Trinity Church in Marshall, Texas, was established within the late nineteenth century to minister to the quite a few railroad employees, and their households, who got here to work with the Texas and Pacific Railway Co. Town serves because the seat of Harrison County and is roughly 39 miles from Shreveport, Louisiana.
The church was based on January 4, 1851. Marshall was a boomtown then and shortly grew to become one of many largest and wealthiest cities in east Texas. The parish’s lasting presence, which was not with out difficulties and challenges, gave it a outstanding place locally’s historical past.
In December, the town council declared January 4 as “Trinity Episcopal Church Day.” Bishop C. Andrew Doyle of Texas joined parishioners and their first feminine priest, the Rev. Dana Jean, on that date in 2026 to have fun the church’s one hundred and seventy fifth anniversary.
“Consider how many individuals have sat the place you might be sitting as we speak,” Doyle advised the congregation. “These pews maintain the prayers of everyone who has come earlier than you—the place they knelt, the place they prayed.”
Doyle emphasised in his sermon through the anniversary service that everyone is welcome at God’s desk.
The sermon’s deal with remembering those that as soon as sat in Trinity’s pews was reminiscent not solely of the parish’s lengthy historical past, but in addition of a newer problem it confronted.
In electronic mail to The Residing Church in December, Jean described how the church skilled a break up lately. Nearly half of the congregation left to type one other parish, slashing not solely the variety of parishioners current at Sunday companies but in addition help for the parish by as much as 75 %.
“What remained was a a lot smaller, older neighborhood that would have simply turned inward or given up,” Jean wrote. “As a substitute, this anniversary yr finds us surprisingly joyful and hopeful: welcoming new members, getting ready for baptisms and confirmations.” Because the break up in March 2023, Trinity has seen extra variety within the individuals visiting and becoming a member of its companies.
“I feel that it units us aside in that means,” Jean advised TLC in a cellphone interview. After the pandemic and earlier than the break up, the church had round 150 members. When Jean grew to become priest in cost in 2024, round 47 confirmed up on any given Sunday. On some weeks now, there are as much as 70 individuals.
“That’s actually enjoyable to see and have newcomers visiting or church procuring—you recognize, type of trying out what we provide,” Jean stated. “Nearly each Sunday, there are new individuals strolling within the doorways. Generally they keep, generally they don’t. Simply the truth that they arrive within the doorways, although, is known as a hopeful factor to me.”
And on January 4, the primary Sunday of the yr, many got here by the doorways. The entire of Marshall was invited to hitch the congregation for the companies and celebration. The milestone anniversary featured a parade and the creation of a time capsule that will likely be opened in 2051, in time for the church’s 2 hundredth anniversary. Doyle stated the time capsule is crammed with blessings, prayers, and hope.
“Trinity Church has been part of Marshall, Texas, by famine, fires, floods, and continues to simply be a staple church locally,” Doyle advised the native ABC affiliate KLTV. The bishop of Texas additionally mirrored on the enjoyment, life, and spirituality he had witnessed in his visits to the parish up to now 20 years.
He stated he prays that the following Bishop of Texas who opens the time capsule 25 years from now can have the identical hope and pleasure the parish skilled that anniversary Sunday.
The Rt. Rev. Jeff Fisher, Bishop Suffragan of Texas, was on the parish in September 2025 for confirmations. Jean stated he challenged her and the sacristy to sit up for the 2 hundredth anniversary. Jean stated the sacristy, which features a former senior warden in her 70s who has been a part of the parish since her delivery, took up Fisher’s problem.
“The whole lot we’re doing, we’re attempting to remember that we would like this church … to be thriving and flourishing 25 years from now. And we wish to know that we did our half to increase God’s kingdom by these years,” she stated.
The Rev. Kevin Wittmayer was among the many individuals who had been on the parish on January 4. Doyle summoned Wittmayer out of retirement in 2023, proper after the break up. He remembers his first Sunday within the parish was round mid-March of that yr.
“That they had misplaced the church as they knew it. They misplaced pals who haven’t spoken to them, they usually used to do issues with,” Wittmayer stated. He added that American tradition shouldn’t be excellent at lamenting loss on the whole, and honoring the grief the parishioners had been experiencing and ministering to it pastorally was one thing he prioritized throughout his time as interim rector.
“The opposite facet of that’s to offer them a way of hope, that this wasn’t the tip,” Wittmayer stated. Those that stayed actually cherished the church and stepped as much as the plate, responding positively to the decision of what wanted to be performed to maintain the parish going.
“I in all probability may have requested for the moon, and they might have performed it. They had been able to roll up their sleeves and get after it. They didn’t wish to see that church destroyed,” he stated.
Wittmayer, who was instrumental in bringing Jean to the parish, stated the one hundred and seventy fifth anniversary is a superb testomony to the congregation’s resilience.
Simply months after the parish was established, the primary affirmation occurred at Trinity on June 22, 1851. A Masonic Lodge was the primary worship house utilized by the congregation.
“Sadly, the primary church was a standalone brick construction that collapsed in 1868,” Trinity’s web site stated. The construction’s demise nearly led to the parish’s dissolution. However greater than a century later, Trinity nonetheless stands in Marshall, Texas.
Caleb Maglaya Galaraga is The Residing Church’s Episcopal Church reporter. His work has additionally appeared in Christianity Right now, Broadview Journal, and Presbyterian Outlook, amongst different publications.
