Cumberland Presbyterian Church

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church is a Presbyterian

Cumberland Presbyterian
denomination spawned by the Second Great Awakening.[3] In
Church
2019, it had 65,087 members and 673 congregations,[2] of which
51 were located outside of the United States. The word
Cumberland comes from the Cumberland River valley where the
church was founded.

History

Formation
Classification Protestant
The divisions which led to the formation of the Cumberland Orientation New School
Presbyterian Church can be traced back to the First Great Presbyterian
Awakening. At that time, Presbyterians in North America split Polity Presbyterian
between the Old Side (mainly congregations of Scottish and
Scotch-Irish extraction) who favored a doctrinally oriented church Associations World
with a highly educated ministry and a New Side (mainly of English Communion of
extraction) who put greater emphasis on the revivalistic techniques Reformed
championed by the Great Awakening. The formal split between Churches, World
Old Side and New Side lasted only from 1741 to 1758, but the Council of
two orientations remained present in the reunified church and Churches
would come to the fore again during the Second Great Awakening.
Region United States,
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Presbyterians on the Hong Kong,
frontier suffered from a shortage of educated clergy willing to Colombia,
move to the frontier beyond the Appalachian Mountains. At the Guatemala,
same time, Methodists and Baptists were sending preachers with Mexico, Haiti,
little or no formal training into frontier regions and were very Brazil, Spain,
successful in organizing Methodist and Baptist congregations. Australia, the
Drawing on New Side precedents, Cumberland Presbytery in
Philippines,
Kentucky began ordaining men without the educational
Cambodia,
background required by the Kentucky Synod. This was bad
enough for supporters of the Old Side, but what was even worse Japan, Macau,
was that the presbytery allowed ministers to offer a qualified assent South Korea[1]
to the Westminster Confession, only requiring them to swear assent Origin February 4, 1810
to the Confession "so far as they deemed it agreeable to the Word Dickson County,
of God". Old Siders in the Kentucky Synod (which had oversight Tennessee
over Cumberland Presbytery) sought to discipline the presbytery.
Presbytery and synod were involved in a protracted dispute which Separated from Presbyterian
touched upon the nature of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Ultimately, Church in the
the synod decided to dissolve Cumberland Presbytery and expel a United States of
number of its ministers. America
Separations Cumberland
Presbyterian
The Cumberland Presbyterian denomination was made up of the Church in
expelled members of the Presbyterian Church in the United States America
of America (PCUSA) and others in the area when the Kentucky (separated 1878);
Synod dissolved the original Cumberland Presbytery.[3] There is just over half of
historical evidence in the writings of several of the founders that the Cumberland
indicate they did not intend the split to be permanent and certainly
Presbyterian
did not anticipate a long-standing separate denomination.
congregations
On February 4, 1810, near what later became Burns, Tennessee, in rejoined the
the log cabin home of the Rev. Samuel McAdow, he, the Rev. PCUSA in 1906
Finis Ewing and the Rev. Samuel King reorganized Cumberland Congregations 673 (2019)[2]
Presbytery. After rapid growth, Cumberland Presbytery became
Cumberland Synod in 1813 and the Cumberland Presbyterian Members 65,087 (2019)[2]
denomination in 1829 when the General Assembly of the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church was established.

A replica of the Rev. Samuel McAdow's cabin now stands where the
three founded the church, and a sandstone chapel commemorating the
event has been erected nearby. These two buildings are two of the
main attractions in the surrounding Montgomery Bell State Park. An
outgrowth of the Great Revival of 1800, also called the Second Great
In 1810, the Cumberland
Awakening, the new denomination arose to minister to the spiritual
Presbyterians split from the
needs of a pioneer people who turned from the doctrine of
P.C.U.S.A, 27 years prior to the
predestination as they interpreted it to embrace the so-called
1837 schism between New
"Whosoever Will" gospel of the new church. The Red River Meeting
School and Old School
House in Logan County, Kentucky, marks the location of the revival
Presbyterians.
meeting thought by some to have given rise to the first organized
Cumberland Presbyterian congregation.

