Set at the corner of Fourteenth Street and Elm Street on Greenville's south side, First Presbyterian Church has long been a fixture in Pitt County. Its sanctuary, instantly recognizable by a striking sloped roof that locals compare to a ski jump, draws people from across eastern North Carolina and from down the road at East Carolina University. The congregation identifies itself in plain words on its welcome materials: an inclusive and affirming faith community, an open door to all who seek Christ, and a "purple church" where people of every political leaning and life experience share the same pews and the same Communion table.
Worship in the Reformed Tradition
Worship is the heartbeat of life at First Presbyterian, and the rhythm of the week is built around it. From September through May, two traditional services are offered each Sunday at 8:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Both follow the contours of the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s Book of Common Worship, with unison prayers and hymns printed in the bulletin and projected for those joining online. Scripture readings, preaching, congregational singing, and the Lord's Supper all take their customary place.
The early service has the feel of a chapel gathering. It is the smaller of the two and is notable for featuring a solo from one of the church's Choral Scholars, with more piano and occasional instrumentalists. Communion is celebrated every Sunday at this service. The 11:00 a.m. service is the larger and more musically expansive offering, and it is the service that is livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook each week. The Sacrament of Communion is observed on the first Sunday of the month during the 11:00 service.
From the Sunday after Rally Day in mid-August through early August of the following year, the congregation gathers twice on Sunday mornings. When the school year ends, worship shifts to a single summer service at 10:00 a.m. The sanctuary stays comfortably full through both seasons, with members, ECU students, college staff, visitors from out of town, and longtime Greenville families all worshipping together.
A Music Program That Reaches Far Beyond the Choir Loft
If worship is the lighthouse, music is one of its brightest beams. Karrie Rushing, the Director of Music and Worship Arts, leads an extensive program of ensembles for singers and ringers of every age. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from East Carolina University and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Florida State University, and she serves on the executive boards of the American Choral Directors Association and the Presbyterian Association of Musicians. She co-directed the 2023 Presbyterian Association of Musicians Worship and Music Conference at Montreat.
The Chancel Choir, the core of the music ministry, is made up of high school, college, and adult singers and rehearses on Wednesdays from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. with a brief warm-up before the 11:00 service. It leads congregational singing each week and occasionally performs major works such as Schubert's Mass in G with chamber strings and Robert Ray's Gospel Mass, the latter of which drew a packed sanctuary on Confirmation Sunday 2026.
For handbell ringers, Westminster Chimes meets on Tuesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. and rings in worship two or three times a semester. The children's music program, for ages three through eleven, includes Cherub Choir, JAM Singers, and rotating Orff, percussion, and chime experiences throughout the year. Pop-up youth ensembles, a ukulele ensemble, and volunteer-led groups round out a program in which, as the church says, "everyone gets to participate in the big choir."
At the console of the Lewtak Organ and at the piano sits Brad Collier, a native of Goldsboro, North Carolina, who trained at East Carolina University and counts Colin Andrews, Janette Fishell, and Andrew Scanlon among his principal organ teachers. He holds the Service Playing Certificate and Colleague certification from the American Guild of Organists and serves as assistant director of First Year and Transition Programs in ECU's College of Engineering and Technology.
An Open Door: Beliefs and Welcome
First Presbyterian is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and its teaching follows the Reformed tradition. The church confesses belief in the triune God revealed in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is received as the living Word of God and the clearest lens through which to see God at work in history. Baptism is understood as a sign of God's unconditional grace, and the church recognizes all Trinitarian baptisms from other Christian traditions. In its own life, First Presbyterian baptizes infants, children, teenagers, and adults, whether at a profession of faith or on the promise of family and community.
On social questions, the congregation describes itself plainly: "The gospel is not partisan, but it is political in so much as it calls us to care for all creation and to work for the reconciliation of the world." Members span the full range of political ideologies, a posture the church calls being a "purple church." First Presbyterian is also open and affirming of LGBTQIA+ people, and church members and staff from that community serve in positions of leadership. The mission statement sums up the conviction: "We share our journey and grow in faith together - at times boldly and at times humbly - but always with the awareness that it is the daily giving of God's love to others we experience that same love and grace."
