New Visitors’ Guide

Directions

2880 Crompond Road,Yorktown Heights, NY,10598
(Click On The Map Pin To Get Directions)

From the North:

Taconic Parkway South to the Yorktown Heights/Route 202 exit (NOT the Bear Mountain Parkway/Route 202 exit). At the end of the exit ramp (1/4 mile) turn left on Route 202. Follow Route 202 east for 3/4 mile to light and intersection of Route 132. Church will be on the left. Turn left and then first left into the parking lot.

From the South:

Taconic Parkway North to Route 202 exit. Turn right onto Route 202 (east). Go 1/2 mile to light and intersection of Route 202 and 132. Church will be on your left. Turn left then first left into the parking lot.

From the East:

Route 35 to light in center of Yorktown and intersection of Route 202 (Mobil station on left). Turn right at light, following Route 202 West for 2 miles to intersection of Route 202 and 132. Church will be to the right. Turn right at light and first left into parking lot.

From the West:

Route 202 East. From the Taconic Parkway interchange, go 1/2 mile to light and intersection of Route 202 and 132. Church will be on your left. Turn left then first left into the parking lot.

What Can I Expect on My First Visit?

We welcome you, regardless of who you are, where you come from, and your religious background.  If you come to worship with us, you’ll experience a service that combines traditional and modern components.  We pray, hear sermons by our Pastor, sing hymns, and enjoy music by our choir and bell choir.  We use a projector to display videos and pictures. We’ve even had a sermon transmitted to us from abroad via Skype and the Internet.  We do all this in a 170 year-old Sanctuary that is carefully maintained to preserve its original appearance, both inside and out.

We do not expect formal attire.  Blue jeans and pants suits are welcome, though we have no objection to suits and ties.

Your children are welcome in our Church School and in our services.  Adults are invited to our regular adult education classes.

What About My Kids?

Our Church School (Sunday School)  welcomes more than 100  preschoolers through middle-school-age youth each Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m.  Church School starts in the Sanctuary with “Gathering Time”, a joyous expression of faith in song, followed by the signature element of our Church School . . . a bible story brought to life by talented actors from our congregation.  Then the children divide into age-specific classrooms for hands-on activities that help reinforce the lessons from the Bible story.

“The Prince of Peas” skit, during Gathering Time

We invite all children to attend our worship services.  Many services include a “Time with Children” segment, during which children are asked to join our pastor at the front of the Sanctuary for a short topical discussion. Children return to their parents in the pews after a “Time with Children”.

Nursery care is available for infants, in the nursery room immediately to the left of the ramp from the Gathering Space to the Sanctuary.

Meet Our Pastor

Chip Low became Pastor of our Church at the beginning of 2010.  Previously he was Pastor at the First Presbyterian Churches of Highland and Marlboro NY for nine years.  He was educated at Baylor University and Princeton Theological Seminary.

Chip was raised in the Southern Baptist tradition in Houston, Texas, and came to know the Reformed faith and the Presbyterian church during his time at Princeton.  He is married to Tami Seidel, who is also an ordained Presbyterian minister.  They have three children and live in Yorktown.

About Our Church

Our Church ministers within the suburban communities around Yorktown, NY. We belong to a group of 11,456 churches known as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A), a denomination with a membership of 2,742,192. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is divided into 16 geographical areas called synods. The First Presbyterian Church of Yorktown is in the Synod of the Northeast. Each synod is divided into smaller areas called presbyteries. Our church is in the Hudson River Presbytery.

About Our People

Our Church is 404 members strong, with a total constituency of 975 men, women, and children of all ages — young and not-so-young, from a variety of church backgrounds, drawn together to be God’s people in this place and time. Our congregation includes members who have lived in Yorktown for well over 50 years, and newcomers who have just arrived in the area.

As an inclusive faith community,  the First Presbyterian Church of Yorktown  is a “More Light” congregation that encourages inclusiveness and the full participation of all people regardless of race, age, gender, income, marital status or sexual orientation.

Our Mission and Our Vision

Our Mission as God’s People is:

To Invite All into a Dynamic Relationship with Jesus Christ through Worship, Prayer, Study and Fellowship.
To Work for God’s Peace, Justice, and Human Dignity by Reaching out to the World in a Servant Ministry.

Our Vision:

We are a Community of Faith,
Open to All,
Called to follow Jesus Christ,
Seeking to Meet the Spiritual and Physical needs of our World
With Joy, Support, and Love

Joining Our Church

If you believe in Christ, and like our Church, we encourage you to consider formally joining as a church member.

What it Means to be a Presbyterian

You do not have to be a Presbyterian, or a formal church member, to attend worship with our church family. We welcome all who are searching for their spiritual paths, as well as those established in their faith. We are an inclusive church family that accepts all, regardless of their faith background, race, gender, sexual orientation, or financial status.

Presbyterians do not have a set list of formal beliefs, other than accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord. Like the Apostle Thomas, many of us have doubts and are searching for our place in this world. Our Church helps us in that search.

We generally hold the following to be true:

• God is the Creator of the universe
• Christ is the incarnation of God on earth
• The Holy Spirit is the presence of God in the world and in the believer
• The church is a universal community of Christ’s followers
• Forgiveness is possible through Jesus’ experience of the human condition, even a painful death on the cross.
• Life everlasting is shown by the resurrection of Jesus
• The Bible is the inspired Word of God

The Presbyterian Church is a nationwide Protestant Reformed Christian Church:

• “Protestant” and “Reformed” refer to the movement that protested Christian practice in the 16th century, leading to reforms in governance and theology
• The Presbyterian Church started in Switzerland, then spread through Scotland to the United States and worldwide
• “Presbyterian” comes from a Greek word that means “elder”. It refers to the Church’s practice of leadership democratically elected from among the membership
• The church organization includes Presbyteries that each oversee multiple churches, Synods who oversee multiple Presbyteries, and the General Assembly that handles nationwide governance
• Each individual church is managed by an elected “Session” of elders
• The single most distinguishing characteristic of the Presbyterian church is the source of authority in the church.  For Presbyterians, church authority arises neither from pastors nor bishops, nor from the congregation, but rather from the elected elders (the “Session”) guided by the scriptures
• Each church elects its own Pastors under the guidance of the church organization. Pastors lead their churches in proclamation of the Word and celebration of the Sacraments, in prayer with and care for their congregations, in mission to the local community and the world, and as Moderator (chair) of their Sessions

(footnote: some text drawn from “Learn about Being a Presbyterian” and “The History of the Presbyterian Church”, both published by Classic Scriptography)

What is “More Light”?

As a “More Light” Church, we endorse  the More Light Presbyterians mission statement:

“Following the risen Christ, and seeking to make the Church a true community of hospitality, the mission of More Light Presbyterians is to work for the full participation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of faith in the life, ministry and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA).”

The phrase “yet more light” originated in Pastor John Robinson’s  (1575-1625) sermon sending the Pilgrims off to the colonies, in which he stated the belief that God  does not reveal God’s whole truth to any one person in any one point in history, and that we must continually be open to hearing the new things God is saying to us through the Word. The phrase is used in the Presbyterian Book of Order (G-18.0101) in support of the Presbyterian principle of the Church reformed and always reforming.

Our goal as a faith community is to provide a spiritual home for all, including  the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities, and to meet the spiritual and physical needs of those around us.