FPC and The Texas Reformation 175th History

FPC and the Texas Reformation

1846 - 2021

FPC and The Texas Reformation a 175th Anniversary history

by David B. West 1

FPC and the Texas Reformation

FOREWORD “Without Sufficient Memory, we are lost. With too much, we are captive.” -- John Meacham On April 4, 1846, 175 years ago, the Presbyterian Church, Brazos Presbytery, chartered Pastor John McCullough and a little group of men and women to leave Columbia,Texas and form the “Presbyterian Church of San Antonio.”

They were to form a church to “promote their own spiritual welfare and usefulness.

[That is, they were to form a church for their own Good and His Kingdom Glory.]

At the time, San Antonio was a town of gamblers, desperadoes, saloons, and houses of ill repute. McCullough described it as a “dilapidated town” of “semi- barbarism.”

[1] They didn’t know what the Lord had in store for them when they got there. But they knew that Jesus is Alive and that He had a Mission for them in San Antonio.

The articles in this collection are offered as a prompt to help us remember the foundations and the context of our mission. They are a work of love written by David West, a faithful Elder in the service of Jesus Christ who deeply loves His Lord and this church.

Dr. John Leith wrote that The renewal of the church begins on a human level with an active remembrance. ...Remembering is closely related to the integrity of the church’s witness. When theology becomes preoccupied with relevance and frantic in its search for concepts and language that will appeal to modern people, it is in danger of losing its identity and therefore its power.”[2] 2021 has been a year for us to remember and reclaim our church’s heritage for the sake of the people and the families of the city. Our mission is to go to the homes, schools and neighborhoods of San Antonio to seek the lost, to heal the sick, bind up the broken hearted, to call people to repentance and welcome people into the Kingdom of God. It is to declare that God is real, that Jesus is alive, that He cares, and that He can make a difference in our lives now and forever.

175 years ago, First Presbyterian Church was founded with a mission in mind: to share the truth and love of Jesus Christ with the city of San Antonio. That purpose has guided FPC from generation to generation, and continues to this day. As our late beloved pastor, Rev. Dr. Louis Zbinden once said, “there are still people in San Antonio and God still loves them.”

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We still have a mission, and it is our hope that these stories will inspire you to take your place in the band of disciples God has mobilized for San Antonio. In 2021, our risen Lord has been calling us back to our roots, challenging us once again to “Go and make disciples”—training people in the true God —to love Jesus Christ, to love one another, to love this city and from here to love the world.

Reverend Dr. Bob Fuller Senior Pastor, 2021 [1] Donald E. Everett, Adobe Walls to Stone Edifice, p.3 [2] John H. Leith, From Generation to Generation.

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t is no coincidence that Protestantism first came to Texas after the Texas revolution, or that First Presbyterian Church of San Antonio was planted just months after Texas became a state. For Protestants, this marked the first opportunity to take the Reformed Faith into Texas. The Presbyterian Church established in 1846 in San Antonio was part of that Reformed missionary effort, but it was also to be the launching point from which to take the Reformed faith into Mexico.

The Spanish Era—1718-1820.

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rom its inception, San Antonio’s history was marked by two institutions:

the military and the church. When the Spanish crown built a presidio mission, now known as the Alamo, in Bexar in 1718, it sent military troops and Franciscan priests. As it had done elsewhere in New Spain (Mexico), the presidio missions in Texas were established to convert native peoples—the Karankawas, Tankawas, Caddoans, and Hasinai in the east and south Texas, and the Coahiltecans in Bexar. The Spanish enjoyed limited success in converting the native tribes to the Spanish culture or to Roman Catholicism—the only religion allowed by Spain.

Diseases spread by the Spanish troops caused the tribes in east Texas to flee the missions. In San Antonio, the Coahiltecans came to the missions to escape raids by the Lipan Apache and the Comanche. They disliked the hard work at the missions, however.

Spain also had limited success in colonizing Texas. Few citizens of Mexico were willing to cross the vast desert and brush country to an outpost frequently raided by the Comanche and Apache. In 1731, Spain sent Spanish citizens from the Canary Islands, located off the coast of Spain, to Bexar. They had been enticed to come by receiving land and the title of “Hidalgos” or gentry but had no labor to help them

Missions in Spanish Texas at the beginning of the Spanish colonization in the area.

