An Open and Inclusive Congregation on Northshore Drive
Set on a five-and-a-half-acre campus at the corner of Northshore Drive and Lyons Bend Road in West Knoxville, Westminster Presbyterian Church has been a steady presence on that bend of the Tennessee River since 1965. The congregation describes its purpose plainly: to follow Jesus Christ in an open and inclusive community of faith where God's transforming love for all creation is celebrated through worship, discipleship, and service. Westminster is a member congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA), part of the Presbytery of East Tennessee, and identifies itself as a Matthew 25 church, a More Light congregation, and an Earth Care congregation - three designations that point to its commitments to social justice, LGBTQ inclusion, and the care of creation.
From Rocky Hill School to the Sanctuary on the Hill
The story of Westminster begins on the last Wednesday in September 1964, when a group of interested West Knoxville residents met to talk about starting a new Presbyterian church in the Lyons Bend area. They chose the name Westminster Presbyterian Church, and within weeks the group was gathering for worship at Rocky Hill School. On December 20 of that year, a special offering was received to purchase the church lot. Ruling Elders, Deacons, and Trustees were elected, and Westminster was officially organized on February 7, 1965. The charter roll closed on Easter Sunday with 98 names - the largest charter membership in the history of the Presbytery of East Tennessee.
Building followed quickly. The architect Bruce McCarty drew the original plans; ground was broken on May 15, 1966; and on Christmas Eve of that same year Westminster opened its doors for the first service in the newly built chapel. The McKinnon Room and a kitchen wing were added in 1978, and in 1996 the present sanctuary was dedicated, again with McCarty as architect. The new sanctuary is rectangular in shape, with a high ceiling and tall clerestory windows that fill the space with light.
Two other landmarks frame the interior of Westminster. The main sanctuary organ, Richards, Fowkes and Company's Opus 7, was installed and voiced beginning in September 1998 and dedicated on May 2, 1999. A 33-rank instrument with 25 stops on two manuals and pedal, it is strongly influenced by the North German and Dutch tradition while remaining flexible enough to support the wide range of music Westminster sings. In the back gallery of the chapel and fellowship hall stands the Catharine Walters Marsh organ, given in 1969 by Marty and Frank Marsh in memory of their daughter and dedicated that Easter. Alfred E. Lunsford of the Schantz Organ Company built it in the same North German and Dutch style.
A 2004 building phase connected the sanctuary to the original structure and added the Schilling Gallery - named for Minister Emeritus Fritz Schilling, who served Westminster for nineteen years and retired in 2004 - along with new staff offices, a kitchen, the front plaza and waterfall, and a columbarium with a perennial garden. Outside, a prayer path, a labyrinth, and an amphitheater sit on land donated to the church in 1971, the same year Westminster held its first May Day Ecology Fair. Today, the same Environmental Concerns Ministry Team that grew out of that fair still coordinates the church's care for creation.
Nine ministers have served Westminster over the decades. The Rev. Dr. Richard Coble is the current Pastor and Head of Staff; the Rev. Gradye Parsons serves as Parish Associate; and the Rev. John Linton Muntz is Parish Associate Emeritus. The current Organist and Music Director, Dr. Edie Johnson, is the fourth musician to hold that position.
Sunday Mornings at Westminster
From September through May, Westminster holds two morning worship services, with Sunday School for all ages in between. The 9:00 a.m. service gathers in the Ruthie Carey Pavilion and the 11:00 a.m. service is held in the Sanctuary. Sunday School meets at 10:00 a.m., with classes for children preschool through fifth grade, youth in middle and high school, and several adult offerings. During the summer, from May through August, the congregation gathers for a single combined service at 10:00 a.m.
A typical service of worship includes music and singing, liturgy and prayer, and preaching from scripture, with the liturgy and sermon following the seasons of the church year. The Lord's Supper is celebrated on the first Sunday of every month, and gluten-free elements are available. Communion at Westminster is open to anyone who comes in faith, regardless of church membership or baptismal status.
