Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church (History)

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Our History

On June 2, 1886, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized by Reverend C. Geiger with a membership of six families. In 1888, our church building was constructed by members on a three-acre tract of land in the New Bielau and Content communities. The spirit of Christian fellowship and love of neighbor formed the foundation of the church family. The pioneer families of New Bielau and Content also combined efforts building a school in 1925.

The Church bell, named “Concordia”, which means peace, was placed in the steeple in 1896. It is of “pure bell” metal weighing 425 pounds and was purchased with gifts for $78.00. In the early days, services were conducted by “traveling ministers”. The church bell was rung at dusk on Saturday evening, telling everyone in the countryside that a minister was in the area and would be conducting services the following morning. On November 18, 1918, the bell was rung with such enthusiasm announcing the end of World War I, that the bell fell from its stand. It required several men to lift it back in place.

The history of the construction of the church comes from descendants of early church members. Mr. J. F. Beken, a master carpenter from Germany, was the lead builder of our church and supervised the construction for many of the larger buildings in the area. Mr. Beken’s granddaughter, who serves as the church organist and historian, explains that he also built the pews, which are still used today. Mr. Fritz Koehn, a cabinetmaker, whose family remains active in the church, built the altar and the pulpit. The post of the guest register stand was part of the original pulpit. It was found in the 1970’s in a storage area of the church and placed in the church entry.

The stained glass window, over the altar, was a gift in 1989 from Mr. Peter Jackson. The window is over 150 years old and features a rare “Rosette” technique no longer used in the making of stained glass. The stained glass windows above the entrance to the church and in the balcony were gifts from the Echels family in 1992. The interior walls of the church remained bare wood beams until 1897 when the church records show that the walls were papered to keep out the wind. A piece of the original “wallpaper” was found by a repairman recently and is displayed in the church. A fellowship hall was constructed behind the church in 1988, one hundred years after the construction of the church. Plans are now being formulated to double the size of the fellowship hall in 2005. This work was completed and the building was dedicated on June 7, 2007. Progress is always on the move at Trinity Church. In 2010 one half of the parking lot was paved with future plans to do the balance in a few years. On October 15th, 2011 the Trinity Church will be celebrating it's 125 year anniversary. Trinity Church is the only church in Colorado County that is still holding worship services in their original sanctuary.

Until recently, this church has always shared a minister with Weimar and surrounding congregations. On June 1, 2003, Rev. Kenneth Wheeler became the first minister in over 100 years to serve this church as its own minister. Another major event also transpired in 2003. Because the membership of the church is comprised of people from a variety of different worship traditions, it was decided by the congregation on September 1st of that year to forego any specific denominational affiliation and function exclusively as a nondenominational evangelical Christian church. On May 14, 2006 Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church called Rev. Paul Mitchell to become the spiritual leader of this church. He became the second full time minister to serve this church since it was organized. On July 15, 2007, Rev. Mitchell resigned to pursue a profession in the business world. On February 1, 2008, Rev Jon Simesglusz joined our congregation as our long term Interim Minister. It was not long before he accepted the position as our permanent minister. Rev. Siemsglusz is a graduate of Concordia Seminary and is an ordained Lutheran Minister.

The small New Bielau and Content communities changed drastically when the main East-West railroad was built to the North in the late 1800’s. Commerce either moved North near the railroad which became the town of Weimar, or closed. However, as Trinity Church entered the new Millennium, our community began experiencing a re-growth as families from the surrounding cities desired to make a home in our community. This began reversing the pattern from years ago. Our congregation has grown and found new ways to serve Christ and our rural community. This is evident by the many new faces appearing among our members each month. We, at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, are eager to provide Christian fellowship and love to our community through worship and service to God. Be a part of our growth…. Come and worship with us. If you are seeking answers from the Bible, then you need to become a part of this church family.