No one really knows when Cumberland Presbyterians first started to worship in this area. In the late 1800’s, the Cumberland Presbyterians were worshiping in the white frame building on Lee St., which now serves as a meeting place for the senior citizens of the area. This building became the property of the Presbyterian Church USA in 1909. Little is know about Cumberland Presbyterian activity during this time.
On November 21, 1927 the Cumberland Presbyterians reorganized. They worshiped jointly with the Presbyterians in the white frame church on Lee Street. The Cumberland Presbyterians built the church on Wheeler Street, called “Waddell Memorial Cumberland Presbyterian Church” in the mid 1940’s.
In 1972 the Church purchased land on the corner of U.S Hwy 72 and Civitan Street so that more people could be reached for Christ. Mrs. Mary Waddell very generously donated her adjoining land to give us the campus that you see today. The buildings were accomplished in three phases and began construction in 1984 and our current facility was completed in 1997. In 1985 the church voted to call the new church, “First Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Rogersville”.
The Cumberland Presbyterian denomination was organized in Dickson County, Tennessee on February 4, 1810. It was an outgrowth of the Great Revival of 1800 -- one of the most powerful revivals that this country has ever witnessed. The founders of the Church were Finis Ewing, Samuel King and Samuel McAdow. They were ministers in the Presbyterian Church, who rejected the doctrine of election and reprobation as taught in the Westminster Confession of Faith. The points where we dissented from the Westminster Confession fall in four categories. We believe:
1. That there are no eternal reprobates. (meaning no one is preordained to hell)
2. That Christ died not for a part only, but for all people.
3. That all infants dying in infancy are saved through Christ and the sanctification of the Spirit.
4. That the Spirit of God operates on the world in such a manner as to leave all people inexcusable. (meaning that persons must respond to Christ to be saved.)