Map courtesy of Wikipedia user Giorgiomonteforti

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FPC and the Texas Reformation Photo courtesy of Wikipedia user jonhall

build their homes or work the fields. They also had to deal with periodic raids by the Comanche.

The next effort to colonize Texas was with Americans. As it had done in all of its territories, Spain required that all citizens of the Louisiana territory accept the Roman Catholic faith. One such citizen was named Moses Austin. Austin had received a land grant in Missouri and became a prosperous and influential citizen in newly acquired Spanish territory. He lost his fortune during an economic downturn and sought to rehabilitate his finances by seeking a land grant in Texas. In 1820, he traveled to San Antonio to make the request. As a condition to receiving significant lands in southeast Texas and the title of “Empresario,” Austin agreed that all of the American colonists would be loyal to the Spanish Statue of Moses Austin in San crown and adhere to the Roman Catholic faith.

Antonio, TX. Austin never saw his colony come into fruition, however. On the long trip back to Missouri, a fellow traveler stole his horse and supplies, leaving him alone in a wilderness in winter. This was essentially a death sentence at that time. Despite catching pneumonia and nearly starving, Austin got back to Missouri but died shortly thereafter. On his deathbed, he asked his son, Stephen, to assume the land grant.

The Mexican Era — 1821-1836 n 1821, however, Mexico declared its independence from Spain. The revolution lasted three years, causing enormous damage to the economy of Mexico. The Spanish supported military and clergy left the country, as did the Spanish elite, who took their wealth with them. Texas was not immune from the war. Most of the clergy and all of the Spanish military left San Antonio, and the Spanish missions were abandoned. Mexico provided a military garrison in San Antonio and continued the land grant system as a means of colonizing Texas. It approved Stephen F. Austin’s request to honor his father’s land grant, in hopes the colony would provide a barrier against the Comanche. When Austin was made the empresario, he agreed to the same terms his father had accepted from Spain: loyalty to Mexico, prohibition against slavery, and adherence to the Roman Catholic faith.

There is little evidence of American colonists’ interest in religion. As Col. John Hawkins stated, “I can be as good a Christian there (Texas) as I can here (Missouri).

It is only a name anyhow.” Austin requested that authorities send a priest to his colony to christen children, legalize marriage contracts and perform various other

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services expected in a Catholic country. He was put off with promises and excuses, however.

In 1827, Sumner Bacon, a Cumberland Presbyterian evangelist, wrote to Austin offering to preach the Protestant faith in Texas. Austin, however, saw no place for trouble-making Protestant preachers. He believed that if his people remained quiet, there would be “free toleration for all religions.” When Bacon later came to San Antonio to preach, the Mexican authorities arrested him and escorted him to the border.

Once the American migration started to the Austin colony, Mexico could not control the growth. Illegal immigration flooded areas outside the colony. This alarmed the Mexican government which, in 1830, passed the Law of April 6. The law closed the border, established the collection of taxes, directed construction of military outposts in east Texas, and reinforced restrictions against slavery in the colonies.

Tensions between the Mexican government and colonists grew. In 1835, Texas had a census population of 21,000 people. Of these, 17,000 were of Anglo-Saxon descent.

With the new immigrants came several Protestant preachers. In 1833, Henry Wilson became the first ordained Presbyterian minister to come to Texas. In 1833, The Rev. Benjamin Chase, sponsored by the Synod of Missouri, visited Texas as an agent of the American Bible Society. The sale or distribution of Bibles had been illegal in Spain, France, and now Mexico.

Men who sold or distributed Bibles were called “colporteurs” and could be arrested.

In 1834, the American Bible Society made Sumner Bacon a grant of Spanish Bibles. In 1835, Chase met Picture courtesy of Trinity University, Bacon and commissioned him as the American San Antonio.

Bible Society’s first regular agent. Bibles and testaments were distributed to residents in both Spanish and English.

