Roselle church celebrates 100 years

Pastor Charles Mueller Jr. said there is no secret to a successful church. On Sunday, Trinity Lutheran Church in Roselle welcomed more than 1,000 people to celebrate its 100th anniversary at a special outdoor service.

Mueller said the church's popularity is a result of getting into the community and spreading its message as well as helping others.

"That's what Jesus Christ did," said Mueller, who has been the church's pastor since 1985, when he took over for his father. "We always remember what we are called to do. You can't spread the word if you stay within the walls of the church."

The parishioners watched live music and celebrated with a catered picnic Sunday, exactly 100 years since the church was formed in 1910.

Of the church's 5,000 parishioners, Mueller said about 1,600 volunteer in one way or another. The volunteer work ranges from helping out and greeting at the church to accompanying missionaries to other countries. Mueller has just returned from Norway, where a relatively small group of Lutherans are trying to expand their church.

Even though it's led to some backlash, Mueller said Trinity welcomes people of any background, including homosexuals, single mothers and people who are divorced.

"We have a heart for people wherever they are in life," he said. "We are reaching them with a message of Jesus Christ's love. It's the antidote for the complacency of post-Christian America."

For Kristen Langner, an ophthalmologist in Roselle, the church gave her a chance to spread her expertise to help others she probably would not have ever reached. In June, she went on a trip to Guatemala to give eye exams to people who had never even seen eyeglasses before.

More than 800 people took advantage of the service and Langner, who has been part of the church for 35 years, said missions such as those keep the church thriving.

"The church has never lost its focus on Christ and on serving and forgiving," Langner said.

After 100 years, Mueller said the church is not about to change that philosophy.

"We are not better than anybody else," he said. "But we want to be the body of Christ in the community.