Trinity Lutheran Church stands on East Main Street in the heart of New Holland, Lancaster County, a congregation whose recorded life began in 1730, two years before George Washington was born and forty-six years before the Declaration of Independence. Today the parish is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lower Susquehanna Synod, and its Colonial-style sanctuary, education wing and adjoining cemetery anchor a ministry that reaches well beyond the borough. Trinity is known for a deeply traditional Sunday liturgy with Holy Communion every week, a large and varied music program, a robust Christian education effort for every age, and a quiet, persistent network of community outreach that ranges from Lutheran World Relief quilts to a local food bank, a transitional housing apartment on its own grounds and a memorial garden for babies who did not survive birth.
A motto that frames everything
The congregation gathers around a single sentence: Assembled in God's grace to worship, to teach, to serve. That statement is repeated in Trinity's mission materials and lives out across the calendar. Sunday mornings are organized around worship and Christian education. Weekdays are given over to choirs, Bible study and quilting. The rest of the year is shaped by service projects that send comforters overseas, fill backpacks for local students and walk the CROP WALK against hunger. Visitors who arrive on any given Sunday will find the same rhythm at work: a Word-and-Sacrament liturgy, a choir filling the balcony, Sunday School classes running down the hall, and a Fellowship Hall full of coffee and conversation once the service ends.
The Welcome Statement that sets the tone
A long, plainspoken welcome has become something of a signature for Trinity. It begins, "We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, gay, filthy rich, dirt poor, yo no habla ingles," and continues through crying newborns, those who can "sing like Andrea Bocelli" and those who can't, recovering and still-addicted members, "soccer moms, NASCAR dads, starving artists, tree-huggers," and people who just got out of jail. The church invites doubters, seekers, the "over 60 but not grown up yet," teenagers growing up too fast, and visitors who "wound up here by mistake." The closing line is simple: "We welcome tourists, seekers and doubters, bleeding hearts… And we welcome YOU!" That same tone of unembarrassed warmth shows up in the rest of the parish, from the open communion table to the knitting group that makes hats and scarves for neighbors in need.
Sunday morning at 10:30
Worship is the center of life at Trinity. The service gathers at 10:30 AM most of the year, with a 9:30 AM summer schedule from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. The bulletin appears on two large screens at the front of the sanctuary, so visitors can follow along even without a hymnal in hand; hymns are found in the red Evangelical Lutheran Worship book in the pew racks. The liturgy includes old and new hymns, prayers of the people, scripture read and proclaimed (with a short introduction to the lessons aimed at children), the Creed, the sharing of the peace, and Holy Communion every Sunday.
Holy Communion is central. Trinity "opens the Lord's Table to all members of Christian communities who have the privilege of receiving the Lord's Supper," and teaches that Jesus is "really present in, with, and under the communion elements." The congregation comes forward to the altar rail. Worshippers may dip into the baptismal font near the rail and make the sign of the cross in remembrance of their baptism before receiving. Individual cups and a common chalice are both offered, along with grape juice and gluten-, wheat-, dairy-, corn- and soy-free wafers for those who need them. Children and adults who are not communing are invited to come forward for a blessing with arms folded across the chest. Anyone unable to walk to the rail can ask an usher to have the pastor and assisting minister bring the elements to their seat.
Immediately before the late service, at 9:00 AM from Labor Day to Memorial Day, Sunday Church School meets in the education wing for everyone age three and older. Adults have classes of their own; the lessons go on while children gather by grade level. Coffee and refreshments follow the service every Sunday in Fellowship Hall.
A music program that fills the balcony
Music is one of the things Trinity is best known for. The adult choir has roughly thirty-five members who rehearse every Wednesday evening at 7:00; the ensemble grows to forty or more at Christmas. Linda Krick directs the choirs, and Linda Binder, the parish organist of more than forty years, plays the refurbished Mohler pipe organ (renovated in 2013) as well as piano and keyboard. The instrument list of additional players is long: piano, cornet, guitar, flute, oboe, violin, harp and percussion, drawn from members and visiting friends and family.
