Trinity Lutheran Church
shows new Parish Center
CLARKS SUMMIT - Over the last 20 years, the Trinity Lutheran Church has experienced growing pains.
Standing in a spacious corridor, illuminated by glass skylights, member Cathy Sheffler of Waverly Twp. grinned as she described the new Parish Center. The church held an open house for the addition Sunday and Ms. Sheffler was pleased at the added possibilities the space allows.
"We were squeezed," she said of the previous structure. "We couldn't have a meal with everybody in the congregation."
The new Parish Center boasts an expanded library, classrooms, a meeting room that can seat 120 and an elevator and ramps to provide easier access for visitors with disabilities.
"We had no windows before," church librarian Terry Bockelkamp said, standing in a brightly lit library. "It's wonderful to know we can grow."
Previously, materials for Sunday school had to be packed away each week. But at the open house, permanent classrooms for different grade levels with bright, white walls held bulletin boards and displays of work and activities to come.
"Now we'll be able to do more of the things we want to do here," Ms. Sheffler added, noting that the church needed to go off-site in the past to hold blood drives. "The sky is the limit at this point."
The smell of fresh paint still lingered in the building as members walked the halls in T-shirts emblazoned with "Come and See." Downstairs, in addition to the large meeting room, visitors toured the expanded pre-school.
"Our biggest challenge was to continue to be the congregation we are, where we are," Pastor George Mathews said of the upgrades.
The congregation that populates the church draws from a 100-mile radius, he added.
"This lets us stay as part of the community," Ms. Sheffler said.
Contact the writer: rbrown@timesshamrock.com, @rbrownTT on Twitter