On a wooded stretch of Old Chapel Hill Road in southwest Durham, Westminster Presbyterian Church has stood since the late 1960s as a hub of worship, music, education, and outreach for one of the Triangle's fastest-growing corridors. The congregation describes itself as "a church with a big heart," but the deeper description comes from the words Westminster prints above its entrances and on the cover of every bulletin: Do Justice, Love Kindness, Walk Humbly. That verse from Micah 6:8 is not a slogan at Westminster; it is the working charter of a congregation whose members serve food at Urban Ministries of Durham, lead adult studies on racial equity, host three Scout troops on their campus, and gather every Sunday morning to sing with a Chancel Choir backed by a Reuter pipe organ.
Today the church is home to a week-day preschool, a classically oriented music program, and a sprawling ministries calendar that runs from Sunday School to a youth pilgrimage that, every four years, takes high schoolers to the island of Iona off the coast of Scotland. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) members look to the Rev. Dr. Chris Tuttle as Pastor & Head of Staff and to a team of pastors and directors for spiritual leadership, while a Session of rotating elders and a Diaconate of rotating deacons share the work of governance, fellowship, and care.
Founded by 124 Charter Members in 1963
In September 1962, about a hundred people met at Hope Valley School to plan a new Presbyterian church for the rapidly growing southwest Durham area. The following year, Westminster was officially organized by Granville Presbytery (today known as the Presbytery of New Hope) with 124 charter members. The first worship service was held on May 26, 1963, also at Hope Valley School. By early 1965, the congregation was ready to build. The land for the campus was donated by Mrs. C.T. Council, Sr., and the Education Building and Fellowship Hall were completed in early summer 1967.
The vision from those founding days has continued to shape the church. Westminster's Statement of Public Witness, adopted by its Session, reads Micah 6:8 with both gratitude and urgency. The Session feels the weight of the present moment, the document says, and calls the church "to actively work towards righting what is wrong, especially for the most vulnerable among us"; to affirm the God-given humanity of every person regardless of race, gender, sexuality, or nationality; and to walk humbly in a broken world "by living in harmony with the earth, extending the hand of friendship, and with God's help, loving our enemies." The same welcome that informs that statement undergirds Westminster's membership vows: the church celebrates the ordination of officers and weddings regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation, and reads the same reading as a covenant people seeking to follow Jesus in worship and service together.
Sunday Mornings in the Sanctuary
Worship lies at the center of life at Westminster. From September through May, two services fill the sanctuary: an 8:30 a.m. gathering the church describes as "low-key and prayerful," and an 11:00 a.m. service that builds to what the staff calls an "exuberant energy," with children at play, friends greeting friends, and members signing up for mission projects at tables in the Courtyard between services. From Memorial Day to Labor Day the two services condense into one at 10:00 a.m.
Nursery care opens at 8:15 a.m. and runs through both morning services, and Church School for all ages begins at 9:45 a.m. Children are welcomed into the sanctuary at both services; after the Children's Message at 11:00 a.m. those aged four through first grade are escorted to a Godly Play room in the Holderness Mission Center, where parents can pick them up after worship. Communion is served by intinction once a month, and the bread is gluten-free. Members and visitors alike are welcome at the table; details appear in each Communion Sunday bulletin. The order of worship is traditional in form, the church insists, but "far from stuffy and overly formal." For those who cannot attend in person, services are livestreamed on Westminster's YouTube channel.
Music that Centers the Worship
If anything defines Westminster's identity in Durham, it is the classically oriented music program. The sanctuary houses a Reuter pipe organ, and each Sunday the sounds of Bach, Buxtehude, and present-day composers fill the room alongside congregational hymn singing. The Chancel Choir, the program's backbone, rehearses Thursday evenings from 7:30 to 9:15 p.m. and Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m., and provides music for the 11:00 a.m. service from September through May. Membership in the choir is open to all, not only to members of the church, and seasonal commitments are an option for those whose schedules preclude regular attendance.