Subsequent history

In 1826, Cumberland Presbyterians established Cumberland College

in Princeton, Kentucky, in order to better train their candidates for the
ministry. Although very much a frontier institution, under the
presidency of Franceway Ranna Cossitt, Cumberland College was one
of the first colleges in the United States to accept women as students. Replica of the log house in
Ann Harpending and Melinda Barnett, for example, enrolled in the Dickson County, Tennessee,
very first class.[3] where the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church was founded
The Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America, a primarily African- in 1810. The structure sits in the
American denomination, split from the primarily white Cumberland midst of the Montgomery Bell
Presbyterian Church in 1874. Relations between the two groups have State Park.
for the most part been very cordial, and many of the CPCA ministers
have trained at Memphis Theological Seminary. A reunion attempt on
the part of both denominations failed to win approval in the late 1980s. The African American church
wanted equal representation on all boards and agencies, feeling that otherwise they would be swallowed up
by the larger white church. The joint committee drafting the plan of union agreed and made such a
stipulation in its reporting to the General Assembly. However, many in the white, rural, southern-based
church were not willing to cede that much power and balked at the plan. No other plans for union have
been attempted. However, the two denominations share a confession of faith and cooperate in many
common ministries.
The Upper Cumberland Presbyterian Church is a small denomination which broke off from the
Cumberland Presbyterian church over issues of membership in the National Council of Churches and the
use of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible.

In 1889, Cumberland Presbyterians were the first body in the Presbyterian or Reformed traditions to ordain
a woman as a minister, Louisa Mariah Layman Woosley.[3] A relatively conservative body, Nolin
Presbytery, ordained Woosley while a relatively liberal body, Kentucky Synod, opposed her ordination and
instructed the presbytery to remove her from the ministerial roll.[3]

Reunion

By 1900, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church was the third largest Presbyterian or Reformed body in the
United States and was rapidly growing.[3] After making revisions to the Westminster Confession in 1903,
the PCUSA (the so-called "Northern" denomination) proposed reunification with the CPC. The General
Assembly voted by a significant majority for the union in the 1906 meeting.[3] As a result, a large number
of Cumberland congregations re-entered the PCUSA in 1906 and those who remained in the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church felt somewhat antagonistic towards the PCUSA for generations afterward. About
1,000 pastors and 90,000 former Cumberland Presbyterian Church members joined the Northern
Presbyterian Church, but about 50,000 stayed out and continued on as Cumberland Presbyterian Church.[4]

Recent history

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church in America held concurrent 2006 general assemblies in Birmingham, Alabama in celebration of 300
years of Presbyterianism in North America. The confessional differences between the denominations that
resulted in the CPC's split have largely disappeared. However, new differences have arisen such as the
stances on homosexuality and views toward the scriptures. The CPC, for the most part, holds to more
conservative beliefs than the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), with an orientation toward Arminianism as
opposed to the strict Calvinism of other conservative Presbyterian churches in the U.S.

Beliefs and practices

Cumberland Presbyterians were among the first denominations to admit women to their educational
institutions and to accept them in leadership roles. They were the first to include women as ordained
clergy.[3] Cumberland Presbyterians were also early to ordain African-Americans to the ministry.[3] The
1984 revision of the Cumberland Presbyterian Confession of Faith, reflecting the denomination's long-
standing traditions, was one of the first inclusive confessional documents in the Reformed tradition. This
Confession was revised by a broad composite of theologians of both Cumberland Presbyterian Churches.

However, for the most part, the CPC's constituency and theology resembles that of the United Methodist
Church, appealing mainly to long-established families with revivalistic religious tastes and generally
conservative cultural dispositions, derived chiefly from the agricultural orientation of most of its historic
territory, the Upper South. Although explicit fundamentalism and liberalism are rare in the CPC, neither is
entirely absent, and recent trends in the denomination seem to be moving it further to the right. As the
denomination has become more conservative, some of its more liberal ministers and members have
transferred membership to the Presbyterian Church (USA), thereby intensifying already-present theological
and social tendencies in the remaining CPC faithful toward evangelicalism.

Structure
As with any church holding to a Presbyterian polity, individual congregations are represented by elders
(who form a session to govern the local church) at presbyteries. Presbyteries, in turn, send delegates to
synods. Finally, the entire structure is governed by the General Assembly. The Assembly charges various
boards and agencies with the day-to-day operation of the denomination.

