HISTORY OF FILBERT PCA
By Wallace Tinsley, Pastor

The year was 1915,  Two area pastors arranged for the preaching of the gospel in an area devoid of local church life:  Filbert, SC.  Before the close of 1916, 52 organizing members secured property and built the first sanctuary of Filbert Presbyterian Church.

We are nearing the 90th year of this congregation.  What has changed?  Maybe it would be more beneficial to ask what has not changed.  The gospel of salvation by grace alone, through faith in Christ alone, revealed through the Scriptures alone, has not changed.  Neither has the goal of life changed, to live to the glory of God alone.  Such a gospel is still preached and such a life commitment is still sought at Filbert PCA.

There are, of course, physical changes at Filbert.  The property has shifted across "Business 321" to the site of the Filbert Community School.  A fellowship hall, used for years as a sanctuary, a convenient well-designed kitchen, and a wing of Sunday School rooms were constructed by the middle of the 1960's.  The present sanctuary was completed in 1980, paid for before it was dedicated.  The land has grown to some six acres, both through gift and purchase.  A new fellowship hall was built in 2001 and has been a wonderful asset to the fellowship of the Filbert members.

Spiritually, however, the old commitments still hold.  Tested through trying times of liberalism in the Southern Presbyterian Church in the 60's and early 70's, Filbert took a clear stand to be "true to the Bible, to the Reformed Faith, and obedient to the Great Commission."  This, the founding slogan of the PCA in 1973, continues as our motto.  Also, as expressed on the weekly bulletin cover, the congregation is committed to the belief that the Church is not the building, but the people.  The Body of Christ gathered here seeks to express joint life in Christ through the four basic areas given in Acts 2:42-47, namely Worship, Instruction, Fellowship, and Mission.

We eagerly look forward to Christ's return, praying that he will find us faithful on that day, as we claim Philippians 1:6, "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in your will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."  So may it be.  Amen.