On a corner of Northeast J Street in Bentonville, Arkansas, just a short walk north of the Amazeum and the entrance trail to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, First Presbyterian Church anchors a congregation of about 300 people. They come from many walks of life, are new to Northwest Arkansas or have lived here for generations, and they gather around a single Sunday worship at 10:15 am that is also carried by livestream to Facebook and YouTube for those who cannot be in the sanctuary. The motto that runs through everything from the food pantry to the church's own preschool is short and plain: Trusting, Growing, Caring, and Serving Together in the name of Jesus Christ.
185 Years Along the Banks of Bentonville
The story of First Presbyterian Church begins six years before Benton County itself was founded. The congregation traces its roots to the Cumberland Presbyterian churches established in 1830 across Northwest Arkansas by the Reverends John and Andrew Buchanan. The church moved into Bentonville in 1840 and its first building was destroyed during the Civil War in 1862, then immediately rebuilt. In 1877 the congregation laid a new church at 406 West Central Avenue and worshipped from that site for 123 years, until the present building at 901 NE J Street was constructed in 2000.
The Presbyterians' influence on Bentonville education runs deep. Before public schools existed, the church helped establish the community's Sabbath School in 1866. In the 1930s, a student named Allen D. Clark created the first library in Bentonville in the basement of the church building. That posture of being useful to the wider town is still visible today, both through the FPC Food Pantry and through the church's own My Friends and Me Learning Center, the preschool and extended-care program that has cared for the children of Bentonville for more than two decades.
Sunday Morning at 10:15
The Sunday schedule is built to welcome every generation into one worship, and then to fan out into smaller rooms of formation and fellowship.
Worship begins at 10:15 am in the sanctuary, lasts about an hour, and is livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube. The liturgy is fairly traditional in its prayers, creeds and hymns, while the music and preaching incorporate room for variation and creativity. Communion is celebrated on the first Sunday of every month, and the church invites everyone - members, seekers, children - to partake at the table.
Children are full participants. A nursery for infants through age five opens at 9:00 am and is staffed by professional childcare workers and volunteers. Worship bags with age-appropriate activities are available at the sanctuary entrance, and a Children's Message in the service calls the kids forward to hear about the Scripture for the day. Older children who want to stretch their legs can step into a cry room next to the sanctuary that still lets parents see and hear the service. On Communion Sundays, children aged five and above stay in the service to take part in the sacrament alongside the rest of the congregation.
Children and Youth
Faith formation for the young is led by Katie McKenzie, the Director of Children and Youth Ministries, working alongside a body of volunteers and adult mentors.
J St. Kids, the Sunday morning program for K through 6th graders, gathers from 8:45 to 10:00 am in the Children's Wing during the school year. Children's Church meets immediately after the Children's Message for ages three through second grade. J St. Kids and Children's Church take a break on the first Sunday of each month, when everyone joins the sanctuary for Communion.
Youth Group, for seventh through twelfth graders, meets on Sunday afternoons from 4:00 to 5:30 pm in the Fellowship Hall and the youth rooms (located near the gym) during the school year. The youth explore Bible stories and relevant topics with plenty of snacks and an open space for questions. Special events through the year include a Wild Life Camp in the summer, a children's splash pad and picnic, an ice-cream fellowship after worship, and Trunk or Treat in the fall.
Adults: Bible Study, Circles and Speaker Series
Adult Sunday School meets at 9:00 am in the church library, before worship, and provides a steady rhythm of Bible study through the year.
Presbyterian Women carries much of the women's ministry. The church hosts two ongoing circles that study the annual Horizon Bible study on the second Thursday of every month: the Rachel Circle at 9:30 am and the Martha and Mary Circle at 6:00 pm. W.O.W. (Women of the Word) meets in the Bird's Eye Room on Thursday mornings as well, and Presbyterian Women also gathers for evening study in the Library. A monthly Men's Fellowship meets in the Library as well.
For adults in their twenties, thirties and forties, a Young Adult Group gathers roughly once a month, with activities chosen through polls on a group chat. Past gatherings have included mini golf, trips to Crystal Bridges and a white-elephant Christmas party, with childcare typically provided for those events.
Each fall the church hosts the Clabaugh Speaker Series, bringing a guest lecturer to town for two evening sessions on Saturday plus a Sunday morning preaching slot.
Music: The Chancel Choir and the Chancel Bells
Music is woven into the Sunday service and into the week. Daniel Fry, the Director of Music Ministries, leads the Chancel Choir, a mixed-voice ensemble that sings most Sundays and rehearses on Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 7:45 pm, with childcare provided on site from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. No audition is required, and singers from high-school age upward - including additional voices in every section - are welcomed throughout the year.
The Chancel Bells handbell ensemble rehearses on Sundays from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm, ringing three or four times across the Fall and Spring seasons. The ensemble welcomes new regular members and substitutes, with or without note-reading experience. The music ministry stretches across organ, piano, voice, bells and brass, and embraces everything from traditional anthems to more contemporary expressions of faith.
The Food Pantry and a Long Table of Mission
The FPC Food Pantry is one of the most visible expressions of the church's mission, both to its neighborhood and to the wider Benton County community. Operated in partnership with the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank, the pantry is open to county residents on Saturday mornings from 9:00 to 11:00 am and runs as a drive-through: clients line up in their cars in the south parking lot, where volunteers help load food into the trunk. Bringing a photo ID and proof of Benton County residency (such as a recent utility bill) is required to receive food.
