Presbyterian Mission Agency church building Archives

Faith Presbyterian Church: A beacon in the Blue Ridge Mountains

Posted May 17th, 2021

In 2000, eight retirees led an effort to plant a new Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregation in the mountains of north Georgia. Today, Faith Presbyterian Church – Blue Ridge has 159 members and is one of the fastest-growing congregations in Cherokee Presbytery and the Synod of the South Atlantic. In 2019, Sunday morning worship attendance averaged 109.

Which of these does your church look like?

Posted October 12th, 2018

A 3-year-old I’d baptized as an infant was coming back to visit after his family had moved to a different state. There, unconstrained by family tradition, his grandmother and mother found a church with a good kids’ program and a band. They occasionally come back “home” and join us for worship.

From church conflict to church building

Posted July 19th, 2018

It’s a far cry from 2014 in the Presbytery of Nevada. This past year 12 of its 21 congregations experienced numerical, and spiritual, growth. Just a few years ago, churches were leaving the presbytery and the remaining congregations were resistant to paying per capita.

Creative ways to use your church property

Posted March 15th, 2018

Leaders at First Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennesee, had a difficult decision to make. The congregation had existed on a downtown block for more than 200 years. It has had three sanctuaries on the site and the graveyard has tombs for signers of the United States Constitution. Numerically, the historic congregation was holding steady, but its most recent building was old and in decline. Should members invest in costly renovations so that the building could be used for 21st-century ministry? Or should the congregation move to a more modern space closer to where the members live?