Cumberland Presbyterian congregations may be found throughout the U.S. as well as in several foreign
countries (Japan, Hong Kong, Colombia, etc.) but are primarily located in the American South and border
states, with strong concentrations in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Missouri, southern Illinois, Arkansas,
and Texas.[5] Many of those congregations are located outside major metropolitan areas, in small towns and
rural communities. The majority of those churches founded in towns and cities in the 19th century joined in
the union with the PCUSA in 1906 after the General Assembly voted to unite with that body. However, so
did a fair number of the country churches, who were likely served at the time by pastors with relatively
greater theological training, which would have been required by the mainstream Presbyterian tradition for
admission to the ministry.

Presbyteries

Cumberland Presbytery, Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1810–1813

The genesis of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church was the reformed Cumberland Presbytery organized
on February 4, 1810. The presbytery was made up of members of the Presbyterian Church and others in
the area left abandoned when Kentucky Synod PCUSA dissolved the original Cumberland Presbytery and
expelled many of its ministers. The new independent presbytery struggled to be reunited with the larger
Presbyterian Church. At the same time, it grew rapidly and divided into three smaller presbyteries in 1813.
Cumberland Presbytery was succeeded by Cumberland Synod.

Cumberland Presbytery, Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1845–1988

King Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church met only three times in 1843 and 1844 before
being renamed Cumberland Presbytery by Green River Synod in 1844. Located primarily in South-Central
and Eastern Kentucky, this Cumberland Presbytery was a member judicatory of Green River Synod from
1844 to 1888 and of Kentucky Synod from 1888 to 1988. This Cumberland Presbytery was one of the best
organized and funded of all Cumberland Presbyterian judicatories. After the partial reunion of the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America in 1906, it
was the financial stability of Cumberland Presbytery that enabled the Cumberland Presbyterian
Denomination to survive. In 1988, as part of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church middle judicatory
realignment, this Cumberland Presbytery was dissolved only to be reformed as a much larger presbytery.
The last stated clerk was Rev. James W. Knight.

Cumberland Presbytery, Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1988–present

Primarily located in central and eastern Kentucky with one congregation in Pennsylvania, Cumberland
Presbytery forms the traditional heart of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. This incarnation of the
presbytery was formed in the Cumberland Presbyterian middle judicatory realignment of 1988.
Cumberland Presbytery is a part of Midwest Synod of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

Kentucky Synod, Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1845–1865

Formed from Green River Synod in 1845 and dissolved back into Green River Synod in 1865. This
Kentucky Synod's history is largely unknown. It was dissolved for repeatedly failing to meet.

Kentucky Synod, Cumberland Presbyterian Church 1888–1988

In 1888, the name of Green River Synod was changed to Kentucky Synod. In 1988, Kentucky Synod
merged with North Central Synod to form the Synod of the Midwest. Kentucky Synod was, perhaps, the
best funded and organized of all Cumberland Presbyterian synods. Few other judicatories exercised
synodic authority to the same degree. The synod maintained a "Center" in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and
employed an executive and staff. The last Executive Presbyter was Rev. James W. Knight.

Demographics
The Cumberland Presbyterian Church is present in 23 US states, mainly in the South.[6] Tennessee has far
the highest adherents rate 4,64 /1,000 people, about 30,000 members, followed by Kentucky with 10,000
members. Arkansas and Alabama has a large followers of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church represents
both 1,23/1,000 adherents rate, with about 6,000 members in 59 churches in Alabama, and 3,600 members
in 61 congregations in Arkansas. In the South churches are in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Georgia, Florida. The denomination is present also in Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan,
Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Arizona and California.[7]

The church has Korean language speaking Presbyteries.[8]

Schools and institutions

Prior to the 1906 partial union, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church placed a great deal of emphasis on
education and sponsored 22 colleges and universities.[9] All but one united with the Presbyterian Church.
The denomination now maintains a single four-year liberal arts college, Bethel University, formerly Bethel
College, located in McKenzie, Tennessee.[10] Recently, the denomination has related to this institution
through a covenant agreement, forgoing direct ownership and control. The denomination also operates a
seminary, Memphis Theological Seminary, in Memphis, Tennessee. The Cumberland Presbyterian Center,
also located in Memphis, houses other church boards and agencies.[10] The denomination maintains a
Children's Home in Denton, Texas.[10] The Historical Foundation of the CPC and the CPCA maintains its
library and archives at the Cumberland Presbyterian Center in Memphis.[10]

In recent years, the denomination adopted an alternate educational route to ordination of ministers, known
as the Program of Alternate Studies. PAS, as it became known, was intended to serve persons embarking
on a second vocation but not as an alternate a seminary education. However, a larger and larger percentage
of candidates for the ministry are being allowed by their presbyteries to choose this non-seminary route to
ordination, prompting a debate over what many in the church regard as a lessening of educational
standards. At the present rate, the number of Cumberland Presbyterian clergy ordained without a seminary
degree will surpass seminary-trained clergy within a few years.