Around the Chancel Choir, Westminster has built a small constellation of ensembles. The Summer Choir operates from June through August, rehearsing only Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m.; children ages six to twelve are welcome with an accompanying adult. The Westminster Ringers, the church's handbell choir, performs roughly three times a year, mostly during Advent. A Brass Ensemble of trumpets, trombones, French horn, and tuba plays for Christmas Eve and Easter without a fixed rehearsal schedule. The Holy Trebles Children's Choir, open to third through sixth graders, rehearses after the 11:00 a.m. service in the fall and sings for the Christmas Pageant and a family service on Christmas Eve. Special appearances by visiting choirs, including Music Mission Kiev and the Kyiv Ladies Chorus, have become a regular feature of the year's programming.
Forming Children from Toddlers through Sixth Grade
Westminster takes seriously the work of forming young disciples. Sunday morning Church School classes run from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. for children and youth from age two through twelfth grade. The youngest learn in a Godly Play room, a Montessori-inspired space where storytelling, art, singing, and imaginative play teach the arc of God's story. Children enter Godly Play after the Children's Message at the 11:00 a.m. service and stay through the rest of worship.
M&Ms (Music, Arts, & Missions) is Westminster's after-school program for elementary-aged children: regular M&Ms for grades one through five meets Wednesdays from 3:45 to 5:00 p.m.; M&Ms Mini, for ages three through Kindergarten, gathers on the last Wednesday of each month during the same window. The M&Ms program invites children to explore chimes, bells, and percussion, and offers their musical offerings back to the community in worship, at the Christmas Pageant, and in retirement homes. During Advent, the youth of Westminster present the church's annual Lovefeast on the afternoon of the first Sunday of Advent, drawing singers from the Chancel Choir and the wider community into a candlelit service of scripture and song. Children's programming is led by Marietta Wynands, Westminster's Director of Christian Education, and supported by teams of adult volunteers who complete the church's Child & Youth Protection Policy training every three years. The Nursery, professionally staffed and assisted by volunteers, serves children during Sunday morning worship and the Church School hour, and lives on the ground floor of the Holderness Mission Center.
Youth Group, Service, and Pilgrimage
Westminster's Youth Program serves young people in grades six through twelve and their families. From September through April, the Youth Group meets on Sunday evenings from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. on the church campus for a simple meal, conversation, games, and projects. The program is intentionally open: members and non-members, Christians and non-Christians alike are welcome. Each week, members of the congregation take turns preparing the meal, and Youth Advisors volunteer alongside the students to lead discussions, play games, and provide a listening ear.
Service is woven into the rhythm of the year. Westminster youth have served dinner at Urban Ministries of Durham, run diaper drives for the Diaper Bank of North Carolina, distributed groceries with the Emanuel Food Pantry, helped organize Durham Really Free Markets, undertaken simple home repairs through Appalachia Service Project, prepared lunches for striking teachers, and attended City Council meetings with Durham CAN. Pilgrimage is the other pillar of the program. Each summer, middle schoolers go to Massanetta Springs and high schoolers attend the Montreat Youth Conference; every January, college-aged young people gather at the Montreat College Conference; a regional service-learning trip is scheduled for late June; a fall weekend on the coast invites high schoolers to set intentions for the year; and every four years a small group of high school students travels to the island of Iona in Scotland. The program is led by Alex Stayer-Brewington, Westminster's Pastor for Youth & Their Families.
Bible Roundtable, the Aperture Series, and Adult Study
Adults at Westminster have a long menu of study options. Sunday morning Church School classes meet during the 9:45 a.m. hour, with most running September through May and a few year-round. Bible Roundtable, a long-running class, works through a single book of the Bible verse by verse; The Present Word, a lectionary-based study, welcomes regular participants and drop-ins; Sojourners considers what it means to live Christianly in contemporary society; Pathways is designed for those newer to Westminster.
