Trinity Lutheran Church in Stapleton turns 170 on Monday, Oct. 26: its first service was held on that date in 1856. The congregation at 309 St. Pauls Avenue is marking the fall with a concert series in its Gothic sanctuary, and the next program, an All Saints Day concert called Lament to Light, is free on Sunday, Nov. 1, at 5 p.m.

The concerts

The church's fall and winter 2026 series opened on Sept. 26 with the organist Janet Yieh. Three concerts remain:

  • Lament to Light, Sunday, Nov. 1, 5 p.m. A chamber orchestra and choir perform Haydn's Requiem alongside Joel Thompson's Seven Last Words of the Unarmed, a choral work that sets the last words of seven unarmed Black men, and close with Randall Thompson's Alleluia. Admission is free with reserved seating through Eventbrite; premium seats are available for a $20 donation.
  • C3 Presents: Brash and Bold, Bluesy and Tender, Saturday, Nov. 14, 5 p.m. Admission is $20.
  • Wonder and Light, Saturday, Dec. 19, 4 p.m. Tickets start at $20 when bought in advance on Eventbrite.

Looking further ahead, the New Amsterdam String Band is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 7, at 4 p.m., with $15 admission.

The organ and the room

The instrument at the center of the music program is a Casavant Frères pipe organ with more than 2,000 pipes, first installed in 1953, which the church keeps under regular maintenance. The sanctuary has a high, cathedral-style interior and a collection of stained glass windows. Trinity also has a trained adult volunteer choir and invites singers to join its choir and special music projects; the church office has details.

A German congregation, 170 years on

Trinity's history begins with German immigrants. The first Lutheran church on Staten Island was St. John's; as it grew, a second congregation formed in Stapleton, and its first service was held on Oct. 26, 1856. Within a few months it took the name Der Deutsche Evangelische Lutherische Gemeinde zu Stapleton.

The congregation went dormant after its first pastor left for Albany in 1857, then reorganized in 1859 under the Rev. Goehling, who also started a German-American school and taught in it. After years in rented space and a building on Richmond Turnpike, the trustees bought four lots at the northeast corner of Beach Street and St. Paul's Avenue, where the current Gothic church was built and occupied in 1913.

The Rev. Frederic Sutter, born in Germany in 1875 and a graduate of Wagner Memorial College when it was still in Rochester, became pastor and began adding English-language services, Sunday school and confirmation classes. The church describes that shift as the start of its path from a German congregation to the multicultural one it is now on the North Shore.

Getting there

Trinity is at 309 St. Pauls Avenue, about ten minutes from the St. George Ferry Terminal, according to the church. There is a parking lot, and street parking nearby.

Lament to Light is Sunday, Nov. 1, at 5 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church, 309 St. Pauls Avenue in Stapleton. Admission is free; reserve a seat through the church's Eventbrite link, or call (718) 447-0526.

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