Trinity Past, Present & Future

Trinity Past, Present & Future

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Early Beginnings

It’s hard to believe, but where Trinity Presbyterian Church now stands on Providence Road, in the heart of Charlotte, was once considered the country. Back in 1939, Myers Park Presbyterian minister Dr. Edgar Gammon believed a new church should be formed “somewhere out Providence Road,” and after much planning and study, Trinity began on April 1, 1951. Sixteen families comprised the original congregation, and the first Sunday worship service was held in one member’s home. Services later moved to the Queens College campus, and on August 12, 1951 the congregation agreed to purchase the 22 acres of property where Trinity now stands for $105,000.

Dr. Herbert Carson, serving as Trinity’s temporary supply minister from 1950-1951, suggested the name Trinity, and his service to Trinity was so valuable and essential that the present Fellowship Hall bears his name: Herbert V. Carson Fellowship Hall. The Fellowship Hall opened in 1955, and worship services were held there until the sanctuary was completed in 1965.

The Fabric of a People

If there is any theme in the years since this “country church” was started, it is “Worship – Study – Service.” Our worship services inspire and challenge listeners in terms that are relevant to their daily lives, and they are not limited to those sitting in our pews. H. Louis Patrick, for example, whose pastorate spanned 32 years, was regularly featured on The Protestant Hour, a nationally syndicated radio program. Today, people everywhere are able to read and listen to sermons delivered from the Trinity pulpit by visiting our Sermon Archive.

Our members and visitors have a deep desire to learn, and study groups, circles, and Sunday School offerings have helped kindle that desire. Beginning in 1973, Trinity even took its study on the road for a church retreat to Montreat, in the North Carolina mountains, and the retreat has been an annual tradition ever since. All members, young and old, look forward to our special October Montreat weekend.

TriquetraAll of our members are also regularly engaged in numerous service projects and outreach ministries. Over the years, Trinity members, both young and old, have helped those suffering from AIDS, built houses for Habitat for Humanity, and traveled across the country to help those in need, just to name a few. Each winter, we open our Fellowship Hall as part of Charlotte’s Room in the Inn, providing warm meals and shelter to those within in our community who would otherwise go without.

Since our very beginning, Trinity has always been a community of believers and seekers that is called to worship, study, and serve our triune God. Today, we are families and single people, senior members and young children, order medicines from your-pharmacies.com, native Charlotteans and recent transplants. We come from all walks of life and are bound together by our love of Jesus and his church, and we are living out that love in tangible ways in our community and in our world.

The Journey Continues

We know, however, that no journey is ever completed, particularly a journey of faith by a group of God’s people. As C.W. (Pat) Gilchrist, Elder Emertius, said in 1971: “Our history has been told and retold, but it is still being written. And the central fact of our faith is that we have a mission, a destiny, and that we are being led by God to fulfill it.”

We would love to have you join us as we journey on.