First Presbyterian Church

What a beautiful church with wonderful message and welcoming atmosphere. The music and hymns will leave you breathless! Look no further, come and attend a service.

Sadly, I was visiting First Presbyterian in Norfolk for the funeral of my first boss upon completing university, Charles "Lefty" Driesell. The folks that I met were very kid. I am a Presbyterian and loved the organ. We loved Coach Driesell and his wife, Ms. Joyce. I am thankful they are reunited in Christ. It was great to celebrate the life of Coach at such a beautiful place. He loved his hometown of Norfolk.

Beautiful building and very nice people. The website needs to give some directions to visitors so they know where the Parking Lot, Welcome Desk, and the Common Areas are. The music was wonderful. The organist is a music teacher and professional musician and I recognized some faces from the Virginia Symphony Orchestra Chorus in the choir. Unfortunately, the sermon itself was a milquetoast, kind of feel-good sermon devoid of any actual scripture and only one allusion to 1 Kings 17. There was also no clear connection or application to the average listener’s everyday life. It should be pointed out that the senior pastor was leading a missionary trip and the associate pastor was filling in. Overall, my impression was mostly positive. As I continue my search for a church, I will likely return in order to hear the Senior Pastor deliver the sermon so I can get a better impression of the regular preaching.

We re-joined FPC in 2015 after having been out of state for many years. Although we loved the church and attended the traditional service when we were previously members, we see how dynamic the growth and development of the congregation has been and we are energized in faith by the contemporary service now. A previous poster indicated he only heard one scriptural reference during a visit. I find that quite surprising and expect it was an accident because even when a guest is preaching we have both Old and New Testament readings and they are even printed in the order or worship each week. We've visited churches where the message is lost in homilies focused on pop culture or loosely tied to scripture. I'm sure some times a sermon misses, but at FPC the sermon is focused on scripture and its application in our lives today. We also have very active mission and outreach programs ranging from serving the homeless and children of our community to an entire full-time "village" of orphaned children in Kenya. Our family includes children in elementary through high school programming and we are pleased with the dedication of the church to fostering the faith of the kids at all of these ages. There are weekly opportunities to serve the community and to fellowship and grow in faith.

I have been attending FPC since 2000 and so I have in a very literal sense grown up in and with the church. I am well-traveled and have been to many, many different kinds of churches, so please take my opinion here as both a qualified review and with a grain of salt. SUNDAY -- We feature three services on Sundays: 830 Traditional, 930 Contemporary, and an 11 Traditional. Lots of Sunday School classes with a good variety of topics or particular groups (youth, women, etc.). You will be happy to know we serve coffee and pastries. TRADITIONAL WORSHIP -- The traditional services offer a liturgical program with a well-stocked choir led by professional vocalists and an organist. If you like hymns, and a large portion of the service oriented around the Preached Word, then this is the service for you. CONTEMPORARY WORSHIP follows a similar liturgical flow to the service, but you would be hard pressed to guess the denomination of the Church based on the worship hall itself. The worship team plays standards from artists such as Hillsong, Chris Tomlin, etc. PREACHING -- Jim Wood is the senior pastor and excels at delivering sermons that get you thinking rather than listening. This is not a church for "armchair Christians." You will rarely, if ever, hear a "three point sermon" but instead a "shotgun sermon." Some parts of the sermon might or might not hit you, but when they do, they hit hard. CHILDREN (0-12) -- This church is well-known for its Children's Ministry and Pre-School, which is evidenced by the waiting list parent's put their kids on. There is a strong emphasis in including children in all aspects of the church, even in the worship services on occasion (Children's Choir). YOUTH (13-19) -- This church hosts middle and high-school students from Blair, Maury, Granby, Norfolk Christian, and Norfolk Collegiate mostly. There is a strong annual Confirmation program as well as fun youth retreats year-round that give students plenty to do. YOUNG ADULTS (20-30) -- This church has a small but community-minded young adult crowd that meets on a weekly basis for either fellowship activities or a book study. ADULTS (30+) -- Most of the people in the congregation are over 30, typically ranging from young families all the way up to elders. There are vibrant Men's and Women's Ministries with weekly gatherings, annual retreats, and plenty to do in-between! CONGREGATION (OVERALL) -- There is a good mix of white collar and blue collar folk who attend this church. The congregation is mostly white, but in terms of age it is very diversified. We live in a day and age where people from different backgrounds are returning to church, but we do not shove our denomination down your throat. You're more than welcome to come even if you grew up Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant! OUTREACH & EVANGELISM -- We have too many programs to count! We support a handful of full-time missionaries, as well as our local community through Soup Kitchens, NEST, and by partnering with other organizations for service projects. If you want something to do, there is always something to do. BOTTOM LINE -- This is a great church to join if you live in Norfolk and need a healthy environment to grow as a Christian!