Volunteers are the lifeblood of the pantry. On Friday mornings from 9:00 to 11:00 am, a separate crew packs boxes and sets up the Fellowship Hall. Volunteers sign up online for roles that include greeting clients, loading trunks, filling carts, stocking the cooler, doing data entry, and serving as site manager.
Beyond the food pantry, the church's Mission Team partners with a wide network of local and regional ministries. These include Havenwood (ministry with single mothers and their children), Souls Harbor (ministry with homeless men), Helping Hands (rent and utilities assistance, thrift store, and food pantry), Sharing and Caring of Benton County (with Christmas support for families in need), and Canopy of NWA (refugee resettlement and support). The church also actively supports Vera Lloyd Presbyterian Family Services, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and the Presbyterian Mission Agency.
AA and other community groups meet in the church building during the week, and the church hosts a Red Cross Blood Drive in the Fellowship Hall from time to time.
My Friends and Me Learning Center
For more than two decades, My Friends and Me Learning Center has offered daycare, preschool and extended care for children three months through five years old, right inside the church building. Founded in 2002 with Zinnuh Cooper (known as Ms. Z) as a founding program director, and now staffed with professional early-childhood teachers, the center is one of the longest-running community ministries of First Presbyterian. Some of the children enrolled today are second-generation families whose parents also attended My Friends and Me, a quiet testimony to the program's reach across the Bentonville community.
Beliefs Rooted in the Reformed Tradition
First Presbyterian is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and belongs to the Presbytery of Arkansas, a regional grouping of more than 75 Presbyterian churches across the state. As part of the Reformed branch of Christianity, the congregation affirms the sovereignty of God, the authority of Scripture to shape daily life, and the gift of salvation by God's grace.
The church's own statement of belief reads: We believe that God comes to us with unlimited grace and unconditional love in God's Son, Jesus Christ, who lived, died, and rose for us so that we might have abundant life in him, now and forever. We believe that in Jesus Christ, we find forgiveness, belonging, and the power to live in a new way. We believe that God sends the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, giving us the energy, intelligence, imagination, and love to follow Jesus as his disciples. We believe that we live out our faith not in isolation, but as a community that seeks to embody the love, justice, service and compassion of Jesus.
The church celebrates two sacraments. Baptism is a visible sign of God's claim on a person as a beloved child of God, whether for an infant or for an adult making a public profession of faith. The Lord's Supper (also called Communion) is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month, and the table is open to all who are seeking Christ.
The Sanctuary, the Columbarium, and a Stained-Glass Window
The current sanctuary, built in 2000 and topped off with a dedicated stained-glass window that the congregation has documented and dedicated for remembrance, is the home of Sunday worship. The building also contains a Fellowship Hall where members share meals together after worship, a Welcome Hall where visitors and longtime members gather for refreshments after the service, the church library, the Bird's Eye Room, and the children's wing.
Just as central to the long story of the church is the Columbarium, a vault of niches inside the building where members' cremated remains are kept in perpetuity. The church also owns the historic Maxwell-Mt. Eden Cemetery on Watertower Road in Bentonville, an heirloom of earlier combined Presbyterian congregations in the area; the cemetery is held by the church and cared for with periodic volunteer days.
Leadership and Shared Governance
In the Presbyterian tradition, leadership is shared between pastors and elders. First Presbyterian is shepherded by Rev. Dr. Georgia Senor, the Associate Pastor and Acting Head of Staff, who joined the congregation in 2014 and brings a background in hospital chaplaincy and parish ministry across Northwest Arkansas. Rev. Dennis Ritchie serves as Parish Associate, an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament in the PC(USA) with prior pastorates in Oklahoma and Bella Vista. The pastoral team is rounded out by Zinnuh Cooper, Director of My Friends and Me Learning Center; Katie McKenzie, Director of Children and Youth Ministries; and Daniel Fry, Director of Music Ministries.
The Session, the body of elders elected and ordained by the congregation, governs the church alongside the pastors. The Board of Deacons, likewise elected and ordained, extends the ministry of Christ's compassion to those in need - the poor, the hungry, the sick, the grieving and the friendless. Working through the deacons, members serve through meal trains, cards and transportation for neighbors in times of crisis.
A full Mission Team, a Fellowship Team, a Worship and Music Team, and dozens of other ministry teams give shape to the life of the congregation, while the Friday eBlast weekly email and a periodic print newsletter keep members connected to everything from Bible study to choir rehearsals to the food pantry schedule.
What a First-Time Visitor Finds
Visitors to First Presbyterian will find plenty of parking with visitor and handicapped spaces available on the J Street lot, no steps to navigate from the parking area to the sanctuary, and a bike rack near the south-side main entrance. Greeters and ushers are posted at the door and will point first-time guests to the sanctuary and answer any questions. The service lasts about an hour, with a Children's Message partway through. After worship, members gather for refreshments in the Welcome Hall.
Anyone who would like to talk with a pastor before visiting can call the church office at (479) 273-5450. Newcomer Gatherings are held several times a year for those considering making First Presbyterian their church home.