The First Presbyterian Church is a historic congregation currently housed at 1390 North State Street in

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...

. It was founded in 1837.

Description

First Presbyterian Church is the largest Presbyterian church in

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

and a flagship and founding congregation of the

Presbyterian Church in America The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is the second-largest Presbyterian church body, behind the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the largest conservative Calvinist denomination in the United States. The PCA is Calvinist, Reformed in theolog ...

. Its communicant membership is over 2,500. With 3,100 members, it has become the largest

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

congregation in

and one of the largest in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It has played a significant role in the establishment of the

(PCA), and the congregation has remained one of the flagship congregations of that denomination. Its pastor at the time of the PCA's establishment in 1973, Rev Donald Patterson, was Chairman of the Steering Committee for a Continuing Presbyterian Church and preached at the inaugural PCA General Assembly. The church played a significant role of establishing the Winter Theological Institution in 1962, which became

Reformed Theological Seminary Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) is a theological seminary in the Reformed theological tradition with campuses in multiple locations in the United States. Founded by conservatives in the Southern Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Churc ...

. In the 1950s and 1960s, FPC excluded black people from the sanctuary. The church published a statement of repentance over this in 2016. The minister and some members of FPC were very influential in the 1992 formation of Mission Mississippi, an ecumenical racial reconciliation initiative. Soon afterwards, however, there was a backlash against the organization within this congregation, dues to the church's historic resistance to the civil rights movement.

Ligon Duncan Jennings Ligon Duncan III (born November 29, 1960) is an American Presbyterian scholar and pastor. He is Chancellor of Reformed Theological Seminary. Early life and education Duncan is native to Greenville, South Carolina. His father was an eight ...

served as Senior Pastor from 1996 to 2013.

Doctrine

The congregation adheres to the

Westminster Confession of Faith The Westminster Confession of Faith, or simply the Westminster Confession, is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it becam ...

. The church describes itself " A steadfast witness to historic Reformed Christianity for over 175 years". It is a member of the Mississippi Valley Presbytery.

References

External links

* {{Jackson, Mississippi 1837 establishments in Mississippi Presbyterian megachurches in the United States Religious organizations established in 1837 Religious buildings and structures in Jackson, Mississippi Presbyterian Church in America churches in Mississippi Churches in Hinds County, Mississippi