A message from our senior pastor

Rev. Jill Duffield
Senior Pastor

Friends,

Imagine the impact on this community if First Presbyterian Church were not here. Take a walk through these buildings and think about all that goes on in each of them, the people fed and welcomed; the baptisms, weddings and funerals that have taken place; the conversations, the laughter, the learning, the care embedded in and extended from these walls.

Now, imagine how different Greensboro would be if a few courageous Presbyterians 200 years ago had not stepped out in faith and founded our church. Walk down the hall of elders and consider how their faith shaped our church, city, state, and country. Consider the impact of this congregation on you and your family, the people who’ve show your children God’s love, the ones who walked alongside you in challenging seasons, the worship and study that have shaped who you are, the friendships forged.

We are deeply rooted in downtown Greensboro, yes, but even more importantly, in the Word of God and the love of Jesus Christ. We enjoy the fruits borne from all that was planted before us. Now it is our turn to tend the roots of our historic campus and, more importantly, renew our commitment to Christ. When we tend those roots, God will give the growth in abundance and, with the Spirit’s help, we will reach far and wide with the love of Jesus Christ. My prayer for us is that of Paul’s for the Ephesians:

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

As we embark on our next 200 years of ministry may we be rooted and established in love so that through us others will come to grasp the unbelievably expansive reach of God’s love in Christ.

Grace and Peace,