First-time visitors can expect a printed bulletin from a greeter at the door and a seat in a sanctuary where worship bags for children are available. There is no dress code; some worshippers wear suits and dresses while others come in casual clothing. Reserved accessible parking is available across from the Sanctuary door, and the parking lot can be entered from either Northshore Drive or Lyons Bend Road. A nursery for infants and toddlers through age three is provided on the lower level during the Sunday School hour, and the service itself is broadcast into the narthex for anyone who needs to step out with a child.
Music, the Organ, and the Arts
Music is at the heart of Westminster's identity. The Chancel Choir rehearses Wednesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 and Sunday mornings at 10:00, and sings for the 11:00 service each week as well as for periodic Evensongs, Christmas Eve, and a spring Choral Masterworks concert with orchestra. The Westminster Handbell Choir rehearses on Thursdays from 6:00 to 7:00 and plays for worship twice each semester. A Brass Choir, composed of instrumentalists who simply enjoy fellowship and making music together, rehearses on Tuesday or Thursday afternoons and plays a couple of times each semester.
Children are part of the music program from the start. The Primary Choir, for first and second graders, meets Sundays from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.; the Treble Choir, open to children in third grade and older, rehearses from 3:45 to 5:00 p.m. Both groups learn vocal technique and music theory and sing in worship, with a spring concert that pairs the Treble Choir with a full orchestra.
The Musica Organi recital series, now in its tenth season, brings organists from around the world to Knoxville for free concerts on the Richards, Fowkes instrument. The Friends of Music of Westminster Church supports these concerts and other special musical events through donations and a newsletter. Beyond music, the Schilling Gallery hosts rotating exhibits - currently showing the wildlife and portrait work of Knoxville artist Lyndsey Ullom and the hand-tied brooms of the Aviary Broom Company. Westminster Players, a theater ministry that grew out of a children's drama program started in 1988, presents several adult productions each year, having tackled Our Town, Inherit the Wind, The Music Man, Steel Magnolias, Oklahoma!, The Sound of Music, and many more.
Children, Youth, and Adult Formation
Westminster's Sunday School hour is designed to give every age a place to learn, grow, and connect. The nursery welcomes infants through preschool-age children with trained caregivers. Elementary children in kindergarten through second grade engage Scripture through story-based learning, crafts, games, and prayer; third through fifth graders explore the Bible through discussion, storytelling, and reflection. The Assistant Children's Director, Jennifer Manrod, coordinates the program along with a team of volunteers.
Middle and high school youth meet in the downstairs classrooms at 10:00 a.m. for Sunday School that mixes Scripture study with real-life faith questions and community building. Confirmation is offered to students in roughly seventh through ninth grade, with each confirmand paired with a mentor and meeting weekly during the program. Outside the classroom, the youth fellowship calendar is packed: WPC Olympics, progressive dinners, lake parties, bowling, mini golf, Joker game nights, lock-ins, karaoke, ziplining, kayaking, hiking, bonfires, and paddleboarding sit alongside retreats, an All Saints Bonfire, an interfaith experiences program, a Peace and Kindness Challenge, the 30-hour Famine, Appalachia Service Project work weeks, and service trips with FISH, the Volunteer Ministry Center, KARM, Random Acts of Flowers, and other Knoxville partners.
Adults have several Sunday School classes to choose from. Bible Study, led by Scott Brunger, works through books of the Bible in depth in the McKinnon Room; for fall 2026 the group is studying Proverbs. Feasting on the Word uses PC(USA) lectionary-based curriculum so that the same texts heard in worship can be studied in advance. The Wired Word class uses current news stories and a smartphone or tablet to connect headlines to the Gospel. For those who would rather chat than study, the Coffee House meets in the Schilling Gallery each week with coffee and light refreshments.
Adult formation extends beyond Sunday morning. Companions in Christ, a women's spirituality group, meets Wednesday afternoons from 4:30 to 5:00 in the Prayer Room with scripture, hymn singing, meditative time, and prayer. A Women's Bible Study gathers the first Thursday of the month at 10:30 a.m. in Lisa Kaufman Hall, with the same lesson offered again on the second Sunday at 10:00 a.m. The Men's Covenant Breakfast Fellowship meets on the second and fourth Thursday mornings at 8:30 in the McKinnon Room for a light breakfast and a rotating member-led lesson. The Ladies' Book Club meets on the third Tuesday of the month in the library. Wine and the Word gathers younger women for monthly fellowship, and Crafting Theology gathers younger men at area breweries for beer and a conversation pulled from the current news.
