About The Church

History of The First Cumberland Presbyterian Church
and
The Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

First Cumberland Presbyterian Church was organized on May 30, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky. It had 25 charter members. The first services were held in an Evangelical Church until an upstairs hall was rented at 28th and Grand. In 1943, a basement building was purchased, and a new building was begun in 1949, with a total of 163 members. In 1954, several members were dismissed to begin the Hillview Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

In 1958, the property was sold to the Ebenezer Baptist Church and a new site was purchased, at 4610 Manslick Road. First services were held in the new fellowship hall in July, 1960. Plans for a new sanctuary were soon developed and construction began in 1969. The new building was dedicated in February, 1970.

Rev. Homer Robinson (1954-1958)
Rev. Gale Keown (1958-1966)

Rev. Cordis Womack (1966-1968)

    C. Timothy Davis, Pastor (1979-1982)

                Bob Watkins, Pastor (1983-1987)

            Rob Truitt, Pastor (1987-2002)

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church is a denomination that has been serving Christ since its founding in a Tennessee log cabin in 1810. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church has approximately 100,000 members in the United States, as well as concentrations of congregations in Hong Kong, Columbia, Japan, and Liberia. We have over 800 congregations with a large growth of Korean churches. Our headquarters are in Memphis, Tennessee. We support Bethel College (McKenzie, TN), Memphis Theological Seminary, and the Cumberland Presbyterian Children's Home (Denton, TX). There are missionaries sent from the Board of Missions serving in 12 countries around the world.

The term Presbyterian in our name refers to our form of government. The term is taken from the Greek word "presbuteros," which is usually translated "elder". A Presbyterian church governs its congregation by both teaching elders (the pastor) and ruling elders (men and women elected by the congregation). Together they make up the "Session" and join with "Sessions" of other regional churches in their denomination forming a "Presbytery." Presbyteries are joined to form "Synods" which act as church courts of review. The "General Assembly" is the highest church court and meets yearly.

Our theology has been described as "Medium Theology" because it takes the middle ground between Calvinism and Arminianism. Self described as a "Whosoever will, may come" church, Cumberland Presbyterians stress free will, while rejecting strict "predestination". Simply stated, CP's acknowledge that salvation is a free gift of God to all who respond to God in faith.