GA06081

Cumberland firsts

by Pat White

BIRMINGHAM, June 19 — We like to honor those who are the first to accomplish something, whether it be reaching the North Pole, ascending the highest mountain or landing on the moon. To be first in any successful endeavor often means to secure a place in historical records.

Since its origin in 1810, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church has been a denomination of firsts. Here are a few:

• Other Presbyterian denominations in America were transplanted from overseas. However, the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination, founded in 1810 in Dickson County, TN, was the first Presbyterian denomination to be born of the people, by the people, and for the people on American soil.
• In bringing together what they believed to be the best of Calvinism and Arminianism, the Cumberland Presbyterians became the first within the Presbyterian family to develop and codify a "medium" system of doctrinal theology. By rejecting what they considered to be the weaknesses of both systems, CPs pioneered an approach to doctrine that has become common in many Presbyterian denominations today.
• The first record of a female being ordained to the Presbyterian ministry is that of Louisa M. Woolsey, who was ordained to the full work of the gospel ministry in 1889 by Nolin Presbytery of the Kentucky Synod. As early as 1892, the General Assembly approved the ordination of female elders. Today, ordination of women for ministry and eldership is a common practice within most Presbyterian denominations.
• Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Ovella, TX, is the oldest Protestant church formed in Texas west of the Trinity River and north of Old San Antonio Road. Among the first settlers to this area was Finis Ewing King, the son of Samuel King who was one of the three who constituted the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination. Under Finis' leadership, the Shiloh church was organized in 1847.
• Francis Sumner Bacon, a Cumberland Presbyterian minister, was the first protestant to preach on Texas soil.