Short-term electives are scheduled on Sunday mornings throughout the year. Midweek, the Monday Morning Study Group meets to read and discuss books such as Marjorie J. Thompson's Soul Feast; the Thursday morning Doorways women's prayer and Bible study gathers from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m.; the Thursday noon Men's Book Club, led by the Rev. Chris Tuttle, welcomes newcomers on the third Thursday of each month; and the Seekers women's fellowship Bible study meets on the second Monday of each month at 7:15 p.m. Once a month, on a Wednesday evening, the Aperture Series brings speakers and seekers, authors and professors into Fellowship Hall for an evening the church describes as "seeking light on God's truth through the stories, struggles, and experiences of God's people." Recent Aperture topics have included pilgrimages: the fall 2026 gathering featured reflections from members of Westminster's Alabama Civil Rights Pilgrimage and from Pastor Cherrie Henry and her husband Andy, who walked the Camino de Santiago.
Racial Equity and the Moral Message
Westminster's Racial Equity Ministry began in the weeks following the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020. A group of roughly fifteen people met virtually, took the 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge, and read together James H. Cone's A Black Theology of Liberation and Howard Thurman's The Luminous Darkness. From those meetings, the team developed a mission statement that has guided its work since: "to engage the Westminster community in dismantling systemic racism through a process of learning, spiritual growth, and individual and collective actions." The Ministry organizes itself around Christian Education, spiritual growth ("inreach"), and individual and collective action ("outreach").
The Racial Equity Ministry also staffs Westminster's participation in the interchurch Moral Message Ministry. Together with Covenant Presbyterian, First Presbyterian, Cary Presbyterian, Trinity Avenue Presbyterian, and the Church of Reconciliation, Westminster members gather to learn about pending legislation and to write to government officials and newspaper editors. The group's stated purpose is to "bring more love and inclusion to government policy at all levels." The Business Manager, Sharon Morgan, is a registered notary and notarizes mail-in ballots for those who need it.
Serving Durham and the World
Westminster's local mission work runs through more than twenty partner organizations. In affordable housing and safe shelter, the church supports Families Moving Forward, Durham Habitat for Humanity, Housing for New Hope, and Community Empowerment Fund. In food and hunger relief, the church works with the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina (the beneficiary of produce from Westminster's own community garden, founded in 2011), with Rise Against Hunger through an annual meal-packing event each fall, and through Roots & Wings. Members volunteer at the Emanuel Food Pantry, prepare and serve supper at Urban Ministries of Durham on the fourth Tuesday of each month, and support CROP Walk Durham and Meals on Wheels of Durham.
In education and human services, Westminster is connected to Durham Nativity School, New Hope Community Center, Reality Ministries, StepUp Durham, and Threshold Clubhouse, among others. On the campuses of nearby universities, Westminster underwrites Presbyterian campus ministry at Duke (Duke PCM), NC Central (PC at NCCU), and UNC-Chapel Hill. Globally, the church provides ongoing financial support to missionaries serving in Mexico (through the Antioch Partners), and to partners including Bull City Fair Trade, Music Mission Kiev, the Haitian Organization for the Relief of Children, the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, and World Relief Durham, which supports refugee resettlement. Westminster members have also responded to hurricanes and tornados in North Carolina and beyond.
The Campus and Its Many Doors
Westminster's campus includes the Sanctuary, where Sunday worship and special services take place; a central Courtyard that serves as a gathering space between services; the Holderness Mission Center, a three-story building named in honor of the Rev. Haywood Holderness, Westminster's Pastor Emeritus, whose long ministry in connecting the church to the community inspired the renaming. The Mission Center houses the Westminster School for Young Children, the Nursery, and Church School classrooms on the ground floor; staff offices, the Parlor, and a conference room on the second floor; and additional classrooms, the Youth Suite, and the Music Room on the third. A new Fellowship Hall, completed in 2021, is also made available to community organizations.
The grounds include the 1986 Memorial Garden, a resting place for the cremated remains of members; a Prayer Trail of mulched paths and benches inviting reflection and meditation; the Westminster Community Garden, planted in April 2011 and tended by volunteers who donate produce to the food bank; a playground for church and preschool families; and Calhoon Cabin, a log structure built by the congregation in the summer of 1975 and named for Forest Calhoon, who led its construction. The Cabin hosts Boy Scout Troop 451, La Nueva Jerusalén (a sibling Spanish-speaking congregation that meets on campus for Bible studies, youth programs, and worship), and the preschool. Other community groups that share the Westminster campus include the Hope Valley YMCA's Y Learning Program, Mothers of Multiples, NAMI Family Support Groups, Narcotics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, Nar Anon, the Durham Community Concert Band, CHADD, the Executive Service Corps, the Linus Project, Pack 451 Cub Scouts, Troop 451 Boy Scouts, and Troop 1806 Girl Scouts.
