Church
First Presbyterian Church (ARP), Columbia, SC
Theological posture
Confessional Reformed
Holds a Reformed confession (the Westminster Standards, the Three Forms of Unity or the 1689 Baptist Confession) as its standard.
Doctrinal basis. Member of the ARP; its own doctrinal statement was not on the pages reviewed.
Points to weigh
- It is an ARP church, not a PCA church, which matters if you are choosing by denomination.
- The list of past pastors comes from a summary of public sources; confirm on the church’s site.
Classification and points to weigh are reformededucation.org's judgments from the sources listed below. They describe and do not endorse; confirm current details with the institution.
About
Downtown Columbia’s oldest church, left the Presbyterian Church in the United States in 1983 to join the ARP. Its building and graveyard are on the National Register of Historic Places. Its sermon archive on SermonAudio is large (233 pages of sermons), offers audio, podcast and webcast, and shows current sermons from September 2026; series include ‘Ephesians: Life in Christ’ and ‘A Study in Zechariah’.
Details
- Denomination
- Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church
- Location
- 1324 Marion Street, Columbia, South Carolina
- Founded
- Origins in 1795 (first services in the State House); incorporated 1813; present Gothic sanctuary built 1853–1854
- Pastors
- Senior minister Dr. Neil C. Stewart, with several associate ministers (from the church’s pastoral staff page); past pastors reported to include James Henley Thornwell, Benjamin Morgan Palmer, John Girardeau, Sinclair Ferguson and Derek Thomas. Speakers on its SermonAudio page include Neil C. Stewart, David Lauten, Sean Henderson, Bruce Stallings and Rufus Terry
- Confessional standards
- Not stated on the page reviewed; the ARP holds the Westminster Standards (see the ARP entry, whose own pages could not be read)
- Sources consulted
- Website
- firstprescolumbia.org/