About Us

Remember - Rejoice - Renew

Ministry Team Leaders - 2009

Documents

1950 is the birth date of the Village Chapel Presbyterian Church. Several years before that, in 1946, 47 persons gathered at Horace Mann (Elementary at that time, now a Junior High) School to begin a new outpost of the First Presbyterian Church of Charleston. In 1948 as attendance increased, it became necessary to move to the club house of the Charleston Boat Club, where services were held until November, 1949. The congregation then worshipped in its new sanctuary (now our Fellowship Hall) and the church was organized by the Presbytery of Kanawha on March 26, 1950. There were 242 Charter members.

The present sanctuary, parlor and kitchen were built in 1960. Lightning struck the church building in August 1988. The resulting fire necessitated the complete renovation of the education building and fellowship hall. These facilities provide adequate, comfortable meeting places for worship, study, fellowships and service ministries.

What does it mean that we are Presbyterian?

It means we have deep roots, a humble sense of self, and a BIG God!

Presbyterians affirm with the earliest Christians that Jesus is Lord. We confess that he is our hope and that the Church, as Christ’s body, is bound to his authority and thus free to live in the lively, joyous reality of the grace of God.

Presbyterians trace our history back to the 16th Century and the Protestant Reformation. Our heritage and much of what we believe began with John Calvin (1509-1564), whose writings crystallized much of the Reformed thinking that came before him.

Central to this tradition is the affirmation of the majesty, holiness, and providence of God who creates, sustains, rules, and redeems the world in love. Related themes of the reformed tradition are:

•The election of the people of God for service as well as salvation
•Covenant life marked by disciplined concern with order in the church according to the Word of God
•A faithful stewardship that shuns ostentation and seeks proper use of the gifts of God’s creation; and
•The recognition of the human tendency to idolatry and tyranny, which calls the people of God to work for the transformation of society by seeking justice and living in obedience to the Word of God.

(from the PCUSA’s Book of Order, G-2.0500)

As a Presbyterian church, Village Chapel is connected to over 140 other Presbyterian congregations that make up the Presbytery of West Virginia and over 11,000 other congregations nationwide. We were formally organized as a church on March 26, 1950 and have been faithfully and joyfully serving Kanawha City ever since.