The Rennie Memorial Presbyterian Church is a

Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

congregation in Amelia, Virginia, US. It was established on April 23, 1950 and sits on grounds that were previously occupied by the Amelia Presbyterian Church.

Rennie congregation

During the late 1880s, Mr Thomas Major organized a

Sunday School A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. Su ...

in a small school house about four miles southwest of

Amelia Courthouse, Virginia Amelia Court House (also known as Amelia Courthouse and Amelia) is the county seat of Amelia County in the U.S. state of Virginia and a census-designated place (CDP). The population as of the 2010 census was 1,099. The town was named for Princess ...

. For a short period of time Rev. George Denny preached to this small group. Rennie Memorial Presbyterian Church

After about ten years, the Sunday School moved to the

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known as Dutch Store and began meeting in Mr and Mrs William Harver's school room. Mr S.T. Major was the

superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...

and Rev. J.R. Rennie started preaching to the congregation in the school building.

Building and land donation

On October 1, 1912, Rev. D.P. Rogers became pastor of the Amelia group of churches. After his arrival, the Amelia Presbyterian Church erected the building which is still in use today. In 1914, the Amelia Church offered to give the old building to the Rennie

congregation A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: *Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administra ...

, after which the building was taken down and rebuilt by the men of the Rennie community on its present site. The current building was the old Grub Hill Episcopal Church; it dates back to 1732, making it the oldest church building in the county. The land for the church building and adjoining

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

was donated by Mr. S.T. Major. On April 23, 1950, the congregation established itself as a separate and independent church and was officially named as the Rennie Memorial Presbyterian Church. The ruling elders for this newly organized church were W.L. Reames, James Campbell, L.I. Major and C.C. Bishop. The

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

s were Woodrow Arrington, O.R. Tomlinson, Clyde Bishop, Lester Curtis and James Lee Hall. Rev. Douglas Wilkinson was the minister at the time. The church continued to grow and by the early 1960s, the building ran four Sunday School rooms, a basement Fellowship Hall, kitchen and storage area.

Cluster system

By the late-1960s, a plan was proposed by the Presbytery for a cluster system to be formed among the Rennie Memorial, the Amelia, the Pine Grove and the Mattoax churches. These four churches called their first pastor in January 1974 and ACTS (Amelia Cluster Teens) group became very active in the community. In 1987, Amelia Presbyterian Church requested to withdraw from the cluster system. The remaining three congregations arranged a system where one minister could serve them. Rennie Memorial opted to have services early on Sunday mornings to accommodate such a necessity, while the Mattoax and the Pine Grove congregations worshiped together with the same minister. In 1999, the cluster system ended. The Mattoax and the Pine Grove congregations continued to worship together with their pastor, the Rev. Patrice Bittner-Humphreys.

Modern ministry

In the 2000s, Rennie Memorial has continued with

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

and Biblical learning since it began in the 1880s. The congregation has shifted from having full-time pastors to having student interns who stay for varying durations in order to learn ministry in a congregational setting.https://www.firstpresbyteriantaos.com/our-pastor

References

{{Coord, 37, 18, 5.3, N, 77, 59, 39.3, W, type:landmark_region:US-VA, display=title Churches in Amelia County, Virginia Christian organizations established in 1950 1950 establishments in Virginia Presbyterian churches in Virginia