On the Corner of 12th and Conner Since 1848
First Presbyterian Church of Noblesville stands at 1207 East Conner Street, just east of the Noblesville courthouse square in the heart of downtown Noblesville, Indiana. The brick building has held worship services since 1893, but the congregation itself traces back to December 20, 1848, when it was organized with twelve members. Today the church counts about 220 members, with an average of 130 attending worship on a typical Sunday morning.
The mission of First Presbyterian is to spread God's word, expand God's family, and provide local and world mission to all people in the spirit of Jesus Christ. That mission expresses itself across a remarkably wide range of programs - from a children's Sunday School held during worship, to work trips to Appalachia, Ukraine, and Brazil, to an annual outdoor artisan market that fills the parking lot each August.
Sunday Mornings at Ten
Worship is held each Sunday at 10:00 a.m. in the sanctuary. The service is traditional in style, with a strong emphasis on the great hymns of the faith, scripture-based preaching, and choral music. Visitors can expect announcements, a time for the congregation's joys and concerns, prayer, responsive readings, an offering, and a sermon. Communion is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month, and the church practices open communion - anyone who believes in Jesus Christ is welcome to participate, whether or not they are a member.
Services are livestreamed online for those unable to attend in person, and bulletins and sermon manuscripts are posted online as well.
Where to Park, Where to Enter, and How to Hear
Visitors enter through a set of double doors on the south side of the building, which lead directly into the Fellowship Hall off the parking lot. A Welcome Center stands at the back of the Fellowship Hall, where greeters are waiting, coffee is brewing, and questions are welcome. After worship most people stay for fellowship and light refreshments in the same space.
For those with hearing difficulties, the sanctuary is equipped with a Phonak hearing loop system. Eight portable neck-loop receivers are available from the ushers; those with hearing aids containing an activated T-coil can simply switch to the telecoil setting. The loop also has FM capability for hearing aids with built-in FM receivers.
Dress is informal. The church explicitly invites visitors to come as they are - some arrive in their Sunday best, others in jeans. The only expectation is a willingness to worship.
A Pipe Organ Older Than the Cars in the Parking Lot
The music ministry at First Presbyterian is one of the church's most distinctive offerings, and at its center stands the oldest pipe organ in Hamilton County. The Kimball organ was installed in 1900 and dedicated on November 17, 1901, in a much-publicized community ceremony. The instrument cost $3,500 when new, and annual maintenance by the Kimball Company ran just $35 a year.
The organ was rebuilt in 1965 with electronic actions and again in 2002-2003, when it was dismantled, shipped to the Miller Pipe Organ Company in Louisville, Kentucky, and refinished to match the sanctuary's renovation. The pipes and the double-deck moveable console were completely rebuilt. Visitors who sit in the sanctuary on a Sunday morning hear the full sound of an antique instrument carefully preserved across more than a century.
Music Director Dr. Michael Davis has led the program since 2004. Davis, who also serves as Assistant Artistic Director of the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, oversees a program that includes the Chancel Choir (rehearsing Thursday evenings at 7:00 p.m., September through May), a children's choir, a bell choir, and an occasional "praise band" featuring a minister on bass. The Chancel Choir sings nearly every Sunday from September to May and performs larger works such as Handel's Messiah, cantatas, and musical dramas at Christmas and during Lent. Their repertoire ranges from classical to old hymn tunes, gospel, and contemporary music. In the summer months a rotation of "Special Music Volunteers" provides solos during worship.
Christ in the Arts
In 2015 Dr. Davis founded Christ in the Arts (CITA), a community concert series that opens the sanctuary and its remarkable acoustics to performers and audiences beyond the congregation. Past performances have included Vivaldi's Gloria, Faure's Requiem, southern gospel with His Design Quartet, a Black American gospel music celebration featuring vocalist June Rochelle and a twenty-voice gospel choir, grand piano concerts, and a Bluegrass Concert with a gourmet dinner fundraiser. CITA performances are free to the public.
The church also hosts a Summer Performing Arts Camp for children of all ages. This week-long experience replaces the traditional vacation Bible school. Campers help design the set and costumes, then perform twice for parents, grandparents, and the wider community.
A History Spanning Three Centuries
First Presbyterian's story begins long before the current building. The congregation grew out of the Stony Creek Presbyterian Church and Society, the first organized Presbyterian church in Hamilton County, located a few miles east of Noblesville on Middletown Road. Today only Stony Creek's peaceful cemetery remains.
One of the pioneers of Noblesville, Mr. John T. Carlin, would ride on horseback over corduroy roads to Indianapolis to bring the supply pastor out to the Noblesville church. The first twelve members were added to the rolls in 1848. The early congregation worshiped in a white frame building on the east side of South Catherine Street (now Ninth Street), just north of the present Richwine Apartment building.
The brick building on Conner Street was constructed in 1893 at a cost, including lot, of $15,000, and dedicated on February 11, 1894. The church's first parsonage was purchased the same year for $8,500 and still stands on the square, now home to Adriene's Flowers and Gifts.
