Pilgrim's Progress (by God's Grace) in Raleigh
Pilgrim’s Founding
Pilgrim Presbyterian Church owes its inception, under God, to the Rev. John H. Thompson, Jr, a member of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church’s (OPC’s) denominational Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension who sought to establish Reformed churches in the southern United States. In June 1970, Rev. Thompson placed an ad in the Raleigh papers, followed leads from the ads, and invited interested people to participate in a public meeting. The responses created a small nucleus for a new church.
Pilgrim was originally established as “The Orthodox Presbyterian Church of Raleigh” in 1971. The group started meeting in the Raleigh Women’s Club building for Sunday morning worship services and in separate homes for prayer meetings and Bible study on Wednesdays. A guest minister would preach when available, but generally the group listened to tapes on Sunday mornings.
In late June 1971, the Rev. Cromwell C. Roskamp was called as the first pastor. He came from an Orthodox Presbyterian pastorate in Valdosta, Georgia. At that time, the OPC Church of Raleigh congregation consisted of four adults and one child. The congregation grew to about 10 families but suffered a loss of half of them in 1974 due to job transfers. By 1978, the congregation had dwindled to the point that they were meeting in the Roskamps’ living room. At times the worship service was attended by only Rev. Roskamp’s wife Esther and their two children. By 1995, at the age of 74, Rev. Roskamp was suffering from Parkinson’s Disease and his pastoral duties, including preaching, were increasingly difficult. In summer 1995, Rev. Douglas Withington, recently released from active duty as a Navy chaplain, visited Pilgrim and expressed an interest in the pastorate there.
The Journeys of Pilgrim Presbyterian Church
The name “Pilgrim” not only emphasizes the spiritual life of the Christian in this world but also reflects the physical journeys of the Pilgrim Presbyterian Church congregation throughout the church’s existence. Pilgrim worshiped at the Women’s Club building until January 1, 1978. Worship services were then held in the pastor’s home until March 1, 1979 when the congregation moved to a suite of rooms above a restaurant in Cary, NC. In October 1979, it moved to the YWCA building on Oberlin Road in Raleigh.
These moves were only the beginning of Pilgrim’s journey of meeting places. After Rev. Withington arrived as the new pastor in 1996, the church arranged to rent an abandoned medical clinic in Apex from by Wake County. With presbyterian frugality, Pilgrim met in the Apex clinic until November of 1997 when the building was slated for demolition! From 1997 to 2002, Pilgrim’s meeting places included the Apex Chamber of Commerce, the Powell Drive Community Center, and Laurel Hills Community Center.
In 2000, Pilgrim’s congregation nearly doubled in size when they were joined by members from a local PCA congregation that had decided to dissolve. To meet the needs of the growing congregation, Pilgrim purchased the property on Ebenezer Church Road in Raleigh, where the church met until it’s recent sojourn in temporary space during renovations.
