Second Presbyterian Church of Knoxville sits on Kingston Pike on the west side of Knoxville, Tennessee, in a stone Gothic building the congregation has occupied since 1954. The church's story reaches back to October 1818, when a group of members from First Presbyterian Church asked the Presbytery of Union for permission to start a "Second" Presbyterian Church in town. Today, two centuries later, Second Presbyterian (often called 2nd Pres Knox) is a PC(USA) congregation of roughly 200 people with a long memory, a livestreamed worship service, and a licensed preschool on its campus.
A Church Shaped by the Issues of Its Time
The congregation was born in the ferment following the War of 1812. The public reason for forming a new church was a disagreement over pew rental policies at First Presbyterian. The unwritten reason was slavery. First Presbyterian had declared itself in favor of the institution; those who disagreed, including both free and enslaved African Americans among the charter members, sought their own congregation. After the Presbytery of Union turned down the original petition, the Synod of Tennessee granted a charter. The church's first pastor, the Rev. Isaac Anderson, preached in Knoxville every other week from his post at New Providence Presbyterian Church in Maryville and went on to found what became Maryville College in 1819.
Second Church joined the New School General Assembly in 1838, the branch of Presbyterianism with strong antislavery convictions. By the eve of the Civil War the congregation had become a pro-slavery church, and during the war the Union Army commandeered its building. Worship was effectively suspended until March 1865, when the War Department returned the building. As the church rebuilt, its African American members organized Shiloh Presbyterian Church in September 1865, the oldest African American church in Knoxville and still in existence. After the war, Second Presbyterian established churches and missions across Knoxville, supported mountain schools in Sevier and Cocke Counties, contributed to a hospital in China, and became a leader in women's organizations and the suffrage movement.
In 1905 the congregation sold its downtown building at Clinch and Market and erected a larger stone Gothic structure two blocks away. By the early 1950s that building had also become too small, and in 1954 a close congregational vote, 306 to 292, sent Second Presbyterian "all the way out" to Kingston Pike. A nearby group of members who chose not to make the move eventually affiliated with the United Church of Christ.
A Decision in 2014 and a Fresh Start
The 1990s and 2000s brought a building renovation, the launch of the Preschool of Second Presbyterian Church in 1996, and growth in youth and mission work. Following the national PC(USA) decisions in 2011 and 2014 that allowed the ordination of practicing homosexuals and redefined marriage as a covenant between two people, the congregation divided. In December 2014 about 350 members left with the Rev. Sam Wiley (the pastor called in 2009) to form a new, unaffiliated congregation.
Those who remained called the Rev. Tim Reynolds as pastor in 2016. Reynolds had attended Second Presbyterian as a University of Tennessee student in the 1980s. In September 2017 the Session adopted the vision statement that still guides the congregation: "Responding in gratitude to God's love and grace, we are a welcoming, faithful, and hopeful community, following Jesus and serving him in the world." In 2018 the congregation marked its 200th anniversary with concerts and an endowment that funds scholarships each year for students at Maryville College or the University of Tennessee. That same year the Rev. Sarah Morgan was called as the first woman to serve on the pastoral staff of Second Presbyterian.
Sunday Mornings on Kingston Pike
Worship is the center of life at 2nd Pres Knox. Sunday School meets at 9:30 a.m., and the worship service gathers at 10:30 a.m. in the sanctuary. The service is also livestreamed on YouTube, and the church's YouTube channel keeps recordings of every service going back to 2017. Following worship, the congregation hosts a coffee and fellowship time in a room adjacent to the sanctuary, where newcomers are encouraged to linger. Worship is described by the congregation as traditional in content but casual in atmosphere; suits and blue jeans sit side by side. The order mixes hymns, Scripture reading, prayer, and Biblical preaching that the church describes as connecting faith with life, with musical styles ranging from classical to modern.
The Director of Music and Arts, Matthew Mimbs, oversees a music program that incorporates a wide range of instruments and artistic expressions. The staff organist, Sarah Warner, joined the team with degrees in organ performance and theology from Bellarmine University and is a member of the Knoxville chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Children are regularly included in worship in ways that affirm their place in the community of faith, and the church describes worship as joyful, reverential, sincere, and genuine.
Bringing Children Along
For families with young children, the front of the sanctuary includes a family worship area with tables, chairs, and activities that connect with the day's service. Parents can sit on the front pews right behind the tables so little ones can cuddle if needed. Worship Bags with quiet activities are also available as worshipers enter the sanctuary. A nursery for children from birth through age 6 sits in the Preschool wing to the right of the breezeway from the parking lot and is available during the service for children who want to play or for parents who prefer to worship without their children.
