First Presbyterian Church of Barberton sits on Park Avenue West in Barberton, Ohio, a small city in northeast Ohio between Akron and Norton. The congregation is part of the Presbyterian Church (USA), connected to the Eastminster Presbytery and the Synod of the Covenant. Locally, the church is known for three things in particular: a warm, traditional Sunday morning worship service supported by a recently renovated pipe organ, a long-running Tuesday evening soup kitchen called Meals-To-Go, and its founding role in Barberton Area Community Ministries, a food and assistance network serving the 44203 zip code area.
Sunday Mornings at the Heart of the Congregation
Worship is the center of life together at First Presbyterian. The morning follows a clear rhythm that gives space for both learning and gathering.
At 9:30 a.m., Adult Sunday School meets along with a Youth Sunday School for students in grades 6 through 12. At 10:45 a.m., the congregation gathers for worship. Children's Sunday School for children from nursery through fifth grade runs alongside the worship service, so families with younger children can attend together. The pattern keeps a single Sunday morning flow that allows the whole church to arrive, learn, and worship without splitting the day between programs at different times.
Worship itself is described as a time when hearts and minds open to God and to the needs of one another. Hearers encounter God's word, are nourished at God's table, offer back praises and prayers, and celebrate the joy of knowing and serving the Lord. The Presbyterian tradition gives local elders wide freedom in how worship is ordered, and the Barberton congregation exercises that freedom with a classical, structured liturgy rather than a contemporary style.
A Music Program Built on a Renovated Pipe Organ
Music is a defining feature of Sunday worship. The sanctuary is anchored by a recently renovated pipe organ and a grand piano, both used every week. The regular choral forces include a Chancel Choir and a handbell choir, with guest musicians joining from time to time. The combination gives the church a traditional, fully accompanied worship sound that complements the spoken liturgy and congregational singing.
Members describe the music as an offering by the church's own musicians, who share their talents to inspire hearts and minds. For a visitor, the music signals the kind of congregation they will find inside: rooted in the Reformed tradition, deliberate in its worship, and shaped by the long history of American Presbyterian church music.
Meals-To-Go: Tuesday Soup Kitchen on Park Avenue West
One of the most visible ministries at First Presbyterian is a free weekly meal program that the church hosts in cooperation with several other area congregations. Each Tuesday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., the church opens its doors for Meals-To-Go, a to-go meal distributed in the church. There is no prequalification, no paperwork, and no questions asked.
The church understands that families and individuals move in and out of times of need, and the Tuesday meal is designed to meet that reality without barriers. Members serve as the host site while partner congregations help cover the work of preparation, serving, and cleanup. For many neighbors in Barberton, Tuesday at 4:30 has become a regular stop.
Barberton Area Community Ministries (BACM)
First Presbyterian Church is the founding congregation of Barberton Area Community Ministries, often shortened to BACM. What began inside the church has grown into a community ministry in its own right, eventually outgrowing its original space and now operating as a separate nonprofit focused on the 44203 zip code area.
BACM primarily provides food assistance and related help to households in the surrounding neighborhoods. In 2021 alone, BACM served 9,551 households and helped provide 430,861 meals. The scale reflects the need in the area and the steady work of volunteers and donors across the city.
First Presbyterian continues to support BACM in tangible ways, including ongoing donations of canned and boxed goods and direct financial support. For members, BACM is a way to extend the church's feeding ministry beyond its own walls without having to reinvent the work from scratch. The relationship is one of the clearest examples of the congregation's long-term investment in Barberton.
The Neighborhood Cupboard
In addition to the Tuesday soup kitchen and its partnership with BACM, the church helps keep a smaller neighborhood food cupboard running. When a local business owner decided to end support for the cupboard, members of First Presbyterian stepped in to make sure the resource did not disappear from the neighborhood.
Working alongside the local Salvation Army, church members regularly stock the cupboard so that families and individuals in the area can continue to access basic food items close to home. The Neighborhood Cupboard is a smaller, quieter ministry than the Tuesday meal, but it is the kind of steady, behind-the-scenes work that defines how the congregation responds to immediate need in Barberton.
What Presbyterians Believe, in Barberton Terms
First Presbyterian describes its faith in terms that are recognizably Reformed and unmistakably pastoral. The church affirms that God comes to humanity in grace and love through the person of Jesus Christ, and that Christ lived, died, and rose again to offer the free gift of eternal and abundant life to all who believe. As disciples of Christ, members seek to continue his mission of teaching the truth of God's word, feeding the hungry, healing the brokenhearted, and welcoming strangers. The Holy Spirit is named as the one who supplies the energy, intelligence, and imagination to serve as Christ's disciples in an ever-changing world.
Many members arrived at First Presbyterian from a variety of faith backgrounds, and for some it is their first experience in a community of faith. The church is open about that diversity and names it as part of what holds the congregation together: a common desire to know, worship, and serve Christ. Visitors are welcomed where they are and invited to travel with the church in faith.
The congregation also affirms that all persons are created in the image of God and are beloved children of God, and that no one can be faithful enough to earn God's grace and mercy, which is freely given to those who believe and obey.
Governance: Elders, Deacons, and the Larger Church
Like other PC(USA) congregations, First Presbyterian is governed by elders. The word "presbyter" is a New Testament term from the original Greek that refers to a ruling elder of the early Christian church. Today, the elders provide spiritual and administrative guidance to the local congregation, and the elders currently serving as leaders of the church together form the Session.
Deacons, also mentioned in the New Testament, are elected and ordained by the congregation to care for the needs of the people. Together, the Session and the board of deacons carry the practical work of ministry inside the church.
First Presbyterian is also connected to the wider church through three levels of structure: the Eastminster Presbytery, which covers five counties in northeast Ohio; the Synod of the Covenant, which covers Ohio and Michigan; and the denomination's headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky. That triple connection means the Barberton congregation is part of a regional and national network of roughly 10,000 Presbyterian congregations in the United States, with many more worldwide.
Getting to Park Avenue West
First Presbyterian Church is located at 636 Park Avenue West in Barberton, Ohio 44203. The phone number for the office is (330) 745-2161. The Sunday schedule is the most useful starting point for a first visit: arrive by 9:30 a.m. for adult and youth Sunday school, and join the worship service at 10:45 a.m. Children from nursery through fifth grade have their own Sunday school during the worship hour. Anyone interested in the Tuesday Meals-To-Go program can stop by the church between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. on Tuesdays to pick up a free to-go meal.
The congregation's mission statement captures the work of the whole church in a single line: "We are followers of Jesus Christ, Sharing God's Word, Showing God's Love, Serving God's Creation, Striving to Glorify God, Always!" On any given Sunday, that mission shows up in the music from the Chancel Choir and the sound of the recently renovated pipe organ, in the children gathered for their own Sunday school, in the elders and deacons carrying the work of the Session, and in the food that goes out the door on Tuesday afternoons to neighbors across Barberton.