This week two important tricentennials of American Presbyterianism are being celebrated.

One of these is the celebration of the Rev. Francis Makemie founding his first church in Rehobeth, Maryland in 1706.  Makemie, Irish born and Scottish trained, was brought over to the colonies to establish churches and is frequently called “The Father of American Presbyterianism.” He established three churches in the area.  The history of the church and more on Makemie is in an article from The Daily Times on delmarvanow.com.

This does open up the question of what does it take to be “Presbyterian.”  If Makemie was the Father of American Presbyterianism than whatever churches he founded must be the first presbyterian churches, at least that is what the Daily Times article implies.  But Puritan pastors were founding “Presbyterian” churches on Long Island, NY, as early as the 1640’s.  Notably, the Rev. Francis Doughty, who arrived in New York, then New Amsterdam, in 1642 is credited with being the first presbyterian minister in the colonies.

So what does it take to be a Presbyterian, well a presbytery of course.  If we consider ourselves a connectional church the structure for the connection must be there.  And this week we also celebrate the first meeting of the first presbytery in the colonies.  In 1706 the Rev. Makemie brought together six other presbyterian pastors from the colonies at a meeting in Philadelphia and founded the first presbytery.  Ten years later the group had grown large enough to hold a Synod meeting comprised of four presbyteries.  And yes, Francis Makemie was elected the first moderator of the Presbytery of Philadelphia.

The PC(USA) will be celebrating the event in Philadelphia this Sunday Oct. 1 and more information is available in their press release.  The PC(USA) through the Presbyterian Historical Society (headquartered in Philadelphia) has information on their web site about American Presbyterian History.  However, the single best resource I know of is a great series of articles by D. G. Hart and John R. Muether titled “Turning Points in American Presbyterian History” published by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in their New Horizons Magazine.  The second in the series covers the early history in America.