Children and youth are woven into the music ministry. The Sunday School Singers (kindergarten through fourth grade) gather at the start of the Sunday School hour and sing in worship several times a year. The Kids Praise Singers (fifth and sixth grades) sing during the service several times a year, and a Youth Choir performs periodically as well. Trinity's handbell choir, begun in 2019 after the congregation acquired three octaves of handbells, rehearses every Thursday at 7:00 PM under Gloria Oberkehr and rings in worship about once a month, and the parish's choirchimes ring out several times a year with both youth and adults. The choirs perform beyond the sanctuary as well; the choir and handbells have taken part in the New Holland Community's Christmas on Main event.
Holy Baptism and children in worship
Trinity practices infant baptism, holding, with the ELCA, that God takes the initiative to make us reconciled to him. Baptisms normally take place during Sunday morning worship, six to eight weeks after a child's birth (or sooner, when medical circumstances require it). Parents and sponsors make promises to raise the child within the Christian community of faith, including participating in the congregation's Confirmation program. Adults seeking baptism receive instruction from the pastor.
Children are welcome to stay in worship from infancy. The sound system is piped into the narthex and the nursery so a parent who steps out can still follow along. The parish's quiet rule of thumb: children learn to worship by worshiping. There is no minimum age for being part of the assembly.
Learning at every stage of life
Christian formation runs on three tracks. Sunday Church School covers ages three through adult each Sunday morning during the school year. A Wednesday-morning Bible Study at 10:00 AM, led by the pastor from Labor Day to Memorial Day, walks verse by verse through an Old Testament book. And Trinity participates in the North Lancaster Confirmation Ministry, combining shared instruction across several congregations with material in its own Sunday School.
For younger members, the congregation strongly supports Lutheran summer camp. Through the Lower Susquehanna Synod and the Lutheran Camping Corporation of Central Pennsylvania, Trinity offers a sizable camp scholarship for every youth, with placements at Camp Kirchenwald in Colebrook and Camp Nawakwa in Arendtsville. Family Camp, retreats and trip camps are available through the same network.
Accessibility built into the building
Trinity's current building was constructed in 1970 and 1971 in a Colonial style after the previous sanctuary (which had been on the second floor) was removed. A fellowship hall, a commercial kitchen, and classrooms on two floors were built at the same time. In February 2011 the congregation finished a major expansion: a new entrance portico, a handicap-accessible doorway, an elevator to the second-floor choir balcony and classrooms, two family handicap restrooms and a renewed women's restroom, plus a new church office, a pastor's study, a lobby and additional gathering space. The 2013 renovation of the Mohler pipe organ completed the most recent wave of work.
That investment shows up in how the building welcomes people. Wheelchair users enter under the portico, where handicap parking is located. Two family restrooms are available for those who need special assistance. Personal hearing units, each about the size of a deck of cards with a volume control and small earpiece, can be picked up from an usher at the door. Large-print devotionals are available, and the church orders more when a need is identified. Communion is brought to anyone whose mobility makes the altar rail difficult.
Parking on Main Street
Visitors arriving by car will find the main parking lot east of the building, with a drive-through portico for drop-offs. Three reserved visitor spaces sit on the south end of the middle island. Overflow parking is available at the Kauffman Building lot to the west, at M&T Bank to the south and at Stauffer Drug Store on the northwest corner of Main Street and Railroad Avenue, with additional parking along Main Street itself. The church asks visitors to use caution when crossing either Railroad Avenue or Main Street.
Serving beyond the church walls
Trinity's outreach list is long and quietly sustained. The Trinity Quilters meet weekly in Fellowship Hall and produce about 120 quilts a year for Lutheran World Relief, with money raised to cover shipping. A women's group meets Tuesday mornings from 10:00 to 12:00 to knot and sew comforters for Church World Service in New Windsor, Maryland, producing roughly 120 comforters a year. Members also knit and crochet hats, gloves, scarves and prayer shawls, run a Prayer Shawl Ministry, collect socks for the ELANCO Warm Soles Sock Project, and contribute to Back-to-School Backpacks for local students.
