Prior to 1993, this congregation concentrated on worshiping God and reaching out to the community and to each other, as of course we still do. However, in November of 1993, the whole denomination was shocked (as were several other mainline denominations) with “Re-imagining God” that was introduced at an interdenominational feminist conference, financed and planned by denominational funds and influential staff members. Since that time, First Presbyterian Church of Hendersonville has grown in their awareness of denominational processes and controversies observed and informed primarily through the Larger Church Committee of our church. This committee was established in 1996 and is currently very active in denominational and presbytery concerns.

Our intention in letter-writing and the web-posting our concerns is not to divide the body of Christ, but to bring it together by speaking the truth in love. The redirecting of a portion of our Per Capita funds is, but one small part of an overall effort by First Presbyterian Church to show this denomination that we care enough to confront, to work for change, and to encourage all that is good. For a number of years, we have been very active in our own Presbytery and through groups and agencies across our denomination. Perhaps our own unique congregational history has something to do with our proactive participation.

The following is a summary of our own history with the denomination, the impact of the progressive drift of denominational theology and activities, and our efforts to contribute toward renewal. As you can see, this has had a major impact on our church. Through church splits to the PCA and ARP, we have lost over 700 members of our congregation, in addition to other individuals who have left because of disagreements with the denomination.

• In 1964, more than one-third of our income supported benevolences largely through the PCUS Presbytery, Synod and GA. That year we first redirected funds stating that none of our money should go to the National Council of Churches.
• In 1964 a small number of our members approached the Presbytery to ask that the Presbytery help them begin a church in the Hendersonville area with a different perspective than First Church. Trinity was the result of the Presbytery’s new church development in Hendersonville.
• In 1968 we withdrew our support of Union Theological Seminary due to the positions of several of their professors. It has now been years since we have believed that we could, in good conscience, support our denomination’s seminaries.
• In 1973 our congregation went through a series of guest preachers offering varying viewpoints on whether to leave the PCUS for the then-forming PCA.
• In 1979 with Reunion looming, two-thirds of our congregation left to form a new PCA congregation (Covenant PCA Church) due to concerns about reunion with the more liberal northern denomination and theological questions about women’s ordination. This action left us with none of our pastors, or Sunday School teachers, and only one of our elders.
• After dropping from a church of nearly 1000 members in 1979, by 1992 we had managed to grow again from a couple hundred to some 500 members.
• In 1998, with 550 members, we lost our pastor and 100 (20%) of our members, who left to form a new conservative ARP congregation (Reformation ARP Church). We have since managed to grow from 416 at the end of 1998 to our current 566 members.
• Through the more recent years (other than and since the 1979 split), we have faced the resignations and requests for change of membership from at least three elders, six deacons, and unknown numbers of our members due to the progressive drift of our Presbyterian denomination.
• We currently have members who designate their funds as “for the use of in-church needs only,” to insure that none of their funds will go to Presbytery and through the Presbytery’s process of equalization on to the Louisville denominational offices.
  As can be seen from the above history portions, our congregation has paid dearly over the last forty years for the progressive drift of both the PCUS, and after reunion, the PCUSA.