Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Jeannette celebrates 135th birthday
Karen and Bill Davis of Penn Township grew up at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Jeannette, where they met and later married before moving away to Maryland in the late 1980s.
After the birth of their first child in 1994, they returned home and to the church where they spent their youth.
“Our families were here and we wanted to raise our children here,” said Karen Davis.
The Davis family was among the dozens of parishioners on Sunday who celebrated their church’s 135th birthday with a special service commemorating its long history and an afternoon banquet.
Known as “the Church on the Hill” because it sits atop a hill overlooking Jeannette, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church has been the center of worship for generations since it was formed in 1890. Its formal name is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity.
Founded by German immigrants, the church grew along with the city of Jeannette. In the mid-1950s, it served as the religious home to more than 1,000 parishioners. It still lists about 250 members, said the Rev. Susan Luttner. Next year will mark the 100th anniversary of its current building.
Holy Trinity is part of The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, one of the largest U.S. Christian denominations and the largest Lutheran denomination in the nation.
Luttner, who has served as one of 14 pastors at the church throughout its history, describes Holy Trinity with one key word: “family.”
“We’ve always been about outreach and serving the neighborhood. The thing I love about this congregation is that we are a family,” Luttner said. “If someone is sick, there is soup at their door. If someone has to go to a doctor, there’s always a ride.”
Susan Guerrieri is the congregation’s president. She travels to Jeannette from her home in Monroeville to attend the church she grew up in.
“There are a lot of people who spent their lives here. Our most recent baby who was baptized is part of a family who were among our original members. Her family goes back six generations as members here,” Guerrieri said.
Becky Miller came back to the church after returning home from Alabama. She and her husband, Gib, never considered attending services anywhere else.
“I felt I needed to come back to this church. My family has roots here. We wanted to raise our kids here,” Miller said. “My mom told us stories about what it was like here. She said there were times that the pews were completely filled and you couldn’t get a seat.”
This year’s celebration was one for current members to share memories of the church, one that has been an incubator for clergy. It has produced 11 members of the clergy over the years, with one more in training, Luttner said.
The church, initially envisioned as a place of teaching and a Sunday school, still values its community service. It hosts a center for Jeannette Seniors “and members continue to relish their role in community service,” Luttner said.
“We know we recently celebrated our 125th birthday, but we thought why not have another party,” Luttner said.
Rich Cholodofsky is a TribLive reporter covering Westmoreland County government, politics and courts. He can be reached at rcholodofsky@triblive.com.
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