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Our History
The idea for starting a Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Germantown
had its beginnings with three families who were driving from the Germantown
area to the Whitehaven Cumberland Presbyterian Church to worship each Sunday.
Several meetings were held in the homes of these families to discuss the
possibility of starting a church. A decision was made to pursue the idea.
Contacts were made with friends, neighbors and family members.
Under the leadership of Dr. Thomas D. Campbell, the first worship service was
held in the Germantown Community Center on March 16, 1975, with 44 persons
present. The group was organized as a Fellowship on July 13, 1975, under the
direction of the Board of Missions of Memphis Presbytery of the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church. An executive committee was elected to direct the group.
Dr. Paul B. Brown, Professor of New Testament at Memphis Theological Seminary,
became pastor of the Fellowship on September 1, 1975, and remained in this
position until September 1984. A beautiful wooded lot was purchased in April
1976 on the corner of McVay and Riverdale Roads. A contemporary, multi-purpose
building was erected on the lot. The members of the Fellowship were filled with
excitement and gratitude as they entered their newly completed building for the
first worship service on Sunday, January 8, 1978. On the afternoon of that day,
William Warren, a young man who was to graduate from Memphis Theological Seminary
in June, was ordained to the gospel ministry in the new sanctuary. The Reverend
Mr. Warren was later to become pastor of the church.
In a service of worship on Sunday, April 2, 1978, the Germantown Fellowship was
officially organized and dedicated as a Cumberland Presbyterian Church by Memphis
Presbytery. Nine elders were elected and installed. The fellowship had finally
become a church.
From the beginning, the group had a well-planned educational program with Sunday
School classes for each age group, Vacation Church School, ministries with youth,
a women’s organization and a commitment to service.
An addition was built to the church in 1981, giving the building a pastor’s study,
library, added nursery and church school classrooms. On March 9, 1997, a Christian
Education wing was dedicated. It was named the Rosa Mae and Eugene L. Warren
Christian Education Building.
Upon the decision of the Reverend Dr. Paul Brown to return to teaching at Memphis
Theological Seminary, the Reverend Mr. William Warren was called to pastor the
Germantown Church in September 1984. He continues to serve in this position.
From its beginnings to the present the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Germantown
has celebrated the love of God for every person, and sought to reflect that love by
being a community where regardless of age or circumstance in life people may know the
welcome of Christ’s community and the call to Christian faith and discipleship.
Worship, Christian Education and Outreach have been at the center of the church’s
life from the very beginning. As such, it has been a church that has encouraged its
members to embrace both the journey inward in relationship to God and the journey
outward through service to and with persons in times of need, giving to denominational
and ecumenical mission efforts and living out the call of Christ in the challenges of
daily life.
While the church is now 30 years old, there is a feeling among many of its present
members that the best is yet to come as it continues to be open to the leadership of
the Spirit for a new day.
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