First Presbyterian Church of Arlington sits two blocks from the Ballston-MU Metro station, on the corner of North Vermont Street and Carlin Springs Road. The congregation traces its roots to a meeting in the front parlor of Marvina A. G. Hayes on February 22, 1872, when twenty-nine residents of the Ballston area of Alexandria County decided to form a Presbyterian church. A hundred and fifty years later, the same congregation still gathers for worship every Sunday at 11:00 am, now in a mid-century sanctuary surrounded by education wings, gardens, and a parking lot that welcomes visitors from across Arlington and the wider Washington region.

From a Blacksmith Shop to Ballston

The church's early history is the story of a small but determined community. Within weeks of the founding meeting, a Sunday school was launched in the hall above George Mortimer's blacksmith shop at the crossroads of Glebe Road and Wilson Boulevard, and the minister of Falls Church Presbyterian, the Rev. David H. Riddle, began preaching at 3:00 pm every other Sunday. Members raised money through a Social Mite Society that collected dues of twenty-five cents to join and ten cents a month, and they sold hand-made articles of clothing and held festivals to fund the new work.

By October 1872 the congregation had purchased eleven acres at the northwest corner of Wilson Boulevard and Glebe Road for $1,200, reserving one acre for a church building and the other ten for a cemetery. Ground was broken on April 18, 1873. The unfinished building was first used for worship on May 17, 1874, when there was no floor and rough seats were made from bundles of shingles with boards laid across them; the church was dedicated on October 22, 1876. The Rev. Frederick E. Andrews was installed as the first pastor of the independent congregation in 1896, and the church was officially organized as the First Presbyterian Church of Ballston on July 5, 1895, with sixty-five members. In 1920, when Alexandria County became Arlington County, the name changed to First Presbyterian Church of Arlington.

Traffic congestion at the Glebe-Wilson intersection eventually drove the congregation to relocate. In 1950 the old property sold for $200,800, and on December 9, 1951, members followed the cross, pulpit, Bible, pastor, and official boards to the steps of a new sanctuary on North Vermont Street, where morning worship was first held on June 15, 1952. The 150th anniversary in 2022 was marked by a Sesquicentennial Sunday that drew an Arlington County Board proclamation, a dramatized history of the congregation, and the installation of wooden panels from the original pipe organ as a permanent reminder of the Gothic church that preceded the present building.

Worship at Eleven

Sunday worship at 11:00 am is the center of life at First Presbyterian. The service is fairly traditional and follows the classic Presbyterian pattern: hymns, responsive readings, scripture readings, prayers, a sermon, and frequently music from the chancel choir, other ensembles, or instrumentalists. Communion is observed as one of the two sacraments of the church, along with baptism.

Worship is offered both in person in the sanctuary and online through the church's YouTube channel, where services have been posted since 2022. Earlier services from 2021 remain accessible through the church's Facebook page. Visitors who arrive in person can park in the lot behind the church off Carlin Springs Road, with designated visitor spaces available, or use the Ballston Mall Parking Garage one block away. The church is also served by Metrobus Route 25B.

Children are welcome throughout the service, and a Time with Children gives younger worshipers a chance to come forward for a brief lesson during the 11:00 am gathering. Worship Bags with coloring pages, playdough, and Legos are available in the first vestibule. For children ages four through second grade, a Godly Play worship option is offered during the 11:00 am service in the Montessori tradition, with children joining the sanctuary through the Time with Children before heading to the Godly Play room.

A PC(USA) Congregation with Three Boards

First Presbyterian is a member congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and is governed in classic Presbyterian fashion by three boards of church officers elected from the membership. The Session is the ruling body, made up of twelve elders serving three-year terms. Each elder chairs one of the ministry teams of the church, ranging from Children and Youth Ministry to Worship, Mission, Stewardship and Finance, and Adult Spiritual Growth. The Board of Deacons, also twelve members, attends to the pastoral needs of the congregation, including transportation for members who cannot access the church, funeral receptions, communion preparation, and overall congregational care. The Board of Trustees, eight members strong, oversees the maintenance of the physical plant across spheres that include grounds, building systems, and administration.

