When Trinity Baptist Church first gathered on Sunday, January 8, 1956, the congregation came together for both Sunday School and Worship Service.
From the very beginning, learning together was part of Trinity’s life.
Those early records show a new church already organizing around Scripture, teaching, and Christian formation. The first Training Union meeting was held on Sunday night, January 22, 1956, with 37 in attendance. On February 13, the church elected its first Sunday School officers and teachers. The following week, Rev. Henry Walden, Jr., taught a study course titled The Teachings of Jesus.
By February 1956, the new church reported 134 enrolled in Sunday School and 51 enrolled in Training Union. The need for space soon followed. On May 9, 1956, Trinity voted to accept a Quonset Hut as a gift from Hugh Shaw and William Bass to relieve the very crowded Sunday School classroom situation.
The details are simple, but they say a great deal. Trinity was not only gathering people for worship. The church was creating space for people to study, ask questions, grow in faith, and learn what it meant to follow Christ together.
That pattern continued through the years.
One story from the 1970s shows how Sunday School became a place of both discipleship and belonging. Boyd Dimmock remembered that when he and Tom first visited Trinity as newlyweds, they entered the Don Hart Couples Sunday School class because they were looking for a place for them as a couple. In early 1975, they asked to begin a new class for young couples in a similar stage of life.
They started with just the two of them meeting in the living room of the Shaw House behind Building B. Soon, another couple came. Then more came. That summer, a cookout for the class had ten people attend, including a visiting couple who would later join. As the class grew, members formed friendships and shared life together. Eventually, the class split into two groups, one meeting in the living room and another in the garage.
Through the years, many from that class went on to serve in leadership positions at Trinity. Tom Dimmock taught the class for 40 years, and many of those members remained together on Sunday mornings for decades.
That is the quiet strength of Sunday School at its best. It is not only a room assignment or a line on the Sunday schedule. It is a place where people find community, open Scripture, share seasons of life, and grow into deeper service.
Today, discipleship and education at Trinity continue to reach across ages and ministries. The anniversary book describes discipleship and education as all-encompassing, involving all ages and using the entire facility each week. Through Sunday School, Bible study, children’s ministry, youth ministry, adult discipleship, and intergenerational learning, Trinity continues to make room for people to grow in faith together.
From the first Sunday in 1956 to the classes that still gather today, learning together has helped shape Trinity’s life.
Read More in 70 Years at Trinity
This story was drawn from 70 Years at Trinity: February 5, 1956 – May 3, 2026, prepared in celebration of the seventieth anniversary of Trinity Baptist Church.
For more about Trinity’s earliest Sunday School and Training Union ministries, see pages 14, 16, and 77 of the anniversary book. For more about the young couples class and later discipleship ministry, see pages 92–95.
