The Church on the Hill at Broadway and Lamar Alexander Parkway
New Providence Presbyterian Church sits on a rise in Maryville, Tennessee, where West Broadway Avenue meets Lamar Alexander Parkway (US 321). From that vantage, the neo-Gothic stone sanctuary built in 1953 looks out across the street toward Maryville High School. The congregation has occupied a presence on this hilltop for generations, and the building program that produced it was the congregation's third major expansion since the 1780s. Inside, members and visitors find a parish with deep regional roots, a calendar crowded with study and service opportunities, and a worship life that runs in two parallel styles on the same Sunday morning.
Affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and a member of the Presbytery of East Tennessee, New Providence carries a heritage that is woven into the history of Maryville itself, including a long relationship with Maryville College. The congregation is designated as both a Matthew 25 congregation, focused on the church's call to address systemic poverty, systemic racism, and community vitality, and a PC(USA) Earth Care Congregation. Members think of their work through five ministry teams named in the congregation's vision statement: Worship, Grow, Love, Serve, and Equip.
Two Sunday Mornings: The Circle and the Traditional Service
Sunday morning at New Providence begins at 9:00 a.m. with The Circle, an interactive, intergenerational service held in the sanctuary. Music is acoustic, often bluegrass or Appalachian, and the atmosphere is relaxed enough that children move about and help lead worship. Prayers are offered by members of the congregation, and communion is served on the last Sunday of most months. The service typically runs about fifty minutes.
At 10:00 a.m. the sanctuary empties and the classrooms fill up for Faith Formation for all ages, running until 10:50 a.m. Coffee is available in the atrium throughout the morning. At 11:05 a.m. the Traditional Service begins, featuring the Chancel Choir, the Westminster Bells at intervals, and a magnificent Casavant organ installed shortly after the sanctuary was completed in 1954. The message preached each Sunday is the same in both services, but the music and tone differ. The 11:05 service is livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube and remains available for viewing afterward.
Visitors are welcome in any service. Some members dress in their Sunday best, others arrive in jeans. Ushers greet at the door, hand out art binders for restless children, and are ready to direct newcomers to a pew, a restroom, or the atrium where there are comfortable chairs and a water fountain. A member of the diaconate can also be matched with a first-time guest in advance, meeting them in the parking lot and sitting with them during worship.
From the Virginia Frontier to the Hill at Broadway
The story of New Providence begins in 1786, when a group of settlers left Rockbridge, Virginia and traveled southwest to Craig's Fort in East Tennessee, then the southwestern frontier. Their pastor, Archibald Scott, followed them to establish a church, and they named it New Providence after the Virginia congregation from which several of its earliest members had come. The young church had no permanent pastor until 1794, when the Reverend Gideon Blackburn was called to serve.
Blackburn is remembered for his mission work among the Cherokee and, even more, for his education of an emancipated slave named John Gloucester. Blackburn's mentoring led Gloucester to be ordained in 1810; he went on to organize First African Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, the oldest African American Presbyterian congregation in the United States. When Blackburn left New Providence in 1812 to continue his Cherokee ministry, the young pastor Isaac Anderson came down from Knox County to replace him.
Anderson became the dominant figure in the next chapter of the church's history. In 1819 he petitioned the denomination to found what became Maryville College, originally the Southern and Western Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, and the congregation's relationship with the college has been close ever since. A staunch abolitionist, Anderson opened the seminary to students of all races. In 1819 the former slave George Erskine studied there before being commissioned as a missionary to Liberia, and in 1875 the college awarded Mary T. Wilson the first college degree given to a woman in Tennessee.
Civil War devastated the congregation, just as it did so many others. By 1865 only 50 members remained of a church that had numbered 271 a decade earlier. There was no installed pastor until 1890. When the centennial arrived in 1886, the remaining members began planning a new building on the original Maryville College campus site, then added an annex two decades later as the congregation doubled. After World War II, with the parish still growing, land was purchased across from Maryville High School and a neo-Gothic stone church was begun. Dr. Thomas Graham, the congregation's twelfth pastor, designed the stained glass windows before his death. The first service in the new sanctuary was held on Palm Sunday 1953, the building in which the congregation still worships.
Welcome Table: A Tuesday Tradition
Every Tuesday from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m., New Providence opens its doors to anyone who is hungry, not only for a meal but also for fellowship. Welcome Table is a home-cooked community dinner served by volunteers who help with preparation, plating, drinks, and cleanup. Begun more than a decade ago, the program has served over 75,000 meals in its years of operation. The atmosphere is intentionally simple and unhurried, and the same guests return week after week alongside newcomers who have heard about it from a neighbor.
