A Place on Church Circle
First Presbyterian Church sits at 100 West Church Circle in Kingsport, Tennessee, alongside other historic houses of worship that have shaped the city for generations. The building takes its architectural character from a 1940s design by church member and architect Allen Dryden, Sr., whose plans produced a sanctuary seating six hundred with balcony seating, a full range pipe organ, and large windows that fill the room with light. The same design included the chapel, a smaller worship space that holds about ninety and carries a 150-year-old Miller Organ donated by longtime member Anna Bacon Gamble. A stained glass Good Shepherd window, given in memory of Nancy Gardner Gunther, anchors the chapel's contemplative feel. Together, the sanctuary and chapel give First Presbyterian the air of a downtown congregation with deep local roots, and the church continues to occupy a place of consequence in the life of Kingsport.
Two Sunday Services, One Welcoming Spirit
Worship is at the heart of life here, and the church holds two Sunday services each week. An 8:30 a.m. service in the chapel and a 10:30 a.m. service in the sanctuary share a traditional but creative liturgy that draws on music from around the globe and across the centuries. Both follow a consistent pattern: prayers and singing, scripture and a thoughtful message, and a response of prayer and offering. The 10:30 service includes a Time with Young Disciples, a children's sermon tailored to younger worshipers, and is led musically by the chancel choir accompanied by organ or piano. Communion is celebrated the first Sunday of each month, and all who profess faith in Jesus Christ are welcome at the table. Elders and deacons also bring communion to homebound members on a regular basis.
Visitors are encouraged to come as they are. The sanctuary and chapel are traditional in feel, but the people inside span the spectrum, and what one wears ranges from jeans to a business suit. The worship itself is not overly formal even when the setting is. The 10:30 service is livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook, and a sermon archive organized by date, book of the Bible, series, and speaker extends back many years. A weekly podcast can be found by searching for First Presbyterian Church Kingsport, TN on iTunes, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher. Beyond the regular Sundays, the church observes a year of services shaped by the Christian calendar: Advent services, two Christmas Eve services (a 4:00 p.m. Communion and Carols gathering for families with young children in the Fellowship Center, and a 5:30 p.m. Lessons and Carols in the sanctuary), Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter.
A Music Program Without Compare
Music at First Presbyterian is built to last. The chancel choir, open to all adults and advanced high schoolers, rehearses weekly and sings at the 10:30 service. The Alleluia Choir, for children in kindergarten through fifth grade, rehearses on Sunday mornings and leads worship monthly, often using handchimes and Orff instruments. Women's and Men's Chorales are assembled for special occasions, and vocal training is available to anyone interested.
Instrumentalists find a place too. The program welcomes and coordinates strings, winds, and percussion, and the church hosts the East Tennessee Cello Choir and instruction. The Paramount Chamber Players, a professional ensemble, call First Presbyterian their Kingsport home. Handbell enthusiasts rehearse weekly with the Westminster Ringers, with advanced ringing in a smaller Chamber Bell Choir.
The instruments themselves are remarkable. A full range Schantz pipe organ anchors the sanctuary, and a five-octave set of Malmark handbells rounds out the ringing program. A small concert grand Steinway piano sits in the chapel, a concert grand Boston piano in the sanctuary, and a full custom-built concert-size Kingston harpsichord completes the collection. The music suite on the second floor holds a comprehensive library, rehearsal rooms, a bell choir room, and dressing rooms. Amy Smith serves as Director of Music Ministries and Organist, and inquiries about joining any ensemble are warmly received.
Forming Faith from Cradle to College
Children are valued here. The nursery welcomes babies and children up to age two, and is open during the Sunday school hour and both morning worship services. Background-checked workers staff the nursery, and at least one person certified in CPR and First Aid is always present. Children's Sunday School gathers younger elementary children (4th grade and under) at 10:15 a.m. in the upstairs nursery classrooms and continues through the 10:30 worship service; older children join classes designed for their age. On Communion Sundays, teachers bring the children down to share in the sacrament. A dedicated children's library on the second floor offers a multi-use space with tables for crafts and games, a computer station, and a story area.
Activity bags are kept at the front of the sanctuary to help little hands and minds engage with the morning's scripture, and rocking chairs and activity tables are available at the back. Two pews have even been removed at the back of the sanctuary to make room for a special place where children can do worship activities. The church's Child Protection policy, approved by the Session, includes annual training, background checks, and curriculum review for every teacher and volunteer working with children and youth. Vacation Bible School is a recurring highlight, held at the Fellowship Center with drop-off and pick-up designed for working families.
