BERRYVILLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Berryville, Virginia Shenandoah Presbytery Minister Rev. Mr. Jonathan Bunker
ACTIVE MEMBERS: 141
Congregational History 2010 - A year in review...
Every year our Church holds a number of Special Offerings. These funds go directly to causes we feel deserve the extra effort.These offerings are scheduled far in advance, yet only weeks into the new year we found ourselves adding one.
Haiti suffered a devastating earthquake, which left hundreds of thousands dead and many more homeless.We saw the need and stepped up to do our part.The Special Offering brought in $945. We passed these funds along to PC(USA)'s Presbyterian Disaster Assistance program.The PDA had set up a special fund for response and recovery in Haiti and we knew the funds would be used wisely. As we have over the past several years, the end of January found eight of our congregation joining other volunteers, leaving for a Mountain Valley Mission Trip.Again, they were bound for Houma, Louisiana, where they did construction work on homes damaged by hurricanes.This year, Bob and Alma Brown, Al Dunsmore, Ken Shelton, Jimmy Swisher, Camilla Welsh, Susan Wolk and Laurie Wallace made the trip. This Easter, along with purchasing lilies, the membership was given the chance to contribute money for Hygiene Kits through Church World Service at $10.00 each.These kits consist of a plastic bag containing an assortment of very basic things people would need if they suddenly found themselves homeless.The kits are assembled and stored for future use.The Lord moved us to offer up $902.00 for this project. Throughout the year, our Church participated in a number of causes and outreach efforts.Some were through our Presbytery, and some were hands-on projects that required our time and talents. The adults in our membership took inspiration from the enthusiastic participation of the younger folks. Our Youth Group was active in a number of these "hands on" projects.They held a ‘Thirty Hours of Famine’ session.This effort raised around $2,000.This money went to World Vision, the sponsoring organization, and was used to feed, educate, and provide medical care to needy children around the world. The Youth Group also showed up for the "Stop Hunger Now!" effort.Along with other members of our local Church community, they helped pack over 50,000 emergency meals to be used wherever needed.They also gathered pledges and attended the CROP Walk, sponsored by the Mountain Valley Mission Community.This effort raised over $1,000 to fight world hunger. We find these activities of the Youth Group to be a source of hope and inspiration.After all, these young people will be the leaders of the Church, either here or wherever they settle as adults. This Christmas, in lieu of donating money for Poinsettias, we once again offered an alternative.In $10 increments, members could buy animal shares in memory of a loved one.As the donations came in, we picked animals from the Heifer Project International Catalog to fill the stable at the front of the Church.This clearly struck a chord with our Congregation, resulting in a donation of $1,600 to the Heifer Project. May the Lord give his Blessings to our efforts. Respectfully Submitted, James R. Green Sr.
150 Year History of the Berryville Presbyterian Church 1853 - 2003
“One hundred fifty years ago, on June 10, 1853, Berryville was a small village. A few Presbyterians met in the Methodist Church with a commission of the Winchester Presbytery to organize the Berryville Presbyterian Church”……
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“Berryville Presbyterian Church - A History 1853 – 2003” written by Jane Campbell, Historian
James Green, our Church Historian, Jim has worked very hard over the past months preparing a brief history of our congregation. From its inception in 1853 right up to today, he tracks the development of our church and the work it has accomplished. Special thanks to Jim for all his hard work!
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has approximately 2.5 million members, 11,200 congregations and 21,000 ordained ministers. Presbyterians trace their history to the 16th century and the Protestant Reformation. Our heritage, and much of what we believe, began with the French lawyer John Calvin (1509-1564), whose writings crystallized much of the Reformed thinking that came before him.
Guess Who ?
Can you name all the "First" Berryville Presbyterian Bell Choir Members in this photo ?
Guess Who ?
How about this dapper looking group of Berryville Presbyterian men ?
Presbyterian History
The earliest Christian church consisted of Jews in the first century who had known Jesus and heard his teachings. It gradually grew and spread from the Middle East to other parts of the world, though not without controversy and hardship among its supporters.
During the 4th century, after more than 300 years of persecution under various Roman emperors, the church became established as a political as well as a spiritual power under the Emperor Constantine. Theological and political disagreements, however, served to widen the rift between members of the eastern (Greek-speaking) and western (Latin-speaking) branches of the church. Eventually the western portions of Europe, came under the religious and political authority of the Roman Catholic Church. Eastern Europe and parts of Asia came under the authority of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
In western Europe, the authority of the Roman Catholic Church remained largely unquestioned until the Renaissance in the 15th century. The invention of the printing press in Germany around 1440 made it possible for common people to have access to printed materials including the Bible. This, in turn, enabled many to discover religious thinkers who had begun to question the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. One such figure, Martin Luther, a German priest and professor, started the movement known as the Protestant Reformation when he posted a list of 95 grievances against the Roman Catholic Church on a church door in Wittenburg, Germany in 1517. Some 20 years later, a French/Swiss theologian, John Calvin, further refined the reformers' new way of thinking about the nature of God and God's relationship with humanity in what came to be known as Reformed theology. John Knox, a Scotsman who studied with Calvin in Geneva, Switzerland, 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 Mackemie, who arrived in the U.S. from Ireland in 1683, helped to organize the first American Presbytery at Philadelphia in 1706. One of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, the Rev. John Witherspoon, was a Presbyterian minister. The Rev. William Tennent founded a ministerial "log college" in New Jersey that evolved into Princeton University. 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.
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." Other Presbyterian churches in the United States include: the Presbyterian Church in America, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.
Take a look at our Congregation's Ten-Year Trends from PC (USA) Research Services...
123 West Main Street, P.O. Box 46, Berryville, Virginia 22611 540.955.1096 bpresbch@verizon.net Office Hours M-Th 9-2
