A Brief History of Our Church
I was asked by our Session to do this for another project being undertaken. I thought you might enjoy this as did our Session.
Palmetto Presbyterian Church: A Brief History
The Palmetto Presbyterian Church was founded in 1898. The present church structure was begun in the late 1940’s and completed in the early 1950’s. It includes a sanctuary, annex that serves as a place for overflow seating, fellowship events, and as a community outreach home to 12-step and service groups. This annex structure also includes office, meeting rooms, and storage. In addition there is a modest kitchen which gets used for a wide variety of things such as preparing meals for our homeless neighbors, meals for fellowship events, regular Sunday morning fellowship, and serving families when Memorial services are held in the Sanctuary.
A separate building, the “Fellowship Hall” building, was built in the mid 1950’s and presently houses an outreach ministry known as The 10th Avenue Thrift Store. Both buildings have been debt free for many decades, probably since the late 50’s or early 60’s.
Over the past 12 years, the church has undergone several capital improvement projects including a major refurbishing of the Sanctuary, Annex and office spaces along with replacing lighting in both church and thrift store buildings with efficient LED bulbs. Also, the church upgraded and replaced all 5 air-conditioning units with new, more efficient ones; replaced the shingle roofs on both buildings, and upgraded the sound system in the Sanctuary. Outside, sidewalks and entrances to the church were replaced, to make them handicap-accessible and improve general safety. The 10th Avenue Thrift Store was renovated and re-imagined and it is now considered by many to be the finest in Palmetto as well as one of the best in Manatee County.
During this time, the congregation has also developed a vibrant and significant outreach ministry, seeking to intentionally be the hands and feet of God in the community and beyond. As a result, our congregation has:
Given over 3600 sweatshirts between 2 local Title I Elementary schools and provided for 250 uniforms in the last ten years.
Provided, over the same 10-year period, approximately $1000 worth of school supplies each summer.
Helped kids with reading.
Given 40-50 home-made Prayer Shawls each year to individuals, mobile home communities and the local Hospice Houses.
Supported the local East Coast Migrant Center/Head Start Program with food, clothing, toiletries, and books as well as Angel Tree Christmas gifts (65 kids/families reached in 2021 alone).
Supported the North River Care Pregnancy Center with special offerings, fundraisers and other support.
Raised and forwarded over $4000 in the last two months for our Ukraine Appeal.
All these activities and more are in keeping with Community Outreach as one of our core congregational values.
Pastoral leadership has been stable. Since the mid 1950’s there have been 4 pastors called to serve our congregation. Our present pastor is retiring soon after serving for over 12 years. A respected, well qualified, retired pastor will be leading our congregation in the transition toward a new called pastor.
Like many churches, our congregation of retired folks and senior citizens has been hard hit by the COVID-19 Pandemic. We have used the adversity to create a new streaming of our worship service on Zoom. In addition, we have developed a webpage, www.ppcfl.org which gives a more complete picture of our church.
Because of the pandemic we had to close our all-volunteer Thrift Store for a year. But, since late March of 2021, we have reopened, first on a 2-day a week basis and now a 3-day a week basis. The thrift store's all-volunteer staff was hit hard by the pandemic, and we have been forced to cut back our one-time 6 hour/day, 5 day a week operation to a 3 hour/day, 3 day a week operation as noted above. This appears to be the schedule for the foreseeable future.
Although the official church membership roll stands at 43, there are another 40-45 people who are active in the life of the congregation as “Friends of the Congregation” (many keep their membership in churches up north because they will often go back there to be near family if health issues arise as they get older). There are 76 individuals and families who have offering envelope numbers. As one person in our congregation noted, “We think of ourselves in terms of the size of our heart – not the number of people.” The faithfulness and generosity of the congregation bears out the truth of that statement.
It has been my privilege to serve churches in different settings and in a variety of positions from Seminary Intern to staff member to Senior Pastor and Pastor. There are some churches that jump out in my memory with a special sense of joy and gratitude for the chance to serve them. Palmetto is at the top of that list. You are a tremendous congregation which I will always cherish and remember with great fondness and joy.
Grace and Peace, John