Trinity Lutheran celebrating 50th

link Courtesy photo

Children and their leaders stand in front of an art project completed at Trinity Lutheran Church’s 2010 Vacation Bible School. The project consisted of boards painted by the children, who were told to paint whatever they wanted. In 2011, the boards were used in the construction of a local Habitat for Humanity house.

Sharon Cowman and her husband, Jim, started going to Trinity Lutheran Church in Clovis about six years after it opened its doors in 1965.

Soon after, she said they joined the church because of its friendly atmosphere and strong community involvement. Plus, Cowman said they had a strong youth group and plenty of activities for their four children.

Now, they’re the longest attending members at Trinity, which celebrates its 50th anniversary on Sunday.

“They had good music, an enthusiastic Lutheran traditional service, and it just fit,” Sharon Cowman said. “So then our children grew up, of course, and we grew old, and we’ve just stayed with the church.”

Beulah Mattingly and her husband, Don, have attended the church for 20 years. She, too, said the community involvement drew them to Trinity.

“I find the church … wants to reach out to the community, and that’s one of the reason we joined there,” Beulah Mattingly said, “We’re a small group, but we enjoy meeting and having fellowship.”

Average attendance is about 40, Pastor Bonita Knox said.

Knox said the church first opened its doors in March 1965, but the congregation itself had been around a few months before that.

“We’re new to Clovis, meaning other churches have been here for a longer time … We started out in typical fashion,” Knox said, explaining that the church began as a mission at the Clovis Women’s Club before groundbreaking for the building began in September 1964. Their first pastor was Rev. Lawrence R. Juull, she said, who stayed until 1969.

Mattingly said she knew exactly where to turn for help when she had challenges in her life.

“I have had some problems in my own life, and the church has been there for me,” she said. She said two of her children died months apart, and her house burned down in January. Both times, the church came to her side.

“The church community has been there for me, given me support and help, so yeah, that’s the big thing,” Mattingly said. “I think some of the bigger churches may not have the communications we do … I don’t think there’s anyone I couldn’t go to and say, ‘I need a little extra support today,’ and not get the support I needed.”

But even the church isn’t immune to problems, including financial issues, such as costs for its building and replacing an air conditioning unit.

Then in 2009, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) — which includes Trinity — approved positive views of same-sex couples and allowed gays to be leaders in the church.

“We had members on both sides of that coin,” Mattingly said, “and we are still with the ELCA and support the ELCA, and we overcame that. A good group of our people left and started their own group, but we survived, and I think it’s through God’s help that we did that.”

Cowman said since then, they’ve “managed to maintain,” and even though the congregation split in half five years ago over the ELCA’s decision, they’ve managed to stick together.

“We’re a very small congregation, but we’ve managed to stick together, stay alive and keep going,” Cowman said. “We certainly would like to see more young families … I think that young families are the key to growth in the church.”

Which is something Mattingly would like to see happen in the next 50 years, too.

“My big dream is to see us fill our auditorium with members and visitors. I want to see us do that,” Mattingly said. “I hope we get to the point that we have to enlarge the facility we have.”

Although the church isn’t planning to expand its facilities anytime soon, Sunday’s celebration is sure to host some new and old faces, Mattingly said.

“(I’m looking forward) to meeting with some of the older people that have left Clovis and are coming back for our anniversary,” she said. “I’m looking forward to worshiping with them and enjoying some of their history they have to tell us about.”

And Bishop Kevin Kanouse, who is the bishop of the Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod, will be attending Sunday’s service as well, Knox said.

A brunch will be held after the service, Knox said.

“Christians spread a long table in Christ to invite everyone,” she said. “The community has very much helped to support us in (our) mission. We are just so blessed to be here.”