Good News for all from the community of

Trinity Community Church, United Church of Christ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 12, 2009

TITLE:

Heeding God’s Call – Morton West Senior Installed as Youth Leader at Trinity Community Church, UCC

CONTACT:  

Rev. Penny Taylor and Rev. Bill Ressl, Trinity Community Church, United Church of Christ (UCC), 7022 Riverside Drive, Berwyn, IL 60402, 708-484-1818, tccberwyn@yahoo.com

TEXT:

Ms. Julia Irmis, a member of Trinity Community Church, United Church of Christ located in Berwyn on 26^th Street and Riverside Dr., has accepted God’s call and was installed as the new Youth Leader during Sunday worship on September 13, 2009. Unlike traditional Youth Ministry which is often led by an adult and/or ordained clergy, the Youth Leader position is led by a young adult member of the local church, such as Ms. Irmis who is a Senior at Morton West High School in Berwyn. The position is a paid staff position that has been made possible through a generous gift made in the memory of a long time Trinity member and Berwyn resident Margaret Soucek who passed to eternal life in May 2008. Following in Mrs. Soucek’s footsteps as a community activist, the Youth Leader concept is an attempt to allow the Spirit to refresh the entire congregation and in particular the youth within and beyond the walls of the local church through the gifts God provides in the youth of the church through spirit-filled community outreach. Towards that end Ms. Irmis’ first action was to organize a new youth organization, “United Children of Christ” (UCC) which is aimed at building a community among the youth through participation in various activities and events such as an upcoming sleepover at the church as well as organizing a “biblical” haunted house for the Church’s annual Halloween party on October 23^rd starting at 7 PM. A number of other events as well as a permanent art installation within in the sanctuary created by the youth is planned. Additionally Ms. Irmis will facilitate the “Time for God’s Children” (children’s time) during worship as well as have the opportunity to preach the message on several occasions. In addition, Ms. Irmis serves on Trinity’s Board of Christian Education and teaches Sunday School. The Youth Leader position continues until May 2010.

Ms. Julia Irmis is an Honor Student at Morton West High School in Berwyn where she is a member of the Mustang Band, Student Council, and Drama. She was baptized at Trinity Community Church, UCC in Berwyn as a young child and confirmed into full membership of the church in 2006. She was also the “Best of Berwyn” in 2006, a Junior Citizen program recognizing and honoring the academic excellence, involvement in extracurricular activities, and potential for displaying high ethical and moral behavior in 8^th graders. She looks forward to going to college next year to study history and possibly theology.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 6, 2009

TITLE:

Building on a Solid Foundation

Trinity Community Church, UCC Celebrates 125 Years of Ministry

CONTACT:  

Ms. Kim Schmidt, 125^th Anniversary Team Leader

Trinity Community Church, United Church of Christ (UCC)

708-484-1818, tccberwyn@yahoo.com

TEXT:

Trinity Community Church, United Church of Christ located in Berwyn, Illinois on the corner of 26^th Street and Riverside Drive celebrates their 125^th Anniversary on Sunday, October 18^th with a special worship service at 10 AM. Then on Sunday, October 25^th at 10 AM the congregation will celebrate a “Blast Into the Future” as they reform the worship experience in order to attempt to imagine what worship may be like in the future. All are invited.

In the summer of 1884 the Home-Mission Board of the German Evangelical Synod of North America, a Lutheran denomination, decided to start a new mission church in Chicago for new German immigrants. During that summer a group began searching to find a place to worship. They canvassed the south-west section of the city of Chicago that was then on the outskirts, Western Avenue at the time being city limits. A Pastor, the Rev. G. H. Stanger, was called and the first services were held Sunday, October 9, 1884 in a small Congregational Church on Ashland Avenue and 20^th Street. In October 1884 four building lots were purchased on the southwest corner of South Robey Street (now Damen Avenue in Chicago) and W. Ambrose Street (now W. 22^nd Place) for $1,600 and a two story brick building was erected for $5,347. The building was dedicated for church and parochial school purposes on Sunday, April 19, 1885.

