ARP 101 By Chaplain Bill Holiman T
he story of the ARPs in Kentucky begins very early in the history ans and Reformed Presbyterians, there was one AR Presbytery for
bytery had added enough churches and ministers to divide into two pres byteries: the First and Second Presbyteries of PA. The Second Presbytery of Pennsylvania had vague boundaries: everything west from the Allegheny Mountains, including Ohio and Kentucky. One of its congregations was in
One of the very earliest buildings still standing in the state of Kentucky
oldest Presbyterian Church in the state. Rev. Rankin and his church were not originally ARP, but they were committed Psalm singers. When hymns were introduced to the Presbyterian church, Rev. Rankin and his congrega tion protested them and transferred to the ARPs. ARPs from Virginia and the Carolinas soon began to move into Kentucky.
The records of the Presbytery show the receipt of several licentiates and ministers from the Synod of the South. By 1800, growth in the Second Pres bytery of Pennsylvania prompted its division into Kentucky Presbytery and early congregations included Reverend Rankin’s church (the First Church was also a church in Clarksburg, IN, in the 1840s. The Ebenezer ARP Church of Jessamine County, KY, was organized by
descendants of the early members still meet here annually on the second Sunday of September for a picnic and service. There has not been an active congregation for more than a hundred years. The Ebenezer church had several outstanding pastors. One was the
Rev. Robert Hamilton Bishop, born in Scotland, studied at the University of Edinburgh, and ordained by the Associate Presbyterians, who came to
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America after a recruiting trip by Dr. John M. Mason of New York City. Rev. Mason had been sent by the ARP Church to recruit minis ters and raise money for founding an ARP Seminary. In March 1803, Bishop accepted
a call from the Ebenezer Church. While serving as minister at Ebene zer, he was offered a professorship in history at Transylvania Universi Bishop was an early sympathizer with the plight of black slaves. That President of Miami University of classes in 1824. He taught both Jef ferson Davis, President of the CSA, and Benjamin Harrison, President of the USA.
The 1800s were a time of division over slavery. The Ohio River was the dividing line between slave states and free states. From the 1820s to the ganization in the Church, including splits and mergers, resulting in the bulk of the Northern ARPs becom ing the new United Presbyterian Church in North America and the old Synod of the South becoming independent. There were several
The Associate Reformed Presbyterian
What do you want to know about the ARP denomination? Send ques tions to
ARPeditor@arpsynod.org. Did you know there was a Kentucky Presbytery? Rev. William Holiman shares what he has discovered.
The Kentucky Presbytery of the ARP Church
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