The Rev. Dr. B.E. Kluttz has served as Head of Staff and Pastor since March 2023. A graduate of Wesley Theological Seminary, where he earned both a Master of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry in church leadership, Kluttz was ordained in 2019 by the National Capital Presbytery and previously served as Associate Pastor at Govans Presbyterian Church in Baltimore. Before entering ministry he worked in nonprofit communications and fundraising, and he also holds a Master of Public Administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.

The Rev. Peter Manning joined the staff as Minister for Spiritual Growth. A graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, Manning was ordained in the PC(USA) in 2022 and most recently served as Minister for Pastoral Care at Lewinsville Presbyterian Church in McLean. He completed a two-year pastoral residency at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church in Dallas, where he led children, youth, and family ministries, and he trained as a hospital chaplain at New York Presbyterian in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit before seminary. He lives in Alexandria with his husband and daughter.

The Director of Music is Julie Huang. Together with the children's choir leader Kenyon Erickson and handbell director Janet Pence, she shapes a music ministry described by the congregation as intentionally diverse, drawing on the great European tradition as well as contemporary praise, gospel, jazz, and Taizé, and singing in languages including French, German, Italian, Latin, and Igbo.

Faith Education for Every Age

Christian education at First Presbyterian runs from nursery care through adult classes. Childcare is available every Sunday from 9:45 am to 12:15 pm for children three and under, with professional caregivers and silent pagers for parents. Children's Sunday School meets upstairs from 9:45 to 10:45 am, with classes for Pre-K through second grade and for third through fifth grade that combine games, Bible stories, crafts, conversation, and snacks. A children's choir rehearses weekly from 9:15 to 9:45 am, and the children lead worship with a song every other month.

Youth in middle school and high school gather for combined Sunday School from 9:45 to 10:45 am, using the re:form curriculum to explore Old and New Testament stories, questions about how the Bible came together, and what it means to be a Presbyterian congregation. Confirmation is offered every other year, including the 2025-26 program year, as a season for young people to claim their faith as their own. Youth also participate in summer conferences at Massanetta and Montreat, an annual Staymission week of local service, camping at Burke Lake, and a ropes course day at Sandy Spring.

Adult Spiritual Growth classes meet most Sundays at 9:45 am in the Cindy Bolbach Meeting Room, with rotating short series on topics such as a six-week Faith and Science study. A weekly Wednesday Morning Bible Study runs from 8:00 to 9:00 am on Zoom under Pastor Billy's leadership, working through the upcoming Lectionary passages with attention to readings that will not appear in the Sunday sermon.

Music That Spans Languages and Centuries

The music ministry at First Presbyterian is built around the chancel choir, which sings at the 11:00 am service from the Sunday after Labor Day through Trinity Sunday and rehearses on Thursday evenings from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. Warm-up on Sundays begins at 10:00 am. The choir is non-auditioned and sings an Introit, Anthem, and Benediction most Sundays; on Easter Sunday it sings at both the early and late services, and it also leads worship on Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, and the Good Friday evening service. During the summer the choir rests, and soloists and volunteer instrumentalists offer music in its place.

Beyond the chancel choir, the church supports a children's choir under Kenyon Erickson, a handbell choir under Janet Pence playing a four-octave set of handbells and a set of handchimes, and a steady stream of instrumental offerings from congregation members who play flute, clarinet, oboe, violin, piano, and other instruments. The range of repertoire is wide by design, with the music ministry dedicated to singing everything from classical European works to contemporary praise and gospel, and to exploring songs in multiple languages.

A Congregation That Serves Arlington

Mission work at First Presbyterian runs through every age group and out into the wider Arlington community. The Mission Team collects nonperishable food every Sunday, with bins in the Welcome Hall, and the first Sunday of each month is Food Collection Sunday. Barbara Wiehe delivers the donations to the Arlington Food Assistance Center, and quarterly the congregation bags apples in the social hall to support AFAC's work. On communion Sundays, the church especially welcomes low-salt and low-sugar canned soups, vegetables, beans, tuna, tomatoes, cereal, and peanut butter in plastic jars.

