A Lutheran Presence Since 1860
On the northeast corner of Roosevelt and Meyers Roads in Lombard sits a church and school that have anchored the community since the year Abraham Lincoln was elected president. In 1860, twelve farm families in York Center, Illinois, founded a one-room schoolhouse so their young children would not have to travel each Sunday to Zion Lutheran Church in Bensenville. That building has been replaced many times, but the dedication behind it has not. The congregation of Trinity Lutheran Church was organized in 1868, and through the decades the school and church have grown together, weathering war, depression, social change, and a modern pandemic.
Today the church occupies the entire northeast block at that intersection. Its steeple, stained-glass cross, and historic Civil War era cemetery are visible to the 100,000 vehicles that pass through daily. Enrollment at Trinity Lutheran School now draws students from seventeen different zip codes, stretching from Bellwood, Berkeley, and Maywood on the east to Glendale Heights, Carol Stream, Bolingbrook, and West Chicago on the west.
Worship on Sunday and Monday
Trinity holds its main worship service on Sunday mornings at 9 a.m. (Central). The service is livestreamed both on Facebook at @trinitylombard and on the church page so that members who cannot attend in person can still take part.
A second in-person service is offered on Monday evenings at 6 p.m. The dual schedule reflects a pastoral concern for those whose work or family obligations make Sunday morning difficult.
The Sunday morning service is also supported by an Order of Worship that can be downloaded in advance, helping visitors follow the liturgy and the lectionary readings.
Bible Study Throughout the Week
Christian formation at Trinity extends well beyond Sunday morning. An adult and youth Bible class meets in person on Sundays following the church service, and a Wednesday morning Bible class gathers at 9:15 a.m. On Wednesday evenings at 6 p.m., an online-only Bible study is livestreamed, with viewers invited to participate live in the Facebook comments.
Sunday School runs concurrently with adult Bible study on Sunday mornings, serving children from age three through eighth grade. Confirmation instruction is part of the ongoing pastoral work of the senior pastor.
Trinity Lutheran School, Sharing God's Love Since 1860
The school at Trinity has been in continuous operation for more than 160 years. What began as a one-room schoolhouse for twelve families has grown into a full early-childhood-through-eighth-grade program offering preschool classes for three and four-year-olds, full-day kindergarten, before- and after-school care, and summer camps. The school building expanded in 1946, grew significantly in 1975, and added offices and classrooms in 1990.
Trinity Lutheran School partners with families for the total development of each child, aiming to shape lifelong learners who serve others through a Christ-centered education. Extended care hours run from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., a schedule that has made the school a practical choice for working parents commuting between the west side of Chicago and the far western suburbs.
Tuition and fees can be paid online, and the school participates in the Amazon Smile program, which directs a portion of eligible purchases back to Trinity. The school's monthly newsletter, The New Trinity Times (earlier known as The Chronicles of Trinity), records chapel services, classroom projects, and student milestones.
Sunday School at Home and on Sundays
The Sunday School program is central to the church's ministry with children. A superintendent leads a curriculum that follows the church year, and an extensive library of take-home materials supports family faith formation between Sundays.
Parents can download Advent and Christmas activities, Lent and Easter crafts and family devotions, Reformation printables, Thanksgiving projects, Valentine cards, and Mother's and Father's Day activities. Coloring pages, sing-along songs, and craft-snack combinations accompany every season of the church year. For families without a printer, the church secretary will mail printed copies on request.
A prayer chain project and a steady stream of cheer cards and letters extend Sunday School into the wider congregation, brightening the days of homebound members and others unable to have visitors.
Rainforest Explorers Vacation Bible School
Trinity offers an online Vacation Bible School designed to fit a range of family schedules. Parents and grandparents can guide younger children through a unit, while older students work through it independently. The most recent series, Rainforest Explorers, walks through five Bible stories over five sessions: God Rescues Noah, God Gives the Commandments, Jesus Calls His Disciples, Jesus Heals Ten Lepers, and Jesus Visits His Disciples.
Each session includes a devotion from the pastor, a music video, a craft led by Miss Hannah, a snack, and a coloring page. A separate library of additional music, craft alternatives, and snack substitutions accommodates households short on supplies. Offerings gathered during VBS benefit the program's summer mission partner.
SHINE Servant Events and the Wider Mission
Trinity has hosted SHINE Servant Events in cooperation with the Northern Illinois District. During one recent effort, the church's Mary Martha Guild and Lutheran Women in Mission (LWML) group hosted a fundraising lunch that supported Redeeming Life Outreach Ministries' new Illinois maternity home; participants tied fleece baby blankets and assembled pamper kits for new and expectant mothers.
In another SHINE project, Trinity's students and teachers held a free International Celebration Day where they showcased studies of other countries and cultures, colored encouragement cards for international missionaries, and gathered school supplies for Liberian children through the Liberian Children's Mission.
The congregation also supports LCMS missionaries, Mission Central, and other mission partners through regular prayer and giving.
Prayer and Pastoral Care
The Board of Evangelism runs an initiative to pray for family members who need Jesus. Members are invited to write a first name, even just the word anonymous, and submit it to be prayed for. A dedicated prayer connection email provides a point of contact for those who want updates or who would like the pastor and members to lift up particular requests.
The pastor teaches Confirmation class and spends weekly time in each classroom at the school, a pattern that ties the church's pastoral work directly to its educational ministry.
What Trinity Believes
Trinity Lutheran Church is a congregation of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. With the universal Christian church, the congregation teaches and responds to the love of the Triune God: God the Father, creator of all that exists; Jesus Christ, God the Son, who became human to suffer and die for the sins of all people and to rise to life again in victory over death; and God the Holy Spirit, who creates faith through God's Word and Sacraments. The three persons of the Trinity are coequal and coeternal, one God.
The teaching of Martin Luther that inspired the sixteenth-century Reformation is summarized in three phrases. Grace alone: God loves the people of the world through Jesus His Son. Faith alone: by His suffering and death as the substitute for all people, Jesus won forgiveness and eternal life for them; those who hear this Good News and believe it have the life it offers. Scripture alone: the Bible is God's inerrant and infallible Word, the sole rule and norm for Christian doctrine.
Steeple, Cemetery, and Community
The visible corner where Trinity sits is more than geography. In the 1950s, after a Trinity high school student was struck and killed by a car, the women of Trinity took their strollers into Roosevelt Road and formed a blockade, stopping traffic until the county agreed to install a traffic light at the intersection. That first stoplight, nearly seventy years later, still turns red and green at the foot of Trinity's front lawn.
Today gas stations, fast food restaurants, and a pharmacy sit on the corners next to and across from the church and school. The historic Civil War era cemetery, with descendants of some of Lombard's founding families buried in it, remains on the property. As the surrounding community has become more racially, culturally, and economically diverse, so has Trinity's school, drawing first-generation immigrant families and others who have moved west out of Chicago's urban neighborhoods.
More than 160 years after twelve farm families built a one-room schoolhouse on a country road, Trinity Lutheran Church and School continues to proclaim the Gospel of Christ to children, families, and adults throughout Lombard and the surrounding communities.