Growing as Disciples
Small groups are central to how the congregation forms disciples. Growth Groups are 8 to 14 people who meet weekly during the fall, winter, and spring quarters (with a summer break) in homes throughout the community, with a few meeting at the church. Each session lasts 8 to 10 weeks. Groups are led by a trained leader and a trained host, meet for about 90 minutes, and include one social event and one service project per quarter. The study follows a "Lecture-Lab" model built around the previous Sunday's sermon, with Bible passages and questions printed on the back of the sermon note sheet. Special Interest Growth Groups use a different curriculum or shared interest, such as marriage enrichment, parenting, Christianity 101, Presbyterianism, knitting, gardening, or golf. Children's and student ministries are organized under a Children and Youth Ministry Coordinator, Holly Grimm.
The church also offers ongoing Bible study resources on its site, including a multi-session study of the PC(USA) Book of Confessions that takes members through the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds, the Scots Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Second Helvetic Confession, the Westminster Confession, the Theological Declaration of Barmen, the Confession of 1967, the Belhar Confession, and A Brief Statement of Faith.
Caring for One Another and for Knoxville
The congregation describes its ministry in four overlapping circles: Worship, Connect, Grow, and Go. Connect covers fellowship events, small groups, retreats, member assimilation, congregational care and visitation, extended communion, receptions, Stephen Ministry, and wellness programs, with the Associate Pastor for Congregational Life and Mission as the primary staff resource. Go focuses on ministries beyond the church's walls: local mission and volunteer opportunities, national and global missions, social witness and creation care, evangelism and community relations, special offerings, and work trips.
A long-standing partnership with West View Elementary anchors the congregation's local outreach. Members serve as classroom helpers, mentors, and readers, help fund the Safety Patrol trip to Washington D.C. each year, and spend a Saturday each August getting the school ready for the new academic year with landscaping, cleaning, painting, and other projects the staff requests. The church also supports hunger ministries, clothing drives, the Presbyterian campus ministry at the University of Tennessee (UKirk @ UTK), missionaries abroad, and other Knoxville-area ministries, and it is a member of the Compassion Coalition.
The Preschool of Second Presbyterian Church
The Preschool has operated on the church campus since 1996 and has earned Tennessee's 3 STARS rating each year since 2002 and the Gold Sneaker Award since 2020. The program is licensed by the Tennessee Department of Human Services and uses the TN Early Learning Developmental Standards as the foundation for daily lesson plans. Children from infants through pre-kindergarten explore art, music, and movement, and the three older classrooms share a weekly chapel where they learn that God loves them. Two outdoor play spaces and a carpeted gym for gross motor play on rainy or cold days round out the facilities. More than half of the preschool's staff have been with the program for ten years or more.
What Presbyterians Believe, and What This Church Says
Second Presbyterian is a member congregation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the largest Presbyterian body in the United States, and is part of the Presbytery of East Tennessee. The congregation looks to Scripture as its primary guide and to the PC(USA) Book of Confessions as a secondary guide. A Brief Statement of Faith, one of the denomination's official confessions, is cited as a helpful orientation to what the church teaches.
The congregation's welcome statement is part of its identity: "Because we are committed to the imagination, dignity, hospitality, healing, courage, and community modeled by Jesus, 2nd Presbyterian Church welcomes everyone - inclusive of age, race, ability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and stage of belief. Here at 2nd Pres Knox, all means all." The church has adopted an Anti-Racism policy and works for justice on behalf of those who experience injustice, seeking to be agents of reconciliation in the wider community.
Visiting, Connecting, and Giving
The church office at 2829 Kingston Pike is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and the main phone line is 865.523.2189 (the preschool number is 865.523.9997). Visitors who would like to experience the congregation before coming in person are encouraged to watch a few services on the church's YouTube channel. Those ready to visit on a Sunday morning can park and enter from the breezeway that leads to the Preschool wing on the right; the sanctuary is straight ahead. Coffee follows the service.
Giving is offered online through the church's Realm giving page. Worship bulletins, sermon note sheets, the monthly newsletter "The Second Edition," weekly e-news, sermon recordings, Growth Group homework, and Bible study materials are all available through the church's online archive, along with a long-running blog. The Rev. Tim Reynolds and the Rev. Sarah Morgan, along with ministry leaders across the four ministry teams, are glad to help newcomers find a place to serve or to connect.