Caring for One Another, from Prayer Shawls to Supper Clubs
Pastoral care at Westminster is organized through the office of the Pastor for Congregational Care & Mission, currently the Rev. Cheryl "Cherrie" Barton Henry. Pastors visit members in hospitals, convalescent homes, hospices, and private residences; with permission, prayer concerns are shared with the congregation to encourage cards, calls, and visits. The Congregational Care Committee maintains a Prayers & Cares list, coordinates meals for those in need, delivers flowers to members who need cheer, helps organize the All Saints' observance in worship, and oversees the Young Adults Buddies program. A Prayer Shawl Ministry knits and dedicates shawls for members in illness or crisis.
To help members plan ahead, Westminster provides an End-of-Life Wishes form and a Funeral Planning Guide, both available through the church office. Fellowship is offered at every level. Oldies But Goodies, a lunch group for retirees, gathers on the fourth Friday of each month; Lunch Bunch, a women's lunch group, meets on the first Monday; the Grief Group Gathering (GGG) meets for lunch on the second Tuesday. Supper clubs gather on Friday or Saturday evenings in members' homes or at local restaurants. Annual fellowship events include a churchwide fall retreat, a women's retreat each spring and fall, Durham Bulls nights, and museum outings.
The Pastors and Directors Who Walk with Westminster
The Rev. Dr. Chris Tuttle has been Westminster's Pastor & Head of Staff since 2008. A native of Black Mountain, North Carolina, he grew up at the Montreat Conference Center and was educated at Davidson College and Columbia Theological Seminary. He serves on Durham's Homeless Services Advisory Committee, the Allocations Committee of the Partnership for Children, and the board of the North Carolina Council of Churches. Cheryl Barton Henry, the Pastor for Congregational Care & Mission, was ordained in 1987 and has served Presbyterian churches as a minister of education, co-pastor, and parish associate. She taught spiritual formation at Duke Divinity School for ten years. Alex Stayer-Brewington, the Pastor for Youth & Their Families, came to ministry after years of working in homeless shelters, and his faith was shaped by monastic communities in India and Ireland. A graduate of UNC Chapel Hill and Duke Divinity School, he is a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. Thankam Rangala, the Pastor for Neighborhood Partnerships, was born and raised in Bangalore, India, and brings decades of healthcare-administration experience and a Duke Divinity School M.Div. to her work connecting Westminster to its southwest Durham neighbors.
Marietta Wynands, the Director of Christian Education, holds a Master of Christian Education from Union Presbyterian Seminary and Certification as a Christian Educator in the PC(USA). Seung Ah Kim, the Director of Music Ministry, holds a DMA in piano performance from the University of South Carolina and has taught applied piano at UNC Pembroke since 2006. Laura Johnson directs the Westminster School for Young Children, the church's weekday preschool program. Joye Hodges Douthart directs communications and the stewardship program, and is an ordained deacon in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Affiliated with the Presbytery of New Hope
Westminster is a member congregation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and sits within the Presbytery of New Hope, which also connects Westminster to Durham Congregations in Action and other regional ministries. The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and on Fridays from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The staff works varied schedules, both on campus and remotely, and visitors are encouraged to call ahead. The building at 3639 Old Chapel Hill Road, Durham, NC 27707 stands behind a stand of trees and beside the campus garden; the main number is (919) 489-4974. Sunday worship is offered at 8:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. from September through May, with a single 10:00 a.m. service during the summer. Those who would like to support Westminster's mission and ministries can give online, by check, by direct debit, by stock, or by planned gift through the church's myWPC portal, or simply place a gift in the offering plate on Sunday morning.