On Saturday, April 24, 2010, the first congregation of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) in the state of Georgia was organized.

A total of 86 people, including church dignitaries and other visitors from ten states, attended the organizational and installation services of Northminster Reformed Presbyterian Church in Atlanta’s northern suburbs. The new church now has seven families with a total of 30 members regularly involved in the work and worship of the church.

The origins of Northminster RPC go back to Saturday, February 16, 2008, when the Atlanta Commission of the Great Lakes-Gulf Presbytery (RPCNA) established the North Atlanta Reformed Presbyterian Church as a mission church. Pastor Ian Wise, who serves the First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Durham, North Carolina, as Senior Minister, conducted the service which brought the budding group into existence.

On November 1, 2008, a native Atlantan, the Rev. Dr. Frank J. Smith, became stated supply of the mission church. A veteran churchman, he assisted his father in a Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) church planting effort in Westchester County, New York, thirty years ago. Dr. Smith has also pastored in the coal-mining area of southwestern Virginia, and in rural Wisconsin.

Pastor Smith graduated from Covenant College, Lookout Mountain, Georgia. He earned his M.Div. and Th.M. from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. His Ph.D. is from the Graduate Center at City University of New York. In 2005, he was awarded an honorary doctorate (D.D.) from the Methodist Episcopal Church in the USA in conjunction with the National Clergy Council, for his work in ecclesiastical journalism and interchurch relations.

Among his books are The History of the Presbyterian Church in America: The Silver Anniversary Edition; Worship in the Presence of God (co-editor and contributor); and Tales from the City: Real Stories of Urban Christian Ministry (editor), which detailed the ministry of an interdenominational, multi-ethnic group in Atlanta. His recent articles have focused on the history of science and the doctrine of worship.

Elected as a ruling elder in the new congregation is Mr. Robert Shapiro. He is known in PCA circles as being Chairman of the Board and Editor-in-Chief of Presbyterian International News Service (PINS). PINS produced a print journal known as Presbyterian and Reformed News, which published its final edition in May of 2004. For many years this was the only independent source of news for the PCA and related denominations. Back copies are available at the PINS web site http://www.presbyteriannews.org/ and provide a significant history of many events from the early years of the PCA. The church’s first deacon is Mr. Keith Ling of Alpharetta.

The RPCNA, which traces its heritage to the Scottish Covenanters established churches in this country in the 1700s. This year, the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh is celebrating its bicentennial. This branch of the church has recently been expanding into the South, bringing not only an evangelical fervor and belief in the Bible as the Word of God, but also a particular emphasis on the Kingship of Jesus Christ over the distinct spheres of Church and State as well as the joyous practice of singing the Biblical Psalms.

The church meets at 10:00 AM each Sunday at the Hampton Inn and Suites, 16785 Old Morris Road, Alpharetta, Georgia 30004, close to the Windward Parkway exit from Georgia 400. Call (770) 241-3946 for more information.

(Retired-journalist Frank J. Smith contributed to his article! Thanks.)