After 1856 the church went through difficult years and was without a pastor for a time. On June 7, 1867, a reorganization took place that gave the congregation new life, and in early 1868 the Reverend John S. Craig, D.D., was called as pastor. "Father Craig" was remembered for a ministry of ceaseless giving - although his salary often amounted to less than $300 a year, benevolent contributions during his tenure were very large.
The sanctuary's stained glass windows were renovated in 2004-2005 through a generous bequest from a former member couple. A Christian Education wing was added to the back of the church in February 1959. The "Craig House," which originally stood east of the church, was purchased in July 1981 for classroom and meeting space, then moved across the street in March 1988. The new Fellowship Hall was completed in 1989 along with the renovation of the Christian Education wing.
An Intentional Interim Season
The church is currently between installed pastors. Interim Pastor Ken Locke, who has served as an intentional interim for almost eleven years, leads the congregation through the search for a new settled pastor. Locke, the tenth congregation he has served in this capacity, describes his role as shepherding and guiding the process rather than shaping the church's vision.
The interim period is expected to take eighteen to twenty-four months. The congregation is working through what the Presbyterian tradition calls the five interim tasks: reviewing and embracing the church's history, discovering a new identity, making way for new leadership, re-thinking denominational linkage, and committing to a new pastoral leader and a new future. A Congregational Mission Study Committee has been assembled and meets regularly to gather information about who the church has been, who it is now, what kind of church God wants it to be, and what attributes the next installed pastor will need.
Throughout this season, regular ministry continues. Worship, Sunday School, Bible studies, mission trips, the Red Geranium Artisan Market, Presbyterian Women's projects, and youth programs all keep their rhythms. The interim pastor preaches, teaches adult classes, writes a regular blog feature, and records short classes on subjects such as the lifecycles of churches, the role of leadership in organizational change, and how the Lewis and Clark expedition is a paradigm for the church's season.
Children, Rainbows, and Shooting Stars
Christian education for the youngest members of the congregation is one of the ministries the church most prizes. Children's Sunday School begins at 9:45 a.m. and runs through 11:15 a.m., with children dismissed from worship at about 10:20 to attend their classes. The church maintains a nursery staffed by two adult attendants for children from six weeks to three years.
The Sunday School program is organized by age group with memorable names. Rainbows is the class for ages three through kindergarten. Shooting Stars serves first through fifth graders. Middle and high school students are part of the Journey youth group, which meets during the Sunday School hour. Children's Ministry is led by Trish Moore.
Older youth in grades six through twelve participate in additional programs throughout the year, including the Summer Performing Arts Camp, Acolyte Service, mission trips, and field trips. The Acolyte program invites youth ages twelve to eighteen to take part in the beginning and ending of most worship services by lighting the candle that represents bringing the light of God into the service. Selection as an Acolyte is an honor, with training and selection happening twice a year; a leadership track exists for older Acolytes to mentor newer ones.
Many FPC youth have attended Camp PYOCA, the Presbyterian Youth Camp the church has supported for years.
Adults Growing Together
Adult Ministry at First Presbyterian encourages men and women of all ages to live courageously for Christ, supporting one another through prayer, education, and fellowship. A Sunday morning Bible Study is held at 9:00 a.m. each week in Adult Classroom S101, with various topics discussed from a biblical focus. A Wednesday evening Bible study meets from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. in the same room, and a Wednesday morning prayer group meets from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.
Seasonal studies round out the offerings. Small groups have gathered in members' homes to work through video series like "The Chosen" together. A Presbyterian Women's Circle Bible Study meets on the third Tuesday of each month at 1:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall, working through studies such as "Following Jesus" by Doug Connelly. A Monthly Ladies Lunch gathers at Perkins Restaurant in Noblesville on the second Monday of each month; sign-up sheets and contact information are available at the Welcome Center.
The Hands and Feet of Christ: Mission at Home and Abroad
Mission is at the heart of First Presbyterian. The congregation actively supports local, state, national, and international missions, believing that believers are called to spread God's words and love to make a positive difference in the world. Mission Team leader Jennie Auble helps coordinate the church's partnerships.
Locally, FPC supports the Feeding Team, which maintains free, twenty-four-hour outdoor food pantries operating on the honor system - "Take What You Need, Give What You Can" - to serve more than 44,000 food-insecure neighbors in Hamilton County. The Presbyterian Women have organized meal preparation for residents of the Riverwood neighborhood affected by recent flooding, working alongside several area churches. Each December the congregation works with the Good Samaritan Network of Hamilton County to sponsor families in need with gifts and food gift cards.
Each year the church sends a work camp team to Henderson Settlement in Frakes, Kentucky, a mountain outreach ministry of the Red Bird Missionary Conference of the United Methodist Church. Volunteers do home repair and building projects, and the trip blends hands-on service with time spent alongside local families. Longtime volunteers Kay and Lamar have served at Henderson for more than forty consecutive years.
The church has supported Last Bell Ministries in Ukraine for more than a decade. Support has come through financial gifts, donations of winter coats, clothing, and basic needs, and two mission trips to Ukraine for English Camp. Last Bell serves orphaned youth and orphan-parented families, reaches out to refugees, and supports community members who have evacuated from the war. FPC continues to pray faithfully for the people of Ukraine.