Fellowship and the Life of the Congregation
Westminster sees fellowship as a spiritual practice, and the calendar reflects it. Foyer Groups are small groups of six to eight adults who meet in homes or restaurants for a shared meal, reshuffling twice a year so newcomers and longtime members can grow their circle of friends. The annual Progressive Dinner takes over the early part of the year. Lenten Soup Dinners, Wednesdays With Westminster, and Westminster Friends keep the tables full through the rest of the year.
Outdoor traditions are part of the rhythm too: an October Breakfast in the Smokies that doubles as a fundraiser for FISH in memory of Mat Matthews, an annual hike to Mount LeConte on the fourth Saturday in July with impromptu hikes in between, and a fall Smokies Baseball outing at the stadium. The Fellowship Ministry Team also hosts a Confirmation Picnic each year to mark the confirmands' reception into the congregation and a Vacation Bible School that runs Monday through Thursday during the summer for children ages two through fifth grade.
The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and on Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Weekly bulletins are posted online each Sunday, and recordings of the previous service are available on the church's YouTube channel and as a podcast.
A Faith That Looks Outward
Westminster's commitment to the wider community runs through three interconnected streams. The first is food and direct aid. The FISH Ministry, a coalition of about thirty West Knox County churches that Westminster has been part of since the beginning, distributes free bags of food and emergency supplies to anyone who calls for help. Westminster answers the FISH phone and delivers pre-packed bags on the second Thursday of every month, and during June each year the church stocks the FISH Pantry at Church of the Savior. Each month Westminster prepares and serves breakfast at the Volunteer Ministry Center on the third Sunday and lunch on the fourth Sunday, both funded by the Two-Cents-a-Meal offering collected on the first Sunday of every month - a small change from each meal that adds up to roughly two hundred meals a month for neighbors in crisis. The church also partners with Bridge Refugee Resettlement to help refugees rebuild their lives in Knoxville, with Family Promise of Knoxville to support families experiencing homelessness, and with Habitat for Humanity, with which the congregation has built houses since 1998.
The second stream is justice and equity. Westminster is a member of Justice Knox, an interfaith collaboration that mobilizes congregations around dismantling injustice. The church is one of the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s Matthew 25 congregations, joining an initiative that commits it to building congregational vitality, dismantling structural racism, and eradicating systemic poverty.
The third stream is care for the earth. The Environmental Concerns Ministry Team, organized in 2007, oversees a 21-panel, 5-kW solar array installed on the educational wing in 2012, energy-efficiency upgrades that have earned the church a Cool Congregation award from Interfaith Power and Light, an organic vegetable garden whose harvest goes to FISH, Family Promise, and other partners, pollinator gardens, and a recurring educational display in the church. The congregation supports regional mission trips through Appalachia Service Project, international mission trips that have staffed VOSH vision clinics and installed Living Waters for the World purification systems, and an Alternative Christmas Bazaar that channels gifts to Heifer International and other fair-trade partners.
The Practices That Shape Westminster
Five commitments shape the congregation's daily life. Transformative Worship draws people deeper into the mystery of God through Word, music, and the arts. Celebratory Inclusion embraces people of every race, class, generation, sexual identity, gender, and ability, valuing how different experiences enrich the community. Supportive Fellowship builds relationships across generations and stages of life. Deep Formation encourages exploration and meaningful dialogue at every age for spiritual growth. Justice-Oriented Service names the church's willingness to repent when it has fallen short while seeking and working for God's liberating will in the world both inside and outside the walls.
Visitors who want to know more are invited to come on a Sunday morning, speak with one of the ministers or officers after worship, or call the church office during the week. Membership at Westminster is offered by transfer from another church, by confession of faith, or by reaffirmation of faith, and the ministers are happy to walk anyone through the steps.