Organization:
Westminster Presbyterian Church was officially constituted as a local church with an organizational meeting held on July 30, 1961. At this first meeting, the congregation selected the name Westminster, called a pastor, and elected elders and deacons. There were 83 members at this first meeting. The reason for this formation of a new church was to provide a Bible-oriented church of the reformed faith with special emphasis on evangelism and world missions.
Past Meeting Sites:
The organizational meeting and initial services were held at Cinco Baptist Church. After a few weeks, WPC moved to what is now the Meigs Middle School Cafeteria. At that time, the facility was known as Choctawhatchee High School. In August 1961, WPC bought the existing property and made a bid of 250.00 to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for our sanctuary, which was a surplus chapel at Ft. Rucker, Alabama. WPC was selected as the buyer based on our stated need. The chapel was disassembled and moved here with initial services held on Mother’s Day, May 20, 1962. The Fellowship Hall was added in 1963, and the Sunday School building in 1965. Those two buildings were tied together, with the addition of a kitchen, in 1979. All our buildings were tied together in 1989 with a major addition for a choir room, new rest rooms, new offices and classrooms. 1996 brought the addition of the two story structure, which now houses our Fellowship Hall and many classrooms.
Affiliations :
When first organized, WPC had no formal denominational ties. Since the words presbyterian and independent don’t really go together, on February 1, 1962, WPC united with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Shortly thereafter, a denominational merger resulted in the Reformed Presbyterian Church Evangelical Synod (RPCES). Because of the long distance to Presbytery (South Florida) and the emergence of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), on January 1, 1976, a transfer was made from the Florida Presbytery of the RPCES to the Gulf Coast Presbytery of the PCA. In 1982, RPCES joined the PCA.
