For more than 200 years, Presbyterians have been responding to the call of Jesus Christ, taking the gospel into all the world and bearing witness to Christ’s saving love to the ends of the earth.
Today the Holy Spirit is still on the move, calling us to share in what God is doing in the world. As your partner in Christ’s service, the Presbyterian Mission Agency is faithfully working to inspire, equip and connect all Presbyterians to do Christ’s mission, bringing together congregations, worshiping communities, mid councils, mission networks and other parts of the church ecosystem as they nurture and shape disciples and serve Christ in the world.
The Presbyterian Mission Agency is the ministry and mission agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Four ministry areas carry out our work: Compassion, Peace & Justice; Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries; Theology, Formation & Evangelism; and World Mission. Together with Shared Services, Communications and Mission Engagement & Support, these ministry areas work to inspire, equip and connect all Presbyterians for the church’s work.
Presbyterians trace their history to the 16th century and the Protestant Reformation. Our heritage, and much of what we believe, began with the French lawyer John Calvin (1509-1564), whose writings crystallized much of the Reformed thinking that came before him.
Calvin did much of his writing from Geneva, Switzerland. From there, the Reformed movement spread to other parts of Europe and the British Isles.
Many of the early Presbyterians in America came from England, Scotland and Ireland. The first American Presbytery was organized at Philadelphia in 1706. The first General Assembly was held in the same city in 1789. The first Assembly was convened by the Rev. John Witherspoon, one of the few ordained ministers to sign the Declaration of Independence.