The Texas Era - 1836-1845 he year 1836 brought Spain’s recognition of Mexico’s independence. It also brought revolution in Texas. On March 2, 1836, a group of delegates met at Washington on the Brazos and declared Texas’ independence from Mexico. The government of Mexico quickly sent an army to protect its northern territory. Bacon offered his services to General Sam Houston and served

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as a combination chaplain and courier, carrying dispatches to the Alamo, Goliad, Victoria, and other points. Whenever Bacon left on a mission, Houston reportedly would gently chide him with the words: “Now, Brother “The Fall of the Alamo” (1903) by Robert Jenkins Onderdonk, depicts Davy Bacon, long rides Crockett wielding his rifle as a club against Mexican troops in the Battle of the and short prayers!”

Alamo in Texas in 1836.

Small militias, consisting mostly of volunteers, took up positions at forts in Goliad and San Antonio and were massacred by Santa Anna’s army. Prior to this event, there had been little public support in the U.S. for the Texas revolutionary effort. The brutality of the massacres, however, turned public opinion in favor of Texas independence. Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna at the battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. Despite this fact, the United States did not recognize Texas’ independence. The issue: slavery. Without U. S. support, the new government of Texas, headed by Houston, faced many challenges, just as Mexico had done after its revolution. Texas’ army consisted of volunteers who had left after the battle of San Jacinto to tend their farms. The government had insufficient tax revenues to run a government. Its printed money became worthless, and a barter system developed.

Unable to pay its military, Texas was ill-equipped to protect its citizens from further attacks by Mexico or the Comanche.

The missionary zeal from the U.S. to Texas never flagged, however. In 1837, the General Assembly’s Board of Domestic Missions commenced work in Texas. Four Presbyterian ministers were commissioned for Texas by the Presbytery of Mississippi.

In 1838, a Princeton educated minister from Pennsylvania named John McCullough made his way to New Orleans and then to Galveston. Sponsored by the General Assembly Board in Philadelphia, McCullough became the Chaplain of the Senate of the Texas Congress and began his educational and ministerial work in the nation of Texas.

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In 1840, McCullough founded the First Presbyterian Church of Galveston, which was the first Protestant church there. He then moved to Columbia, where he pastored the church and supported himself by starting a school. McCullough had another vision, however. In 1840, he traveled to San Antonio, at that time considered the most dangerous place in Texas. Travel was dangerous due to Mexican snipers and Comanche raids. The tools of a minister included a horse, a saddle, saddlebags, a blanket, a Bible, a hymn book, a long-barreled rifle, a pistol, and a Bowie knife.

San Antonio had about 1800 inhabitants, 150 Anglos and the rest Hispanic. When McCullough arrived in San Antonio “his righteous soul was vexed over much,” when he saw “how sadly the people were given over to the forms of religion and lacked the power thereof.” He determined to devote his labors chiefly to the Hispanic population of that city,” and started making arrangements for a replacement at the church in Columbia.

McCullough was not the only cleric to assess San Antonio’s need for religious improvement. Fr. John Marie Odin, a French priest, arrived to restore the Catholic faith. The San Fernando Church had burned in 1828 and was ruined further by the war of 1836. Odin found the church “a decrepit ruin infested by swallows and bats and having such a foul odor that it is simply impossible to enter in the morning without feeling like vomiting.” The outlying missions were similarly decayed. One of the two priests was described as “scandalous and concubinous.”

Odin sought to restore the credibility of the church among the town’s disaffected Catholics.

He dispatched the derelict priests and began to rebuild San Fernando Church.

The restoration of the church did not restore the city. When McCullough returned to San Antonio in 1842, he found it “a miserable, dilapidated place.” Just six years after the fall of the Alamo, much of the town had been destroyed. Comanche raids on San Antonio were frequent. Adventurers and desperadoes became so common that a vigilante committee was formed. A tree on South Flores Street was the site used to hang horse thieves.

Captain Jack Hays and a handful of Texas Rangers camped on Main Plaza provided the only security for the town.

In March of 1842, Mexican General Vasquez marched from Mexico with 1400 troops and captured San Antonio. Hays and a group of 100 volunteers were the

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town’s only defense. They helped the Anglo population escape, in what became known as the “Runaway Scrape of 1842.” Vasquez’ men looted stores and homes for two days, then went back across the border.