The early years were filled with growth – growing from 15 members in 1884 to 198 adults by 1889. Then a disturbance within the church almost closed the congregation, two-fifths of the congregation left and a debt of $7,000 was incurred, resulting in a change of Pastors and teachers. On October 20, 1889 the Rev. Julius Kircher accepted the call as Trinity’s second Pastor to nurture the church. A plan was devised to reduce the debt and build a parsonage for the Pastor’s family. The plan was adopted by the church members and carried out. In January 1891 the Pastor and his family moved into the new home built next to the church. The church next faced the depression of the nineties, 1893 to 1897. Many members were out of work and conditions grew worse and worse. A food pantry was started in the basement of the parsonage and many baskets of meat and vegetables that the Pastor collected from kind hearted wholesale merchants on South Water Street was distributed. Though the period the church’s membership remained small, thirty-nine men and thirty-three women and the church’s debt increased to almost $10,000. In spite of the financial difficulties attendance at worship services and Sunday School increased. By 1895 when the congregation celebrated its 10^th Anniversary the number of members rose to 412, more than doubling its number in five years. By 1897 Sunday School membership increased to 325, the parochial school had 54 pupils, and there were 594 members. As the church celebrated its 25^th anniversary in 1909, the congregation celebrated with a major renovation of the church building – lowering the upper floor and arching the ceiling – membership numbered 1,274 members.

The early 1900s saw many changes and difficult choices. On June 15, 1913 the first English service was held, previously German had been the only language spoken in the church and school. World War One saw many heavy hearts as 157 of Trinity’s young men (including three sons of the Pastor) were drawn into service in a terrible struggle that made family members fight against relatives back in Germany. Four young men brought the supreme sacrifice, their life for their country and flag, and quite a number of others returned with impaired health, some permanently disabled. During this period discussion rose of building a new church, in January 1923 a committee was appointed to study the question of rebuilding and relocation. Other neighboring churches that were part of the denomination had moved from their original locations, St. Pauls, St. Peters, Zion twice, Salem, and Immanuel. Although locations in Cicero, Berwyn, Forest Park, and others were explored it was decided to remain in Chicago in order to continue serving the poorer people who remained from the other churches that had moved. Rather than move, the congregation instituted a building fund to rebuild their structure – adding 30 feet in length to the church, replacing the organ, rearranging the pews, adding brick veneer to the building, and adding new art glass windows (which today adorn the inside of the current church building in Berwyn). The renovated building was dedicated in 1925.

As the depression of the 1930s appeared the church was forced to cut expenses, salaries, and so forth but the members remained steadfast to insure the church remained a place for spiritual food. During the 1930s Rev. Kircher who had nurtured Trinity since 1889 decided to retire and hand picked his replacement. The Rev. Recht was called in 1936 and remained until his death in 1967. The denomination merged changing the identity of the church from its Lutheran roots as part of the Evangelical Synod of North America to the Evangelical and Reformed Church. Another World War challenged hundreds of Trinity’s young men to struggle as an earlier generation had facing the need to fight against family in Germany. In the early 1940s the congregation once again heeded the call to rebuild and/or relocate. After looking at a number of possible locations, the congregation decided to move to its current location in Berwyn in order to remain as it had been in Chicago, a community church where people were able to walk to church. In the 1940s property began to be assembled. A house on the southeast corner of Grove and 26^th Street became the parsonage with Sunday School and worship being held in the lower level. A triangle corner lot, which had been used by many generations as an impromptu baseball field, was purchased for a new church facility at the corner of 26^th Street and Riverside Drive in Berwyn.

Over a several month period a new church rose. Trinity Community Church (Evangelical and Reformed) which was state of the art at its time was built to serve as the only Evangelical and Reformed church in the territory of Cicero, Berwyn, Riverside, and Brookfield. At a cost of over $230,000 the church was dedicated on Sunday, December 9, 1954 and the community which had been predominantly German became a mix of Czech and other European-Americans who called the area around Trinity home. In 1957 the Evangelical and Reformed denomination united with the Congregational Christian Churches forming the United Church of Christ and Trinity changed its name to Trinity Community Church, United Church of Christ. Over the years the community has been served by many other dedicated clergy (learn more)including: the Rev. Ellersieck 1968-1973; the Rev. Grosrenaud 1974-1986; the Rev. Chandler-Felts 1987-1989; Dr. Rev. Hall 1991-1997; Rev. Hoover 1999-2000; and the Rev. Walter Coffey 2000-2003 also a life-long resident of Berwyn.

Since 2003, Trinity has been and continues to be served by Brookfield residents, the husband and wife co-Pastor team of Rev. Bill Ressl and Rev. Penny Taylor. Although the church honors its Euro-American heritage and Lutheran tradition through the celebration of its 125^th year, the community continues to strive to become multicultural and multiracial in order to remain fixed in their call to serve the community that it calls home. Like 125 years ago, Christian Education is still important and free Sunday School continues to be offered. Today, like in the past, people still walk to church while others drive from the surrounding area – from the communities the church ancestors believed the church needed to serve, Cicero, Berwyn, Riverside, Brookfield, among others. As in the past the community remains focused on Christ’s love, continuing to reinvent itself as needed, while providing in new ways the spiritual food needed to get through the struggles of this moment.