Notable members
James Wickliffe Axtell
Richard Beard
William Jennings Bryan, American politician
Thomas Hardesty Campbell
Franceway Ranna Cossitt (president of Cumberland College, 1st Stated Clerk, etc.)
David Crockett (frontiersman, politician)
America McCutchen Drennan (1830–1903), educator and missionary
J.S. "Chris" Christie (Alabama Political Figure)
Finis Ewing (founder)
John Frizzell
Matthew H. Gore (historian)
Myles Horton
William T. Ingram
Samuel King (founder)
James W. Knight
Sylvanus Lowry
Samuel McAdow (founder)
Benjamin Wilburn McDonnold
Rob Orr (Texas politician)
James D. Porter
Jeri Ryan (actress)
Beverly St. John
John Stiles
John Templeton (1912–2008), American businessman, investor, and philanthropist
Louisa Woosley (first ordained woman in Presbyterianism)
Carver Yu Tat-sum (Former president of China Graduate School of Theology)[11][12]

References
1. Gore, Susan Knight. "Cumberland Presbyterian Churches" (http://www.cumberland.org/hfcp
c/churches/). www.cumberland.org. Retrieved 2017-06-03.
2. "2020 Cumberland Presbyterian Church Statistics, page 29" (https://www.cumberland.org/ga
o/yearbook/2020_YRBK.pdf) (PDF). 2020. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
3. Matthew H. Gore, The History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Kentucky to 1988,
(Memphis, Tennessee: Joint Heritage Committee, 2000).
4. http://www.thisday.pcahistory.org www.thisday.pcahistory.org
5. "2000 Religious Congregations and Membership Study" (http://www.thearda.com/Denoms/D
_927_d.asp). Glenmary Research Center. Retrieved 2009-12-17.
 6. "Cumberland Presbyterian Church States - QuickLists - The Association of Religion Data
Archives" (http://www.thearda.com/ql2010/QL_S_ALL_2_1051c.asp). www.thearda.com.
Retrieved 27 August 2017.
7. "Cumberland Presbyterian Church- Religious Groups - The Association of Religion Data
Archives" (http://www.thearda.com/Denoms/D_927_d.asp). www.thearda.com. Retrieved
27 August 2017.
8. "Cumberland East Coast Korean Presbytery - Cumberland Presbyterian Church" (http://ww
w.cumberland.org/hfcpc/presby/CumberlandEastCoastKorean.htm). www.cumberland.org.
Retrieved 27 August 2017.
9. https://www.cumberland.org/hfcpc/schools/Evans.htm
10. Yearbook of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 2015.
11. "Introduction to Rev. Dr. Carver T. Yu" (https://web.archive.org/web/20080531173058/http://w
ww.cgst.edu/en/staff_details.asp?ID=Yu_Carver). China Graduate School of Theology.
Archived from the original (http://www.cgst.edu/en/staff_details.asp?ID=Yu_Carver) on 31
May 2008. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
12. "Yearbook of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 2009.(P.68(73/158))" (http://www.cumbe
rland.org/gao/yearbook/2009/2009_YRBK.pdf) (PDF).

Bibliography
Thomas Hardesty Campbell, Milton L. Baughn, and Ben M. Barrus. A People Called
Cumberland Presbyterian (Memphis: Tennessee, 1972).
Matthew H. Gore. The History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Kentucky to 1988.
Published by the Joint Heritage Committee of Covenant and Cumberland Presbyteries
(Memphis: Tennessee, 2000).
2006 Minutes of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (Memphis:
Tennessee, 2007).
2007 Minutes of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (Memphis:
Tennessee, 2008).
2013 Yearbook of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (Memphis:
Tennessee, 2013).

External links
Denominational website (http://www.cumberland.org/)
Profile of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church on the Association of Religion Data Archives
website (http://www.thearda.com/Denoms/D_927.asp)
Welcoming Cumberland Presbyterians (http://www.welcomingcps.org), an independent
grassroots movement embracing people of all sexualities and gender expressions in the life
of the church

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