The Runaway Scrape.

Courtesy of the San Jacinto Museum of History. Image available on the Internet and included in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107.

In response, the government of Texas authorized Hays to increase the size of his force by 50 men, but there were no funds to pay them. In September of 1842, a Mexican expedition under General Woll entered San Antonio. This time, they took 67 prisoners, being all of the male Anglo citizens in the town. The Circuit Court was meeting in San Antonio that day. Woll seized the judge, the lawyers, and their clients and took them captive. He also removed many public records, including field notes of the Spanish Grant.

Sam Houston, President of the Republic of Texas, responded by organizing a group of volunteers, marched to Laredo (then controlled

by Mexico), and captured the town. Woll’s army marched south along the border and Houston refused to launch an attack against Mexico. He disbanded his army and San Antonio’s population dwindled from 1,800 to 800. The Rev. John McCullough returned to San Antonio in the spring of 1844 with The Rev. John Wesley DeVilbiss, a Methodist pastor. Together, they led the first Protestant worship service in San Antonio. Held at Anton Lockmar’s Hotel (formerly the Verimendi Palace), it was attended by six men and five women. DeVilbiss preached and McCullough Sam Houston closed with “a very appropriate prayer.”

PublicDomain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index. php?curid=3081166

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Image courtesy of UT Arlington Library (library.uta.edu)

One of the earliest known sketches of San Antonio and the San Antonio River, circa 1846, possibly drawn near present Villita Street, looking west, northwestward.

In May of 1844, Brazos Presbytery authorized McCullough to attend a meeting of the General Assembly in Cincinnati, Ohio, for the purpose of soliciting funds for a Presbyterian college in Texas. McCullough, a Princeton graduate, had been supporting himself in Columbia, Texas, by teaching school and was deeply committed to promoting education in Texas. McCullough was also committed to a Protestant mission to the Hispanic population. He left Cincinnati for Boston and New York where he secured a second commission from the Foreign Missions Board, this time to serve as a missionary to attend the spiritual needs of the Hispanic people in San Antonio. He also obtained funding to distribute Bibles, which had been banned under Spanish and Mexican rule.

The population of San Antonio, estimated to be 2,500, would soon change, however.

While McCullough was making plans to bring the Reformed faith to San Antonio and the Hispanic population, events were taking place in Washington, D.C., that would change the face of San Antonio. President John Tyler renewed negotiations with the Republic of Texas regarding statehood. On April 12, 1844, the Treaty of Annexation was signed, causing Mexico to sever diplomatic ties with the United States. Tyler lacked the votes to ratify the treaty at that time. On March 1, 1845, however, the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution approving the annexation of Texas. In 1836, Mexico had threatened war if the United States annexed Texas. It did not carry through on this threat, but it disputed where the border between the two countries was located. Mexico maintained it was the Nueces River. The Republic of Texas had claimed it was the Rio Grande, which included half of New Mexico and portions of Colorado.

U.S. President James K. Polk attempted to negotiate with Mexico over the location of the U.S./Mexico border and the acquisition of California and New Mexico, but

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negotiations failed. In July of 1845, Polk, who had been elected on a platform of expansionism, ordered the commander of the U. S. Army in Texas, Zachary Taylor, to move his forces to the mouth of the Rio Grande River—inside the disputed territory. He began to amass troops in San Antonio for the movement.

The American Era - Texas Statehood n December 29, 1845, Texas officially became the twenty-eighth state of the United States. The formal transfer of government did not take place until February 19, Zachary Taylor 1846. On April 3, 1846, just weeks later, The Rev. John Public Domain, McCullough appeared before the Brazos Presbytery https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Zachary_Taylor_by_Joseph_Henry_Bush,_ requesting authorization to form a church in San Antonio. c1848.jpg The presbytery adopted a resolution authorizing

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Rev. McCullough to organize the “Church of San Antonio.” The church consisted of just four persons, Charles D. Sayers, who was the first elder of the church; his wife; their daughter, Lorena W. Sayre, who had married McCullough on March 18, 1846; and Jemima, a slave owned by the Sayers, who was to help take care of the women.

Although McCullough had been an abolitionist when he lived in Pennsylvania, he apparently changed his position after he came to Texas.

