Holy Trinity lutheran Church in the Northline area was planted in 1958. On November 2, 1958, ULCA President Franklin Clark Fry attended the organizational service and installed the congregation council. Holy Trinity was the seventh ULCA church in Houston.
Holy Trinity faithfully served its community. Many people were baptized, receive their first communion, were confirmed, married, and buried in the congregation. Over the last 20 years, the neighborhood has changed, and now the ZIP Code is about 90% Hispanic, many of whom are brave new Americans.
By 2010 they were about a dozen members left. This faithful remnant held on until about 2019 when they discontinued worship on Sunday morning and eventually closed. During the pandemic, we continue to run out the building to a Pentecostal church, and moved our Synod office into the space. It was our hope. That one day we might plant a new congregation there in a new language, with a new style of ministry, and maybe a new name.
In 2022 we notified the Pentecostal congregation that we would not be continuing their lease agreement. They began looking for a new place to worship, and we began looking for a mission developer. About that time Pastor Gabriel Marcano’s three-year term call came to an end at Kinsmen Sagrada Familia. we tried to talk him into staying, but he was ready for something new. He considered options both within and outside the Gulf Coast Synod. A gifted, impulsive, intuitive, mission, developer, he was in high demand. Eventually, he requested to stay in Houston and start a mission here. He looked at both Redeemer and Holy Trinity, but eventually the Synod Council called him to develop a mission at the Holy Trinity site. As is his pattern, Pastor Gabriel hit the ground running.
This Sunday, July 9, 2023, 120 people gathered at the site that was Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, where the synod office currently is housed, to re-consecrate the altar and sanctuary. It is now San Jose Obrero.