The congregation also partners with PathForward at 2020A 14th Street North in Arlington for monthly Intergenerational Mission Nights, where members of all ages serve dinner and build relationships with neighbors experiencing homelessness. Pastor Peter hosts these evenings, which meet at 5:30 pm on the third Thursday of the month. Just Coffee, a fairly traded coffee that supports Mexican farmers, is sold through the church as a small but steady act of international mission, and an Alternative Christmas Market each December raises money for local and international non-profits.

For more than twenty years the church has been the staging center for Meals on Wheels of Arlington, with about forty volunteers each Wednesday loading ten meals for one hundred eighty clients from the caterer's truck into drivers' cars and then delivering them along about thirty routes around the county. Smaller teams handle daily deliveries to about ten clients. The church hosts the annual Arlington County CROP Hunger Walk each fall, and members tend a Friends of Urban Agriculture Plot Against Hunger vegetable garden alongside the Memorial Garden and other ornamental beds on the church grounds.

ESL at FPC

One of the largest mission programs of the church is its English as a Second Language program, which offers ten weeks of classes each fall and spring. Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced levels are taught, with most classes held in person at the church on North Vermont Street and Intermediate and Advanced sections also available by Zoom on Saturdays. Monday and Thursday evening classes run from 7:00 to 9:00 pm; Saturday classes meet from 10:00 am to noon. Tuition is set to keep the program accessible: $20 for the semester for Monday-Thursday classes, $10 for Saturday classes, and $25 for both. The program welcomes students from across Arlington and the surrounding region and partners with a network of other area congregations through ESLIM.

Small Groups for Every Season

Beyond the Sunday morning education hour, the church sustains a wide range of small groups. A monthly Men's Prayer Group meets on the third Wednesday at 7:30 pm in Pastor Billy's office. A Women's Small Group plans quarterly gatherings with Pastor Peter as the point of contact. A Young Adult group for ages eighteen to forty gathers regularly for fellowship, prayer, and care, and a monthly young adult Bible study meets at 7:00 pm. The Church Ladies Book Club meets on the fourth Monday evening of each month for a light potluck and discussion. A Mahjong Group, a Crafters Small Group, and the Van Go Lunch group, which carpools to a local restaurant on the third Thursday of each month, round out the social options. Pastor Billy also leads seasonal evening small groups tied to the current Sunday morning worship series, typically running four to six weeks and designed for deeper exploration of the sermon themes.

Resources for Federal Workers

Because many members and friends of First Presbyterian work for or live with people who work for the federal government, the church maintains a curated set of resources for federal workers facing transitions. The deacons have organized office hours and the Six for Supper fellowship program as ways to listen and pray with neighbors going through job loss or other changes. The church office points members to resource hubs maintained by Arlington Public Library, the City of Alexandria, Fairfax County, Arlington Thrive, and the Commonwealth of Virginia, and collects them in Friday bulletins. The deacons welcome anyone who would like help connecting to these supports.

Planning the Next 150 Years

In 2025, after a year-long process that included a congregational survey, listening sessions, and consultation with the Presbyterian Foundation and a strategic planning facilitator, the Rev. Sarai Rice, the church adopted a new strategic plan built around four guiding values: welcome, place, diversity, and courage. A four-week sermon series in September and October worked through each of the four values in turn. The financial review produced by the Presbyterian Foundation found the church in strong financial health with generous giving across age ranges, while noting that participation among members in their thirties and forties is a potential area for growth and that additional program spending could support expanding ministries.

For more than a century and a half, First Presbyterian Church of Arlington has been a steady presence in Ballston, gathering for worship at eleven, teaching children and adults, feeding neighbors through AFAC and Meals on Wheels, teaching English to immigrants, and singing in many tongues. The sanctuary on North Vermont Street still holds wooden panels rescued from the original Gothic church, and the congregation still follows the same call that drew twenty-nine neighbors together in 1872: to worship God, to care for one another, and to serve the wider community.