The group set out in ox-wagons and the “little church on the prairie” was organized en route to San Antonio a few days after leaving Columbia. Due to heavy rains through winter and spring, it took the family nearly four weeks to reach San Antonio, which was less than 200 miles away.

Author: David H. Burr, 1846

Map of Republic of Texas at outset of Mexican-American War, 1846. Note disputed border between Nueces and Rio Grande rivers.

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The “Old Adobe,” a small adobe structure at the time also known as “The Mud Temple,” was FPC’s first church building

Further south, Mexico sent an army north of the Rio Grande to protect what it believed was its territory. In response, the United States held that the Mexican army had encroached on its territory and on May 13, 1846, declared war against Mexico. In June of 1846, the “little church on the prairie” arrived in San Antonio, now occupied by a growing military presence. The American population of the city, both military and civilian, swelled, including an unsavory group of outlaws and vagabonds who had no interest in seeing San Antonio become “churched.”

Texas was now the 28th state of the United States—a country now at war with Mexico. The war and statehood swelled the military and civilian population of San Antonio, making it a very different place than John McCullough had seen in his prior trips. Almost immediately upon his arrival in San Antonio, McCullough began distributing copies of the New Testament, a book previously banned by the Roman Church. If the people were to become a priesthood of believers, they had to learn to read the Bible for themselves.

Because Texas was a state, rather than a foreign country, however, McCullough lost his commission from the Foreign Missions Board. He depended on income from a school he started.

Hispanic and American families alike were eager for their children to learn to read.

During the first year of the school, McCullough had 30 Hispanic students and 20 Americans, making it difficult to find a place to conduct his school. Attendance grew too large for homes. Thus, in addition to preaching and teaching, Rev. McCullough raised funds to build a small adobe structure adjacent to his house to serve as both a church and a school.

McCullough estimated that if he did not have to charge tuition, he could grow the school to 500 students. The Bible Society of New York supported the school, sending The Rev. Ramon Monsalvatge, a former Spanish monk, to help McCullough open a school for poor Hispanic children. Monsalvatge was a colorful figure. While a priest, he fought as a soldier in the Spanish Civil War. He denounced the Catholic

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FPC and the Texas Reformation Image courtesy of UT Arlington Library (library.uta.edu)

1850 lithograph of Alamo based upon original watercolor made in 1846-1848 by Sgt. Edward Everett during the U.S. War with Mexico.

Church for many practices, including banning Bibles. He became a colporteur, or Bible salesman, which was illegal in both France and Spain. Persecuted by authorities, he moved to Switzerland and later London, where he was schooled in the Reformed Faith. In 1846, the Bible Society of New York commissioned him as a missionary to San Antonio.

Monsalvatge’s presence in San Antonio greatly alarmed Catholic Bishop John Odin, who reported that “the Bible Society of New York is going to great lengths to poison the minds of the poor Mexicans still living in Texas.” When he warned parents against the threat to Catholicism, they responded that he needed to provide alternative schools.

Bishop Odin wanted to open schools, but he lacked funds. He plunged himself into debt and later traveled to France to raise funds for two Catholic schools, one for girls (the Ursuline Academy) and one for boys on St. Mary’s Street. In addition to education, ministry to the military occupied much of McCullough’s time. He wrote: The Mexican War commenced the Spring I went to San Antonio and the troops for the expedition to the Rio Grande were outfitted there…During the stay, many had been sick. I visited them there and attended a funeral almost every day, sometimes two in a day. While the Army lay at San Antonio I preached once a day to the soldiers stationed about two miles up the river near the Springs.

McCullough’s work was perhaps made more difficult by civilian hostilities.

McCullough wrote:

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The Battle of Palo Alto was the first major battle of the Mexican–American War, fought on May 8, 1846, near modern-day Brownsville. A force of some 3,700 Mexican troops engaged a force of approximately 2,300 United States troops led by General Zachary Taylor. (Source: Wikipedia)

You can have no idea at present of the difficulties of establishing or getting a foothold for the gospel in San Antonio in those early times. I was persecuted, slandered, and insulted. Every effort was made by ungodly Americans to induce me to leave. The town was overrun by a devilish set of men and gamblers. I had occasion to rebuke them publicly in the pulpit and recommend a Vigilance Committee to execute law and keep order. For this and other causes, I was threatened with violence and subjected to daily danger…Through manifest engagements, my nervous system suffered so much that I became excitable and sleepless…I took occasion to give them my sentiments from the pulpit. This gave them mortal offense and they threatened me with their vengeance for some time. I paid no attention to their threats except to keep on guard for any occurrence.

