Where are the pews?

As you walk into the nave of Trinity church, you might wonder, “Why does a beautiful 19th-century Gothic Revival church have chairs? Why did they rip out the pews?”

Well, actually they didn’t. This church always had chairs, because this church was always open and welcoming.

When Trinity’s building was constructed in the 1890s the congregation deliberately chose to abandon the centuries-old practice of subscription pews, marked with plaques of the “owners”. In such churches, strangers, unless guests of members, had no place to sit.

But Trinity wanted to be an open church, to welcome whoever came in its doors as equals, regardless of wealth or ability to pay for a pew. And so the new church in the medieval style had no pews.

Today our historic building is home to a diverse community who live throughout the greater Hartford area, but who come from around the world. Members include immigrants from the West Indies, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Refugees have found their way to Trinity over the years—Cubans in the 1960s, Cambodians in the 1980s, Bosnians in the 1990s, and  Liberians and Karen people from Myanmar in the 2000s. Most recently we have sponsored families from Syria and Afganistan with the assistance of IRIS

Our worship is rich in liturgical tradition and music and home to thoughtful and challenging preaching. An active program of Christian formation for all ages provides meaningful opportunities to learn and grow in faith. We are a truly diverse, accepting and affirming community, whose members seek to serve the immediate neighborhood and the wider world. We invite you to join us—find a chair, any chair.