Through Men for Mission, an affiliate of One Mission Society, members have traveled to Londrina, Brazil, to do electrical wiring and wall painting at the Londrina Bible Seminary.
The Dorcas Basket ministry partners with several Presbyterian churches in Indiana to provide craft supplies for summer Bible school to Iglesia Evangelica Dominicana (IED) churches in the southern Dominican Republic. The project was inspired by a 2014 trip in which the FPC team learned how the women of a Jacquimeyes church helped one another with "Dorcas baskets" of food. Since 2015, FPC has provided craft-supply baskets each year for the Dominican churches.
In Malawi, Presbyterian Women provide birth kits - including trash bags, wash cloths, diapers, baby blankets, onesies, soap, and feminine hygiene products - for mothers-to-be in impoverished communities.
Operation Christmas Child, sponsored by Presbyterian Women, kicks off in July with a "Christmas in July" shoebox ministry. Members pick up wish cards from a white Christmas tree in Fellowship Hall, shop for personal hygiene items, clothing, toys, and other gifts for children ages two to fourteen, and bring filled shoeboxes to a packing party each November.
Presbyterian Women at Work
All women of the congregation are members of Presbyterian Women, which is part of the larger Presbyterian Women Auxiliary supporting Bible study, peace and justice advocacy, and mission work around the world. A Core Team meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. to plan activities, fellowship, Bible study, and fundraising.
Presbyterian Women organize bi-annual Rummage Sales (spring and fall) in the Fellowship Hall, featuring gently used clothing for adults and children, jewelry, purses, shoes, linens, toys, household goods, puzzles, books, small furniture, lamps, holiday decorations, electronics, and garden and sporting equipment. The proceeds fund local and global mission projects.
Other annual events include a Birthday Offering in April and September supporting women's missions related to education and hardship; a Claudine Bader Thank Offering Dinner on the Sunday before Thanksgiving with dessert fellowship and a guest speaker; Hanging of the Greens on the Friday or Saturday beginning Advent, when volunteers decorate the whole church with trees, wreaths, lights, and greens; an Annual Bake Sale in conjunction with the Red Geranium; discounted Crew Car Wash coupons in March supporting PW projects; and a Christmas Giving Tree with wish lists from local families.
The Red Geranium Artisan Market
Held annually on the third Saturday in August from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the church parking lot, the Red Geranium Artisan Market is the church's signature fundraising event. The market features dozens of artisans and vendors offering handmade gifts, artwork, jewelry, home décor, antiques, up-cycled goods, garden art, and boutique clothing. A live music stage, food vendors, and the famous Presbyterian Women Bake Sale round out the day. All proceeds go to local, state, and international mission projects.
Trunk-or-Treat and the Golden Pumpkin
Each year on the last Saturday in October, the Board of Deacons hosts a free Trunk-or-Treat event in the church parking lot. Congregation members decorate their cars and trucks and dress in costume for Halloween. Inside the Fellowship Hall, the Deacons serve a hot dog and chips brown-sack dinner and offer a make-and-take craft project. Visitors cast votes with tickets for their favorite trunks; the winner takes home the coveted Golden Pumpkin Award. Past winners have included trunks with biblical themes such as Noah's Ark and "We Three Kings."
The Prayer Blanket Ministry
Since 2003 the Prayer Blanket Ministry has provided handmade blankets to people facing medical treatment, illness, accident recovery, cancer treatments, or other difficult times. Church member Marlynn Story sews and embroiders each blanket. A card is pinned to the blanket with the recipient's name and a chosen Bible verse, and the goal is to have at least one hundred people touch and pray over the blanket before it is given. The ministry has now presented more than one thousand prayer blankets. Blankets may be requested by contacting Marlynn Story; a $25 contribution to the church is recommended to cover the cost of materials and embroidery.
Stewardship and Giving
First Presbyterian partners with Tithe.ly for online giving, offering one-time and recurring gifts by credit or debit card or ACH transaction. In the words of the church, "God is the Owner, we are His Managers." Stewardship is about giving from current resources, not waiting until "our ship comes in," and giving is the natural response of love for God and others.
Leadership and Governance
The Session governs the church. It includes six Elders elected by the congregation to three-year terms, along with the Pastor, the Clerk of Session, and the Recording Secretary. The Board of Deacons - twelve members elected for three-year terms - cares for and supports the congregation by organizing church activities and serving as a liaison between the church and the community. Karen McCord serves as Clerk of Session. Andrea Joines and another member serve as Deacon Co-Moderators.
First Presbyterian Church of Noblesville is a member congregation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), part of the Whitewater Valley Presbytery. Worship is held in English. The church adheres to the Apostles' Creed and celebrates the Holy Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Office hours are 9:00 a.m. to noon on weekdays and Sunday mornings. Whether you arrive for a quiet Wednesday morning prayer meeting, a Sunday School drop-off, a Henderson Settlement work trip, or simply to hear the Kimball organ echo through a sanctuary that has been praying for more than a century, you will find a small church family that takes its mission seriously and its fellowship warmly.