One of the notable “ungodly Americans” was John Glanton, who owned the lot adjacent to the adobe church and the “most ominous man” in McCullough’s life.

According to one report, he rode his horse into McCullough’s house, then rode out and fired a shot into the house, the bullet passing through McCullough’s hat.

McCullough persevered in spite of the attacks. He could not withstand personal tragedy, however. In 1849, his wife Lorena, died, as did the wife of The Rev. Monsalvatge. Both men left San Antonio and the first effort to form the first Protestant church in San Antonio ended. The ministry of the two men did not.

McCullough returned to Galveston, where he started a school and helped the presbytery start Austin College, initially located in Huntsville, Texas. Sam Houston was on the first board of directors. Monsalvatge went, first, to the Rio Grande Valley to teach and preach, and later, to Mexico to take the Protestant faith to the Mexican people.

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FPC moved to the corner of Houston and Flores streets in 1866. Due to the city’s growth around the structure in subsequent decades, the church would relocate to its current location in the early 1900s.

The Vision Continues hen John McCullough and Ramon Monsalvatge left San Antonio, following the deaths of their wives, they probably felt like their time in the outpost of San Antonio was a failure. McCullough’s wife, Lorena, had labored by his side in both the day and Sabbath schools. She also furnished the initial funds by which the adobe church was built. Yet she died in 1849, either from cholera or during childbirth (the records are not clear). The wife of the former monk Ramon Monsalvatge also died that year, probably from cholera. McCullough’s health declined and he returned to Galveston. Monsalvatge moved to the Rio Grande Valley and then into Mexico.

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Yet from tragedy and seeming failure, God was able to use their work and their vision to build a church that would exist 175 years later. Henry S. Bunting, the son of The Rev. R. F. Bunting, who later succeeded McCullough at the First Presbyterian Church, later wrote of McCullough: It was he who first became a resident Protestant minister in that advance post of civilization when it was a turbulent community ruled by outlaws…He continued fearlessly as the man of God, preaching righteousness … the man who did more than any other to carry civilization and a voice crying in the wilderness proclaiming the Christian city that was to be realized later on…John McCullough laid the foundations of Presbyterianism on the Mexican border…The cause of Christ at length triumphed and this pioneer had prepared the way for his successors to build a successful church… (quoted in Adobe Walls to Stone Edifice, by Donald E. Everett.)

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Our stone edifice structure, designed by Atlee B. Ayers and dedicated by Rev. Dr. Arthur Gray Jones, opened in 1910 at our current location at 4th and Alamo streets.

What can we learn, 175 years later, from the earliest chapter of First Presbyterian Church history?

Scripture. First, the early pastors, such as Sumner Bacon, John McCullough, Ramon Monsalvatge and others, brought Bibles to Texas for the first time. The primary goal in taking the Reformed faith to Texas was to take the written Word to its people.

Education. Second, in order to be able to access the Christian truth revealed in the scriptures, the people had to learn to read. McCullough opened a day school and a Sabbath school, where he and his wife taught. His efforts accelerated Bishop Jean Odin’s zeal to start schools in San Antonio, setting off a healthy competition to educate the population of San Antonio Planting New Churches. Third, First Presbyterian Church started as a small church plant. Initial funds to start the church came from the Foreign Missions Board in New York and later, the Domestic Missions Board. Those donors would never know if their contributions would produce fruit, but they trusted in the providence of God that he would use their gifts for his purposes.

Ministry to the Hispanic Community. Fourth, McCullough’s calling was to take the Reformed faith to the Spanish speaking community. To help with this vision, the Board of Foreign Missions also sent The Rev. Ramon Monsalvatge as a missionary to bring the Reformed faith to the Spanish speaking population.

