Faith United Presbyterian Church

The History of Our Church

Faith United Presbyterian Church is the product of the merger into one of four separate congregations 43 years ago.

The union became possible a half century ago when two denominations, Presbyterian and United Presbyterian - similar in theology but separate in church government since the Civil War - voted at their general assemblies to merge into one denomination.

Presbyterianism became the first religious denomination to bring organized worship to Monmouth Township when, in 1837, the Rev. L.G. Bell, an itinerant minister, brought together 16 early settlers and organized the First Presbyterian Church of Monmouth.

The congregation met in the American Hotel until 1851, when a building of its own was completed by the congregation on South 1st Street. That sanctuary was replaced in 1882 by a large building of Gothic architecture on East 1st Avenue between South 3rd and 4th Streets.

First United Presbyterian Church was organized as the First Associate Reformed congregation in 1853, with services held in the Warren County Court House until its own house of worship was erected on West Broadway. That church was replaced in 1890 by a larger building at the corner of East Broadway and North 2nd Street.

A committee headed by Dr. David A. Wallace, first president of Monmouth College, in 1862, organized Second United Presbyterian. Twenty former members of the First U. P. Church became its charter members and named Dr. Wallace to be their pastor. Second Church, whose sanctuary - now a part of Faith U. P. Church - was a erected a block south of the campus, linking the church and college together both geographically and spiritually, a union that remains intact.

Started as a mission of Second Church that identified itself by its geographic location in the south part of town, it became the Ninth Avenue United Presbyterian Church in 1895, with the Rev. J. F. Jamieson as its pastor.

With the merger of the two denominations, the former First Presbyterian congregation voted to change its name to Grace United Presbyterian.

Shortly after the merger, two dynamic young pastors, the Rev. Donald Weems of Grace and James Philippe of Second, the two largest of United Presbyterian churches, suggested a merger of all of the denomination's five Monmouth churches, including the West Side U. P. congregation on South D Street.

At first their efforts met with little enthusiasm, but eventually the financial merits of the idea took root and each church voted simultaneously on whether or not to join in 1963. The merger approved by all except the
West Side congregation.

Because only the Grace and Second Church buildings were large enough to accommodate the combined membership of the four former congregations, choosing a permanent site was the first controversial matter to be decided.

The Second Church's proximity to the college was weighed against the newly refurbished and redecorated sanctuary of Grace Church. In 1967, three years after the merger, it was agreed that the Second Church building would become a part of the new home of what had by then been named United Presbyterian.

Under the agreement, the chancel and architecture of the former Grace Church was kept intact when the church was razed and rebuilt as the focal par of the new Faith Church sanctuary.

Ninth Avenue Church was revitalized as Jamieson Community Center in honor of the church's first pastor.

The West Side congregation purchased the former First Church and renamed it Heritage United Presbyterian Church.

The Rev. Robert Buttrick was the first pastor of Faith Church and has been followed by the Rev. Pat Butler, the Rev. Jerry Hazen, and the Rev. William C. Myers, who has served the congregation since June 2001.