and Hudson stay open to whoever walks in.