Food and shelter ministries include Feed My Sheep, a steady collection of non-perishable food and cash for the New Holland Area Food Bank (a program of CrossNet Ministries). Trinity partners with CrossNet on Pathways to Housing, providing an apartment on the church's own campus for twelve to eighteen months while families work toward independence, and volunteers also provide meals to youth through CrossNet on a monthly schedule. Trinity leases an apartment next to the church to Love INC for Home of Hope, a ministry that began in New Holland. The Manger Project gathers Christmas gifts and visits for neighbors in need each December. Habitat for Humanity builds draw volunteers from the parish, and CROP WALK walkers and riders raise money against hunger.
The congregation also supports a constellation of denominational and regional ministries: LutherCare in Lititz, Lebanon and Columbia; the Lutheran World Hunger Fund; Lutheran Domestic Disaster Relief; the Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania (LAMPa); the Lutheran Camping Corporation; and the Samaritan Counseling Center in Lancaster, to which the pastor refers members and for which a limited number of vouchers for an initial session are available. Heifer International donations, gifts to veterans at the Lebanon and Coatesville VA Hospitals, and a Community Clean Sweep that reuses sneakers, denim, suitcases, cell phones and styrofoam round out the year.
A long, plain history
The congregation's first recorded ministerial act was the baptism of John Balthaser Wundrich on May 1, 1730, making Trinity, alongside Trinity Lancaster, one of the oldest Lutheran churches in the United States. The early members were German settlers, Lutherans, Reformed and Anabaptists, who came to Pennsylvania fleeing religious persecution and hardship, tilled the soil and built farms that were "virtually self-sufficient." A painting in the narthex depicts the 1941 renovation. In the 1960s the old sanctuary was removed; the present Colonial-style building went up in 1970 and 1971 and has been steadily improved ever since.
The congregation's history also lives on in its cemetery. Burials on the grounds go back to the mid-1700s, and space remains for new interments. A separate Cremation Garden holds cremated remains, and a Green Burial Area allows natural burials with biodegradable caskets and no vault. A section called God's Littlest Angels was developed at the prompting of Trinity member Jean Tressler, who lost a grandchild to stillbirth, and provides a no-cost burial option for families from Eastern Lancaster County who experience the loss of a baby in pregnancy or shortly after birth. Groff-High-Eckenroth Funeral Home prepares the children, Nolt's Backhoe Services prepares the graves, Delp Monument Co. provides the personalized markers, WellSpan Ephrata Community Hospital social workers assist with referrals, and small caskets are handmade in the wood shop at Garden Spot Village Retirement Community.
Council, staff and leadership
Trinity is served by Pastor Charles H. Oberkehr, who was called to Trinity in October 2016 after earlier parish work in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and New York. He is a graduate of Gettysburg Seminary and holds a Doctorate in Education in Pastoral Counseling from Argosy University. The ordained leadership is rounded out by Linda Krick, Music Director and Choir Director; Linda Binder, Organist; and Gloria Oberkehr, Handbell Choir Director. The Office Administrator, Carisa Patton, keeps the office open weekdays from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. The 2026 Congregation Council is led by President Bill Graupensperger, Vice President Audrey Reese, Secretary Grant Wickert and Treasurer John Sheaffer, with a roster of council members that includes Pastor Oberkehr and the congregation's representatives to the Lower Susquehanna Synod Assembly.
How to come, where to look
Trinity Lutheran Church is at 221 East Main Street, New Holland, Pennsylvania. Sunday worship is at 10:30 AM most of the year (9:30 AM from Memorial Day through Labor Day), with Holy Communion every Sunday. The service is livestreamed online, and recordings are available on the church's Facebook and YouTube channels. Sunday Church School meets at 9:00 AM from Labor Day through Memorial Day. The pastor's Bible study gathers Wednesdays at 10:00 AM during the school year; the choir rehearses Wednesdays at 7:00 PM; the handbell choir rehearses Thursdays at 7:00 PM. Monthly Holy Communion is also offered at Garden Spot Village on the fourth Thursday of each month at 10:00 AM. The office can be reached at (717) 354-4976 or online. A Welcome text line is available by texting WELCOME to 717-312-3472. Donations can be made online, by mail, or in the offering plate on Sunday morning, and Planned Giving options including bequests, charitable gift annuities and stock transfers are coordinated through the office.