In the mid-1800s, a large number of German settlers left the German lands for the American Midwest, drawn by the promise of religious freedom and the opportunity of farming; among them were, in 1839, a group of Saxons which settled in Perry County, MO, and later organized the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in 1847 (which was then called “German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States).

German settlers in Lafayette County north of Concordia requested the Pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran in Concordia, Rev. Julius Biltz, to hold church services at the “Sunny Bank” school house, which he did in the afternoon, every third Sunday of the month; this was in 1874. January 2 the following year, they organized a congregation named “German Evangelical Lutheran Holy Trinity Congregation Unaltered Augsburg Confession at Alma, Lafayette County, Missouri.”

The first church & school building was built in 1878 (next to where Trinity’s cemetery still resides), and they received their first Pastor from Concordia Seminary in 1879: Rev. Frederick Rohlfing, who served at Trinity for 42 years; the school’s first teacher, August Eichmann, was called in 1884 and also served at Trinity for 42 years. During this time, Trinity was the “mother church” to eight daughter congregations in the area, seven of which are still in existence; the eighth, St. Peter’s Flora, closed in 1955 and its cemetery is maintained by Trinity.

A new, larger church building was built in Alma and dedicated in 1895; this building burned down due to a fire which began during worship on January 4, 1942. Throughout World War II the congregation raised the money and materials to build a new sanctuary, which was dedicated March 27, 1949, and in 1953, a brick four-room schoolhouse was built next to the sanctuary; this school building was expanded in 1970 and 2003 to include more classrooms, a gymnasium, a cafeteria, and in 2023, an Early Childhood Center for daycare and preschool.

The world now is much different than when German immigrants organized a congregation less than ten years after the US Civil War ended. This congregation has sought, throughout all challenges and joys, to remain faithful to “the faith once delivered to the saints,” as another link in the chain of faithfulness going back to Christ Jesus and the Apostles.