The youth ministry, led by Associate Pastor of Student Ministries Russ Pearson, gathers middle and high schoolers for Youth Group on Sunday nights in the Old Fellowship Hall downstairs, with separate tracks for middle and high school plus occasional combined events. Through games, study, meals, and a weekly Bible devotion, the youth explore what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Youth serve in leadership roles around the church as worship leaders, youth elders, children's program staff, and committee members. Confirmation Class is offered to eighth graders, beginning in September and ending in December (with occasional spring offerings), exploring baptism, theology, and discipleship, and giving youth the chance to join the church at the close of class. Retreats take youth to the Holston Presbytery Camp near Banner Elk in the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the Montreat Youth Conference in North Carolina, and to the Middle School Conference at Maryville College, and they include mission trips.
Adults gather for Sunday School at 9:15 a.m., with classes that run until about 10:15 a.m. The Fellowship Bible Class, formed from the 2019 combination of the Discovery and Fellowship Bible classes, has a long history of learning the Bible together and lifting each other up in prayer. The Friends in Faith class works through six-week series from the PCUSA curriculum Being Reformed, inviting guest speakers in between studies and welcoming drop-ins. Tuesday mid-day brings the Knuckleheads, a self-named group of about ten men who let scripture speak to current concerns in the church, the country, and their own lives, with participatory communal prayer at the close. Wednesday nights in fall and spring pair Bible studies with Church Night Suppers, the church's shared meal program.
The First Presbyterian Children's Center
The First Presbyterian Children's Center has been a ministry of the church since opening in August 1996. It is a Christian organization that provides developmentally appropriate childcare in a stimulating, nurturing, and secure environment, and is regarded as one of the leading preschools in the area. The center is open from 7:15 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and serves children from six weeks to five years, with classrooms grouped by age: Infants (six weeks to one year), Young Toddlers (one to two years), Older Toddlers (two to three years), PreK-1 (three to four years), and PreK-2 (four to five years).
The program is theme-based, with a wealth of opportunities for learning in centers, small groups, and environmental exploration. The fully fenced playground lets children safely play outdoors, and the classrooms themselves are designed with low built-in bookshelves and viewing windows. Children receive a morning snack, a hot lunch, and an afternoon snack each day, and children ages two and up attend a Chapel service each Wednesday morning. The center maintains a Three Star rating on the Star Quality ChildCare Program Report Card each year since 2001, and participates in the Tennessee Department of Human Services Child Care Certificate Program and Childcare Aware for military families. The center does not follow a public school calendar and is open during summer months and school breaks. The Children's Center is open to all families and does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, gender, handicap, or national origin.
Beliefs and the Sacraments
First Presbyterian belongs to the Presbyterian Church (USA), within the Holston Presbytery, and its life is shaped by the historic Reformed confessions. The Brief Statement of Faith, prayed regularly in worship, confesses the triune God who creates, redeems, and sustains, who raised Jesus from the dead, breaking the power of sin and evil and delivering us from death to life eternal. The Statement names the Holy Spirit as giver and renewer of life, who justifies by grace through faith, sets us free to love God and neighbor, and binds us together as the body of Christ. It ends with the prayer: Come, Lord Jesus.
The Presbyterian tradition recognizes two sacraments. Baptism enacts and seals what the Word proclaims: God's redeeming grace offered to all people, and the church recognizes all baptisms administered by other Christian churches. The Lord's Supper is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month, and the invitation is extended to all who have been baptized. The church teaches that access to the table is not a right conferred upon the worthy, but a privilege given to the undeserving who come in faith, repentance, and love. No one is excluded from the table because of race, sex, age, economic status, social class, handicapping condition, or difference of culture or language.
The Wider Work: Local Outreach
Outreach is a major expression of faith at First Presbyterian. The Clothes Closet provides quality used clothing, shoes, and coats to families and individuals in the community with short-term special needs or longer-term difficulty making ends meet. Family Promise of Greater Kingsport, a network of churches including First Presbyterian, houses homeless families with minor children, providing overnight accommodations, meals, and mentoring on the path back to independence. The church serves as one of the host congregations, with members preparing meals, hosting dinner and evening activities, and staying overnight when housing is active.
