Our Congregation

The Church of Fayetteville

“The Church of Fayetteville” was organized in the fall of 1812 and met in the log courthouse. In 1832, a building for the “Fayetteville Presbyterian Church” was erected on the present site. Nineteen years later, this building was destroyed by a cyclone, and that fact is recorded in one of the old Session books by Clerk John Morgan Bright: “February 24, 1851, between the hours of four and five o’clock this instant, it pleased the Almighty to loose the winds of heaven, and our church was crushed to its foundations. The dismembered fragments remind us that we have no abiding city here below.”

The old part of the present building was erected from bricks burned on the spot and dedicated on September 17, 1854. Oral tradition is unanimous in saying that the Union Army used the upstairs of the building for a hospital and the basement as a stable, during the Federal occupation of Fayetteville. It was May 3, 1908 that the Session met and officially changed the name to “First Presbyterian Church of Fayetteville, Tennessee.”

In 1910, the stained-glass windows were placed in the Sanctuary. The pipe organ was installed in 1917. In the same year, the front of the Church was extended twelve feet and the original two columns replaced by four columns. An educational wing with kitchen and fellowship hall was added in 1967. The most recent addition, including a Family Life Center, with a multi-purpose fellowship hall, library, kitchen, parlor, classroom wing, and Childcare Cener addition was completed in 2004.

Our congregation has many traditions. We gather frequently for meals and fellowship events. We participate broadly in community Holy Week services, support a number of local missions, and raise a flower-laden cross on Easter and a very large, well-lit tree at Christmas.

Our Denomination

Presbyterian Church (USA)
also called PC USA

Presbyterian Church (USA) - Presbyterians affirm that God comes to us with grace and love in the person of Jesus Christ, who lived, died, and rose for us so that we might have eternal and abundant life in him. As Christ’s disciples, called to ministry in his name, we seek to continue his mission of teaching the truth, feeding the hungry, healing the broken, and welcoming strangers. God sends the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, giving us the energy, intelligence, imagination, and love to be Christ’s faithful disciples in the world.

More than 1.1 million people call the Presbyterian Church (USA) their spiritual home. Worshiping in 8,700 Presbyterian congregations throughout the United States, they engage the communities in which they live and serve with God’s love.

History
The Presbyterian Church can trace its history all the way back to Martin Luther and the beginning of the Protestant Reformation in 1517. Not far behind Luther was John Calvin, a French pastor and theologian who published the Institutes of Christian Religion in 1536.

The Institutes are still read and studied today in Presbyterian Seminaries and have become the basis and foundation for the Reformed Tradition (also known as Calvinism). John Knox, a Scotsman, studied with Calvin and brought Calvin’s teachings back to Scotland, where the church became known as The Presbyterian Church.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) was established in 1983 when the Presbyterian Church in the United States merged with the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. The Presbyterian Church USA is the largest Presbyterian denomination, with over 1.1 million members and 8,700 congregations. Our denominational offices are in Louisville, Kentucky.

Structure and Form of Government
Our structure is based on two parts. Part I is the Book of Confessions, a book outlining our beliefs as stated in many historic Creeds and Confessions. Part II is the Book of Order, which outlines our government and gives a rationale for the functions of the Church at all levels.

The PCUSA has a representative form of government with four levels of administration within that government: The Session, The Presbytery, The Synod, and The General Assembly.
Our Worship
Our worship follows the Reformed Tradition as it was established by John Calvin during the time of the Reformation. We believe worship is not only a time for prayer but for reading Scripture and celebrating the Sacraments.

We in the PCUSA celebrate two Sacraments, believing Sacraments were instituted by God and commended by Jesus Christ. These two Sacraments are Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Sacraments are “signs of the real presence and power of Christ in the Church, symbols of God’s action,” and through the Sacraments “God seals believers in redemption, renews their identity as the people of God and marks them for service.” – Presbyterian Church USA Book of Order, W 1.3033

We believe the elements of Christian Worship are Prayer, Scripture Reading and Proclamation, Baptism, The Lord’s Supper, Self-Offering (As the Holy Spirit has graced each member with particular gifts for strengthening the body of Christ for mission, so worship should provide opportunities to recognize these gifts and offer them to serve Christ in the church and in the world. – Book of Order, W 2.5002) and Relating to Each Other and the World (through confession, greeting, recognizing of visitors, etc.)

In the PCUSA we believe Baptism is a sign and seal of God’s grace. That grace is extended to us even when we do not recognize it or know it. Therefore, we baptize adults, children, and babies as a sign to the whole community of God’s overflowing grace and love.