A second weekly outreach, Bartlett Adult Day Out, meets Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Bartlett is a social program for differently abled adults, providing games, activities, and community while giving caregivers respite. The parish nurse coordinates the program with help from church volunteers who build relationships with the regular participants.
On the fourth Friday of each month, from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., the church hosts the Presbyterian Women's Community Benefit Sale, a gently used thrift sale where everything is priced so that anyone can afford it. Donations are sorted by members on Mondays, and the proceeds - more than $83,000 in a recent year - are returned to the community through partner organizations.
Matthew 25: Housing, Healthcare, and Education
As a designated Matthew 25 congregation, New Providence has committed itself to tackling three issues with the support of its members: housing, healthcare, and education. In housing, the church partners with Habitat for Humanity of Blount County and PIVOT TN to expand access to affordable homes; members can join periodic or weekly Habitat build days. In healthcare, the church shares information about annual TennCare recertification and health insurance eligibility, and offers quarterly blood sugar and blood pressure checks at Welcome Table. In education, members volunteer as readers in local schools and libraries, and a LIFT library at Welcome Table supplies books to adults and children each week.
Seasonal ministries round out the year. The Presbyterian Men's Parking Square collects donations and directs traffic during Maryville High School football games in the fall, with proceeds flowing back through community partners. Trick or Cans, run by the youth group, gathers non-perishable food each October to benefit the Community Food Connection. ChristmasWishes, a partnership with CommunityWorx, provides gifts to local families each December, and the church serves as a host site for one of the program's celebrations. In extreme weather, the church helps support community emergency warming and cooling shelters with food and evening hosts.
Music at New Providence
Music sits at the center of worship at New Providence and is led by a sizable team of musicians, directors, and volunteers. Rob Britt, the Director of Music, has served the congregation since August 1987 and brings decades of experience to the Chancel Choir, having studied with figures including John Rutter and Sir David Willcocks. Peggy Rogers serves as Organist and Director of the Handbell Choir (the Westminster Bells, which performs four times a year and rehearses Sunday mornings from September through May). Jordan and Maddie McCullough coordinate the music for The Circle, the early service, and Dana Patterson directs the children's music program. Maryville College choir scholars and graduate section leaders assist the Chancel Choir, and singers of any experience level are welcomed to participate, including anyone who simply wants to make a joyful noise.
The Casavant organ, installed in 1954 shortly after the sanctuary opened, anchors the traditional service alongside the choir, while The Circle trades the organ for acoustic stringed instruments. The two services together give New Providence one of the more musically varied Sunday morning experiences in the region.
Faith Formation for Children and Youth
Sunday mornings between the worship services, age-appropriate classes for children from birth through fifth grade combine Bible study, art, music, drama, service, and recreation. Childcare is available throughout the morning for newborns through age five in the preschool classrooms. Children are also welcomed in both worship services; a Children's Time at each service brings children forward for a short message tailored to their age, after which the youngest may go with childcare staff to continue learning through play. Parents of toddlers and preschoolers can join Kids & Coffee, a monthly group that meets during the Sunday school hour on the second Sunday of every month in the pavilion, where adults talk and children play on the playground.
PEAK is the church's midweek program for children from preschool through third grade, with activities in song, art, recreation, Bible study, worship education, and mission. Some activities bring all ages together, while others are split into developmental groups.
The youth ministry creates space for young people from sixth grade through young adulthood to explore faith, follow their curiosity, grow in relationship with God and others, and work toward justice and peace. Faith Talks meets each Sunday during the school year between services for sixth through twelfth graders. Middle schoolers gather on Wednesdays from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. at Vienna Coffee House, and high schoolers meet from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Beard Brothers Coffee, both for check-ins and conversation. Once a year, the youth lead a Sunday worship service celebrating new confirmation class members and graduating seniors. Each year the youth also travel to the Presbytery of East Tennessee's Middle School Retreat at John Knox Center on Watts Bar Lake, the high school Youth Summit at Holston Presbytery Camp in Banner Elk, North Carolina, and conferences at Montreat and Massanetta. Service-learning trips lasting two or three days take the youth to communities they would not otherwise encounter.
For college and career young adults, the church offers gatherings during the year, typically around school breaks, that may include a meal and conversation or a service project. The campus ministry also connects with Presbyterian campus ministries at Maryville College and UT Knoxville, including Wednesday worship at UKirk, and members are invited to write notes or provide meals for students at college and trade schools.
