Eastminster Presbyterian Church was founded in 1872 in the Edgefield section of East Nashville. As the city expanded, Eastminster moved in 1945 to Inglewood. The cornerstone in the old Eastminster Presbyterian Church was laid on November 13, 1955, and behind it a brief history of the church was found; one of the few things remaining after the building burned in 2016.
In 1998, Eastminster was asked by the Presbytery to offer office space for the presbytery’s new Hispanic Ministry Coordinator, the Rev. Philip Beisswenger. Pastor Philip had been hired by the Presbytery to explore opportunities for ministry with our Latin American neighbors. Eastminster readily accepted this request, a new chapter in the life of the church began!
In 2001, Pastor Philip was approved as Eastminster’s temporary supply pastor. New programs were launched, including English & Spanish classes and Back to School Bible School, all resulting in building relationships with some wonderful Hispanic families. A second worship service was added in Spanish and joint, bilingual services were held quarterly.
It wasn’t long before something horrific and amazing happened. Sometime between a Sunday worship service and a Monday morning at 8:30, the ceiling tiles and supports in the Sanctuary fell onto the pews below. It was a terrible mess. But, instead of paying thousands of dollars to a company for clean up, about 30 men (from both the Spanish & English services) worked together, side by side, communicating the best they could, and got our Sanctuary ready for an outside crew to rebuild. Things just seemed to click after that event.
The two churches began to worship together more often (monthly with communion and lunch) and worked together on many large programs: Picnic-in-the-parking lot, flea markets, picnics in local parks, etc. During the summer months, we would worship together weekly.
On December 11, 2016, just an hour after the congregation left the building, an electrical fire broke out in the Fellowship Hall. It destroyed the Fellowship Hall, the Sanctuary, & more than half of the Sunday School wing to the point of total demolition. The very next day, Woodland Presbyterian Church offered us their chapel for our worship services and that started a wonderful relationship. We immediately joined their Saturday Supper ministry and we worship together on special occasions which allowed us to share our bilingual service with their congregation.
Pastors and members have come and gone since the beginning but our dedication has not waned. We are a bilingual, multi-cultural church and we care about each other’s struggles in the world we live in. At this point in our journey, we are a small, bilingual congregation, enjoying worship weekly in both Spanish and English, and we are determined to continue moving forward into God’s vision for our multi-cultural church.