The church's kitchen in the Fellowship Center serves as a hub for Meals on Wheels, with lunches prepared Monday through Friday mornings and delivered to neighbors enrolled in the program. The Grab & Go Breakfast Ministry distributes forty to seventy bags of food each Saturday and Sunday from the Fellowship Center kitchen to the breezeway, paired with kind words and a listening ear. Backpack for Kids assembles weekend food bags at Second Harvest Food Bank and delivers them monthly to Kingsport City Schools for students who might otherwise go hungry. The Harvest of Hope Community Garden, on Charlemont behind the church on land donated by First Presbyterian, grows produce for neighbors in need. The church also supports the Salvation Army's Sunday lunch ministry, the Red Kettle bell-ringing campaign, Habitat for Humanity's annual Faith Build, the KCMC counseling ministry, and the American Red Cross of Northeast Tennessee. Mentoring partnerships with DB Excel and the Cora Cox Academy offer consistency and support to local students, and a maintained food pantry at Cora Cox addresses weekend hunger.
The Oasis, located at 1102 Mill Street in Kingsport, is a place for women to wash clothes, share life stories, and learn new ways of caring for themselves and their families in a Christ-centered setting. The church is a partner in this ministry through volunteer coordination and board leadership. Beyond these named efforts, the church supports numerous local service agencies and food pantries and participates in the national and international programs of the Presbyterian Church (USA). The Session, deacons, and members work together to respond to local and regional faith-based service opportunities as they arise.
Membership, the Diaconate, and Care
Becoming a member at First Presbyterian begins with baptism and a profession of faith and trust in God's grace in Jesus Christ. The only requirements are a desire to be part of the fellowship and ministry of the church. Members may join by transferring from another Christian church, by reaffirming faith before the Session, or by making an initial profession of faith. Baptisms from other Christian churches are recognized. An Inquirer's Class, offered three or four times a year on a Sunday afternoon for three hours, introduces the history, theology, mission, and witness of the Presbyterian denomination and the local congregation.
The Session, the church's governing body, consists of the active elders, the pastor, and associate pastors, all with equal voting privileges. Two youth elders are elected each year for one-year terms. The Session oversees the mission and government of the congregation through committees for Administration, Christian Education, Congregational Fellowship and Nurture, Finance, Outreach, Membership and Evangelism, Property, and Worship.
The Diaconate organizes the work of caring for the congregation through the Care Ministry Program. Every member is assigned to a small group overseen by a deacon, and twice a year the deacons organize a Care Ministry Dinner where each group gathers around a table for fellowship. The Diaconate's purpose is to show Christian love and compassion, ensure that all members are appropriately served and asked to serve, and build an open and effective communication system among members, staff, and officers.
A Place for Remembering and a Walking Prayer
The Memorial Garden and Columbarium, sited in the grassy area bordered by Holston and Charlemont streets and the church parking lot, provides a consecrated space on church property for the permanent inurnment of the cremated remains of communicant members of First Presbyterian and their immediate families. The Columbarium is a twelve-sided module with 192 niches, eight rows high, each measuring eight inches wide by eight inches high by sixteen inches deep, with granite faces engraved with the names and years of the deceased. Memorial plaques can be placed on one of the curved brick walls of the Garden. The Presbyterian Church (USA) is supportive of cremation as an appropriate means of dealing with earthly remains, and the Garden stands as a reminder that those who went before are not forgotten.
The prayer labyrinth, set on the church grounds, is open to anyone who wishes to walk and pray. Unlike a maze, the labyrinth has only one way in and one way out, with an open space at the center to stand, sit, or kneel. Walkers may use the Lord's Prayer, a hymn, or a breath prayer as they move; pause at each curve to pray for someone or something; let go of distractions on the way in; or simply rest in God's presence at the center. Children are welcome, and the labyrinth is shared by all who come.
A Congregation That Listens
First Presbyterian is a downtown church with a long history in Kingsport, with a sanctuary built for six hundred, a music program of unusual depth, a Children's Center that opens its doors to working families year-round, a Memorial Garden and Columbarium for the inurnment of members and their families, and a prayer labyrinth for those who walk to pray. The church's identity is shaped by the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Holston Presbytery, by traditional worship, and by a steady rhythm of Christian education, fellowship, and outreach. Visitors are welcome, and the parking lot, off West Charlemont Avenue, opens directly into the church lobby with coffee and homemade cookies in the foyer and greeters ready to help anyone find the right class, the nursery, or the sanctuary.