ABOUT US

OUR HISTORY

Forest Hills Presbyterian Church began organizing as a church in 1988, and it was through a season of prayer and a conviction of the heart that the Lord led us out of a denomination where we could no longer find common ground.
Within a few years, we found that common ground again with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC). Our first two pastors, Rev. Keith Cobb and Rev. Blaine Hughes, each had long and meaningful tenures which impacted our church body and family. In May of 2018, we extended a call to a third pastor, Rev. Chris Greenwood. Under Pastor Chris’ leadership, we recommitted to becoming the church God desires for us to be in this next season of life. Pastor Chris felt God’s calling to move to Virginia Beach in 2023. That allowed Dr. Benjamin Williams to step in during that time of transition and lead us into the next season.

WHO WE ARE

A welcoming Christian community grounded upon prayer and rooted in Biblical Scripture.

Our Identity:  Our Church is a Spirit-led and Spirit-empowered family of faith committed to growing in who God says we are while living out what God says we are to do.
Our Purpose: Our Church has been called to learn what it means to intentionally live and love like Jesus.
Our Culture: Our Church desires to create, sustain, and reproduce a culture of intentional, relational discipleship.
Our Mission: Our Church is committed to making the Gospel known to all through the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

WHAT WE DO

Come to the Table: eat, pray, learn, and serve!

THE 7 ESSENTIALS

We are fully and joyfully in agreement with the 7 Essentials of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

We believe all Scripture is self-attesting and being Truth, requires our unreserved submission in all areas of life. The infallible Word of God, the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, is a complete and unified witness to God’s redemptive acts culminating in the incarnation of the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible, uniquely and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the supreme and final authority on all matters on which it speaks. On this sure foundation we affirm these Essentials:

  1. We believe in one God, the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To Him be all honor, glory and praise forever!
  2. Jesus Christ, the living Word, became flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth. He who is true God became true man united in one Person forever. He died on the cross a sacrifice for our sins according to the Scriptures. On the third day He arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, where, at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He now is our High Priest and Mediator.
  3. The Holy Spirit has come to glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to our hearts. He convicts us of sin and draws us to the Savior. Indwelling our hearts, He gives new life to us, empowers and imparts gifts to us for service. He instructs and guides us into all truth, and seals us for the day of redemption.
  4. Being estranged from God and condemned by our sinfulness, our salvation is wholly dependent upon the work of God’s free grace. God credits His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, thereby justifies them in His sight. Only such as are born of the Holy Spirit and receive Jesus Christ become children of God and heirs of eternal life.
  5. The true Church is composed of all persons who through saving faith in Jesus Christ and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit are united together in the body of Christ. The Church finds her visible, yet imperfect, expression in local congregations where the Word of God is preached in its purity and the sacraments are administered in their integrity; where scriptural discipline is practiced, and where loving fellowship is maintained. For her perfecting, she awaits the return of her Lord.
  6. Jesus Christ will come again to the earth—personally, visibly, and bodily—to judge the living and the dead, and to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).
  7. The Lord Jesus Christ commands all believers to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world and to make disciples of all nations. Obedience to the Great Commission requires total commitment to “Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.” He calls us to a life of self-denying love and service. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

These Essentials are set forth in greater detail in the Westminster Confession of Faith. https://epc.org/about/beliefs/