Adult Classes, Bible Studies, and Small Groups
The 10:00 a.m. Sunday school hour offers three adult classes. Faith and Culture explores the intersection of faith and everyday life through discussion of books and media; Seekers of Seven covers Scripture, theology, and Christian responses to current issues; The Rest of Us brings together single adults, married couples, parents, grandparents, lifelong Presbyterians, and those still seeking, in study and discussion.
Weekday study groups include Monday Morning Theologians, a lectionary study that meets at 7:00 a.m. at Vienna Coffee House (currently on Zoom); the Monday Women's Study Group at 7:00 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays in the parlor; and a Tuesday Lectionary Study at 3:00 p.m. The Presbyterian Women's Circles meet monthly around several different days and times, using Horizons Bible study materials. The Men's Fellowship Square gathers on Zoom at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesdays. Affinity and activity groups include a Widows and Widowers Support Group, Crafty Connections on Monday evenings, Quilters on Thursday mornings, and Geneva Groups, which are small social groups that function as a kind of constructed family and stay together through the years.
Pastoral Staff and Pastoral Care
The pastoral team is led by Pastor Emily J. Anderson, who has served as Head of Staff since June 1999. She is assisted by Rachel Parsons-Wells, Associate Pastor for Church Life and Family Ministries, and Louden Young, Associate Pastor for Emerging Generations and Mission. Young came to New Providence from a chaplaincy at the Central Outreach and Advocacy Center in downtown Atlanta, an organization dedicated to ending homelessness, and his wife Elizabeth is a clinical mental health counselor. Dan Hix serves as Parish Associate for Pastoral Care, and Stan Rushing, a former Baptist pastor, hospital chaplain, and marriage and family therapist, serves as Parish Associate for Visitation.
Members and visitors in need of pastoral care can reach any of the pastors directly. The parish nurse, Trish Badgett, also serves as director of the Bartlett Adult Day Out Program and is a frequent point of contact for health-related questions in the congregation. Worship visitors may request to be matched with a deacon before their first Sunday; the deacon will answer questions, meet them in the parking lot, and sit with them during worship.
Becoming a Member
Anyone interested in making New Providence their church home is invited first to come and visit. From there, the next step is the Inquirers' Class, a four-week series offered several times a year on Sunday mornings from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. Sessions are often taught by members of the pastoral staff and cover the church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), Reformed theology, and the congregation's worship, study, and service opportunities. After completing the class, prospective members come before the Session - the church's governing body of elders - for reaffirmation of faith, transfer by letter, or profession of faith. They are then welcomed by the congregation during a worship service.
Accessibility, Weddings, and Memorial Services
Handicapped parking is available in the upper parking lot, near the sanctuary, and the side door to the sanctuary is easily accessible to those in wheelchairs or using walking assistance devices. Restrooms off the atrium are handicap accessible. Hearing assistance devices are available, along with printed notes that follow the sermon; ushers can locate either. New Providence describes itself as a welcoming congregation, a place of unity, diversity, and inclusion, with no place for discrimination against any person.
The church hosts weddings and memorial services. The church's theology of marriage draws on the Reformed tradition's understanding of marriage as a three-way covenant between God, the couple, and their community, adapted from the PC(USA) Book of Order. Memorial services follow the church's understanding of funerals as services of worship that give thanks for the gift of life, witness to the hope of the resurrection, and offer comfort to the grieving. Members are encouraged to plan in advance and may file a planning form with the church office.
A Congregation That Looks Outward
What marks New Providence most clearly is the sheer scale of its outward-facing work. Welcome Table has served more than 75,000 meals. The monthly Community Benefit Sale raised over $83,000 in a recent year for community partners. The congregation supports Habitat for Humanity, the Community Food Connection, the John 316 Center, Good Neighbors of Blount County, A Place to Stay, Community Food Connection, Blount Family Promise, and CommunityWorx, among other local organizations. The Green Team has run a recycling program, converted hundreds of light bulbs to LEDs, planted a pollinator garden, and with a 2023 grant from Interfaith Power and Light, built a vegetable garden on the church campus to supplement the Welcome Table food ministry.
Realm, the church's online platform, ties it all together, allowing members to engage with groups, manage giving, and look up one another in a directory. Members, visitors, and seekers can step into nearly any part of this life on a single Sunday morning and find a path that fits.