The church extends this welcome to visitors in very practical ways. Guest bags with information about the church are available after worship, and Pastor Karen Jackson typically makes herself available at the close of each service to greet newcomers in person.
Children's Ministry: First, and a Whole Lot of Fun
The children's wing runs all morning long. Childcare is offered from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for infants through five-year-olds, with a nursery for the youngest children and a separate room with playground access for three- to five-year-olds. The summer schedule shortens those hours slightly to 9:20 to 11:20 a.m. During the school year, the older children head to Kids Connect before the sermon for an interactive, multi-modal Bible lesson designed for preschool through fifth grade.
Worship bags, pew projects, and a liturgical library outside the sanctuary doors keep kids engaged even when they remain in the pew with their families. The library holds books, ribbons, fidgets, and quiet activities tailored to the day's scriptures. Snacks are provided, and the staff is accustomed to accommodating peanut-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, and dye-free diets. Trista Kremer, the Children's Ministry Director, is the contact for families whose children have particular needs, and parents are warmly welcomed into the classroom alongside their child. Vacation Bible School is offered each summer and is open to the wider community.
Youth Ministry: Faith, Hope, and Love
Brian Dilday directs the youth ministry for students in grades six through twelve, with a separate Fab Friday program that bridges fourth and fifth graders into the youth calendar. The week has three anchor points. Sunday School meets at 9:45 a.m. in the basement beneath the sanctuary. Youth Group gathers on Sunday evenings at 5:00 p.m. for Bible study, dinner, fellowship, and service projects, and Fab Friday offers a monthly Friday-night gathering with food, games, and field trips like ice skating, laser tag, and Christmas-light tours.
Confirmation is a year-long journey that begins in October for eighth graders and older. Confirmands attend weekly lessons, three retreats, and a slate of service projects including work at the Food Bank, Third Street School, Winterville Manor, and church grounds. Each student is paired with a dedicated elder or mentor, and the year culminates in a Confirmation Sunday ceremony in May, with Confirmands crafting personal faith statements as part of their final overnight retreat. Each summer, Brian leads a week of mission service learning, alternating between in-state, national, and international destinations, and takes the high schoolers to the Montreat Youth Conference.
UKirk at ECU: A College Ministry on the Corner
First Presbyterian serves as the home base for UKirk of Eastern North Carolina, a PC(USA)-supported collegiate ministry that reaches ECU students, Pitt County Community College students, and other young adults in the area. UKirk meets most Thursdays from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the church for dinner and programming. Free Food Mondays extend that ministry into the week. Pastor Karen Jackson, who sits on the UKirk College Ministries board, also partners with the ECU Jesse Peele Center in caring for LGBTQ+ students on campus.
Adult Faith Formation: Small Groups, Big Tables
Sunday morning is only one part of the formation rhythm. House Churches gather monthly around shared meals for conversation and prayer. Presbyterian Women circles meet at various times and places for Bible study, fellowship, and hands-on ministry, and the Men of the Church meet on the first Tuesday of each month at 7:00 a.m. at GK Cafe for breakfast, devotion, and conversation.
For older adults, the Senior Lunch Bunch meets on the first Wednesday of every month at noon in the Fellowship Hall. Members bring their own lunch; the church provides drinks, desserts, and programs that range from games to guest speakers. Age Venturers is a fellowship travel group that uses the church bus to visit places of interest around the region. The Cypress Glen Lunch takes place on the second Thursday of each month in the dining room at Cypress Glen, connecting the congregation with member residents of the local retirement community.
Mission and Outreach: The Open Door Goes Both Ways
First Presbyterian's Mission Ministry is one of the most active in the area, and the language the church uses is that the open door extends in both directions. Members are welcomed in, and the congregation goes out into Greenville and Pitt County to serve.
Food security is a major focus. The Backpack Buddies program sends bags of weekend meals home with food-insecure children identified through local schools. Each quarter, the church's children gather loose change during a "time for children" in worship through the Bucket Brigade, with proceeds going to the New Hope Presbytery Hunger Offering and to meals at the Community Crossroads Shelter. The church partners with Churches Outreach Network to pack food boxes for schoolchildren during the Easter and Christmas breaks, and it serves a hot dinner at the Community Crossroads Shelter once a month.