Supporting the Military. Fifth, San Antonio’s history has always been characterized by Christian mission and the military, which protected the exercise of faith. McCullough ministered to those in the military, especially during the cholera epidemic. Members of the military, in turn, supported the development of the church. One officer became the superintendent of the Sabbath School. Other military personnel participated in worship and provided financial support.

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How does First Presbyterian Church continue this mission in the 21st Century?

San Antonio has grown from a “delapidated, miserable looking place” with a population of 2,500 to a vibrant city of 1,547,256. It still has delapidated places, people who have suffered the results of wars, and places that demonstrate “semi-barbarism.”

As the Rev. Louis H. Zbinden, Jr. stated when he became Senior Pastor in 1971, there are still people to be reached in this city. FPC continues to pursue John McCullough’s vision 175 years later.

Scripture. First Presbyterian Church has been blessed to continue a long line of strong, evangelical preachers, including The Rev. Dr. Ron Scates, The Rev. Dr. Bob Fuller, Jr., The Rev. Mitchell Moore, and the rest of our talented pastoral staff. The preaching of the Word at this church is probably as Rev. Dr. Louis Zbinden strong as it has ever been.

Education. Just as McCullough taught at a day school, FPC continues to operate the Children’s Center, which serves the downtown community. The Session of First Presbyterian Church recently received a report on efforts to reinvigorate adult discipleship, encouraging a deeper dive into the study of the Christian faith.

At the 175th anniversary celebration of First Presbyterian Church, FPC will inaugurate “The Zbinden Legacy Forum,” or Z-Talks. This is designed to apply orthodox biblical teaching and reformed theology to our understanding of current events.

A longer-term goal is to establish an educational center at FPC to recruit, train and equip future Christian leaders through Biblical, theological, pastoral and discipleship training and instruction.

Planting New Churches. Recognizing that planting churches is the most effective form of evangelism, the Session of FPC has adopted a policy of making church planting a central core value of this church. FPC’s church planting efforts began in 2016, with support for a church plant in the Boerne area, Christ of the Hills Church. FPC also partners with the San Antonio Church Planting Network and is now supporting new church plants.

Mission South. The Session of FPC also inaugurated a program called Mission South, which focuses on education and mission to the Hispanic community in San Antonio, South Texas and Mexico. FPC now partners with seminaries in Mexico, Biblicus Mexico, educational institutions and churches along the border, to promote

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Christian education. The Mission South Task Force currently oversees scholarships from FPC to six students studying at five different seminaries in Mexico.

Supporting the Military. San Antonio is known as “Military City.” The Session has held preliminary discussions about how it can invite military personnel to participate in the life of this church Conclusion. We believe the best years of FPC are still to come. The church has grown with the city and continues to be a church with a mission to the city. We are a church that has been blessed with devoted members, strong church pastors, community leaders, and resources. As this church was once a church plant, it can now help plant churches. Just as this church once received missionary pastors and financial support, it can now help send missionary pastors and provide financial support for churches.We have been blessed with much and are now called to the same commission that John McCullough, Ramon Monsalvatge and all other disciples of Jesus Christ follow: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Matthew 28:19-20. The vision continues.

To God be the glory.

Top photo: San Antonio River, 1880. Photo courtesy Doerr & Jacobson, New York Public Library Digital Collections.

Bottom photo: San Antonio River, March 2020. Photo courtesy Unsplash.com.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY School By the River, Maria Watson Pfeiffer John McCullough, William Wallace McCullough, Jr. Lone Star Nation, H.W. Brands Adobe Walls to Stone Edifice, Donald E. Everett A History of the Presbyterian Church in Texas, William Stuart Red Voice in the Wilderness, A History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Douglas Brackenridge St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 1858-2008, Lewis Fisher Lone Star, A History of Texas & the Texans, T. R. Fehrenbach Missions of San Antonio, Lewis Fisher “History of Texas Public Lands,” Texas Land Dept., March 2018 “First & Second San Antonio Mission Movements,” Rick Lane

Special thanks to Rick Lane for his vision, research and contributions to this article.

Special thanks to Hank Cherry for his research and visuals for this article.

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1846 - 2021