Trinity was founded on January 4, 1884, by Rev. J.H. Stone, who was serving the Methodist church in Vienna, Louisiana, the parish seat at the time. He met with thirteen charter members to establish Ruston Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, South in a new town that was emerging just south of Vienna. This town, built around a developing railroad line, would become incorporated as Ruston later that same year. It’s also worth noting that just a decade afterwards, Louisiana Tech University was established as the Louisiana Industrial Institute.
Trinity’s first building was located at Alabama Avenue and Trenton Street. Interestingly, since the Methodists were the first to build a church in Ruston, local Baptists and Presbyterians worshipped in our building until their own churches could be constructed.
From the very beginning, Trinity offered a full church program with Sunday School, morning and evening worship services, mid-week prayer meetings, and revival services. The church bell called people to Sunday School and to the eleven o’clock morning service on Sundays and rang for the Sunday evening service.
In 1972 the church’s current location on Woodward Avenue was built, with significant additions made in 1977 and 1985 to accommodate the church’s continuing growth.
The Global Methodist Church
Through the years, Trinity has been a “connectional church” networked with other congregations in various Wesleyan Methodist denominations. Wesleyan Methodism theology has a rich history dating back to the 1700s that guides how we worship God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and how we learn to live as people following God’s own heart.
“Wesleyan” comes from John Wesley, an English theologian and evangelist, and his brother Charles Wesley, who together led a revival movement within the Church of England. The movement was branded as “Methodism” due to the rules and methods the fellowship of believers followed to go about living out their faith.
In 2024, Trinity affiliated with The Global Methodist Church, the newest expression of traditional Wesleyan theology. Whether folks are looking for something old—like Trinity—or new—like the GMC—we invite them to join us as we live deeper in relationship with Jesus and reach wider in service to the world that He loves.