Children in foster care are served through a multi-year partnership with the local Department of Social Services. The congregation donates hygiene kits, suitcases, and stuffed animals to children entering the system and has hosted adoption matching events. It also partners with Lambs' Place, which supports young people aging out of foster care. The church also serves as the Pitt County sorting and distribution hub for the Marine Corps Reserve's Toys for Tots program.
Prayer Shawls and Prayers and Squares are smaller in scale but deeply felt. Yarn artists knit shawls in three sizes, distributed to ECU Hospice, ECU Palliative Care, and members in need of comfort. The quilters produce baby quilts for baptisms, sleep mats for children in Africa, taggy blankets for Aces for Autism, and quilts for fundraisers that support missions. Together they fill a dedicated quilting room inside the church.
Every spring, the congregation hosts Mayfest, a sprawling indoor-outdoor yard sale and bake sale that has raised funds for Pitt County nonprofits since 1999. With cheese biscuits, cinnamon rolls, hot dog lunches, a garden shop, and raffle baskets, Mayfest draws more than 1,000 community members and over 120 church volunteers in a single day. All proceeds are granted back into the community through an application process overseen by the church.
The Building and the Neighborhood
First Presbyterian is one of the most architecturally recognizable buildings on Greenville's south side. The sanctuary's distinctive sloping roof rises behind the cross and can be spotted from blocks away. Two parking lots, one off Elm Street and one off Fourteenth Street, flank the building. Visitors are encouraged to head for the welcome center behind the double glass doors, where greeters are ready to help with directions and a guest gift. Childcare, the children's wing, the sanctuary, and the Fellowship Hall are all on the first floor. Adult Sunday School classes are mostly on the second floor, reachable by an elevator off the Welcome Center. Youth classrooms are in the lower level beneath the sanctuary.
The campus also houses a dedicated quilting room, the chancel and choir rehearsal spaces, a parlor used for Prayer Shawls and other gatherings, and a Fellowship Hall that doubles as a venue for lunches, the Chili Cook-Off, and the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Dinner. The building is used for weddings and funerals, and a building use policy and request form is available for community groups wishing to reserve space.
The Staff Who Walk Alongside the Congregation
The congregation is served by a tight-knit staff led by Pastor Karen Jackson. A graduate of Texas A&M with a Master of Divinity from Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta and a recent Doctor of Ministry from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Karen came to Greenville in 2019 after pastorates in Columbus, Ohio, and Greensboro, North Carolina. She is a dynamic speaker, the editor of two Chalice Press parenting volumes, and a regular contributor to Presbyterians Today.
Karrie Rushing directs the music program, Brian Dilday leads the youth ministry, Trista Kremer oversees the children's wing, and Janice Gray, who has served the church for more than fifteen years, keeps the calendar, the bulletins, and the membership database running as Communications and Administrative Coordinator. Terrence Clemons, the Facilities Manager, has shepherded the building and grounds for over fifteen years and helps coordinate the annual Mayfest event.
Joining the Journey
Visitors who want to learn more can stop by the welcome center any Sunday morning or fill out a connect card on the church's visit page to be contacted by a pastor or member. A newcomer brunch is offered periodically for those who would like a low-pressure setting to meet others and ask questions. Sunday School, midweek Bible studies, choir, handbells, youth group, mission projects, and small groups all have open seats. For those ready to make First Presbyterian their church home, a New Member Information Form is available through the church office.
Online giving is available through the church's Shelby Systems portal, with the option to give by credit or debit card, bank draft, PayPal, Google Pay, or Apple Pay. Contributors can also text GIVE to 252-588-4588 to open the giving portal on a phone. Quarterly contribution statements are issued automatically, and an online account provides instant access to giving history.
First Presbyterian Church on South Elm Street is, in the words of its own welcome, an open door to all who seek Christ in their lives. The building has a roof shaped like a ski jump. The sanctuary has a great organ and a greater choir. The children's wing is buzzing by 9:00 a.m. The youth group is in the basement by 5:00 p.m. The mission projects are out the door and down the road. And every Sunday, two services - and in summer, one - gather a deeply varied family of faith around Word and Sacrament, with room always set for one more.