Presbyterian Church (USA)

The Church

“Presbuteros”, the Greek word meaning elder, appears in the New Testament 72 times. It provided the name for the Presbyterian family of churches, which includes the Reformed churches of the world. Both “Presbyterian” and “Reformed” are synonymous with churches of the Calvinist tradition.

In America, the first presbytery was organized in 1706, the first synod in 1717, and the first General Assembly was held in 1789. Today’s Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was created by the 1983 reunion of the two main branches of Presbyterians in America separated since the Civil War – the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. and the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. In 1958, the latter was created by the union of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and the United Presbyterian Church in North America.

Mitchells Presbyterian Church is a part of the Presbytery of the James in the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). For more information, visit the Presbytery of the James website.