First Presbyterian Church, San Marcos has been worshiping and serving the Lord Jesus Christ continuously since five families came together and formally organized the congregation on October 14, 1853. It’s first building was constructed in 1872, followed by a second building–the first to be built on the church’s current site at the corner of Hutchison and Mary Streets–in 1897. The current building was constructed in 1952; there have been several additions and renovations since.
First, San Marcos has always honored its roots in the community, especially, in recent years, its roots in downtown San Marcos. With the acquisition of land adjacent to the church, First chose to remain where it is even as other long-time downtown churches relocated to areas elsewhere in the city. First, San Marcos strives to be a blessing to those in the socioculturally-diverse neighborhoods that surround the church’s campus.
Over the decades, First, San Marcos has grown: numerically (current membership is 300) and in terms of facilities (the existing campus includes a sanctuary, fellowship hall, facilities for Christian education and various ministries, and a preschool) but, most importantly, spiritually and in our commitment to mission and service.
First Presbyterian is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The Presbyterian church arose from the Reformed Tradition, itself rooted in particular in the work of the French/Swiss theologian, John Calvin. John Knox, a Scotsman who studied with Calvin in Geneva, took Calvin’s teachings back to Scotland. Other Reformed communities developed in England, Holland and France. The Presbyterian church traces its ancestry back primarily to Scotland and England.
Presbyterians have featured prominently in United States history. The Rev. Francis Makemie, who arrived in the U.S. from Ireland in 1683, helped to organize the first American Presbytery at Philadelphia in 1706. In 1726, the Rev. William Tennent founded a ministerial ‘log college’ in Pennsylvania. Twenty years later, the College of New Jersey (now known as Princeton University) was established. Other Presbyterian ministers, such as the Rev. Jonathan Edwards and the Rev. Gilbert Tennent, were driving forces in the so-called “Great Awakening,” a revivalist movement in the early 18th century. One of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, the Rev. John Witherspoon, was a Presbyterian minister and the president of Princeton University from 1768-1793.
The Presbyterian church in the United States has split and parts have reunited several times. Currently the largest group is the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which has its national offices in Louisville, Ky. It was formed in 1983 as a result of reunion between the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (PCUS), the so-called “southern branch,” and the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (UPCUSA), the so-called “northern branch.”
Geographically, First Presbyterian, San Marcos is a member of the Synod of the Sun, which encompasses all PC(USA) congregations in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, and Mission Presbytery, which encompasses all PC(USA) congregations in Texas from Copperas Cove on the north, south to the border, east to La Grange, and west to Junction.