History
In 1960, 80 people signed a petition to Presbytery to form a new church to serve the Memorial area west of the existing Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church. The name “Pines” was chosen in recognition of the heavily treed area along Buffalo Bayou. The Reverend C. Rodney Sunday was called as the pastor and the church began meeting in the nearby Frostwood School.
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Two years later, 5 acres of land was purchased on unpaved Kimberley Lane across from Bendwood School and a building plan was launched the following year. Four years later, the congregation moved into their new building with a staff of pastor, secretary and part time music director.
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By the end of the first decade, Pines was an active and vibrant church with a growing membership, two pastors and part-time staff, mission programs, an active music ministry and a growing youth program. Due to space limitations, some Sunday school classes met at the Bendwood School and the activity hall continued to serve as the sanctuary, with folding chairs being frequently moved and rearranged. A weekday preschool was established and remains today a source of early education to children from our community.
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Pines adopted a unicameral government vesting total responsibility with the Session of 24 elders. A major construction project was completed in 1974, providing needed classroom space, offices, kitchen and a fellowship hall, with permanent pews installed in the sanctuary. A later expansion added the present Family Life Center.
Today, Pines is a vibrant fellowship ministering to the needs of its congregation, to the community and involving members in local and foreign mission and service activities. Many members volunteer in our Sherwood ministries —tutoring and mentoring in an elementary school serving a largely minority neighborhood, a weekly bible study group for boys and girls, and a bilingual evening language program for families. Adults and youth make regular mission work trips to Guatemala and to places in the United States.
Pines and its members actively support the Memorial Assistance Ministries, a ministry of service to the poor in West Houston. One third of the church operating budget is dedicated to benevolence.
Church activities include Sunday Service, Youth programs, Adult, Children and Youth Church School Classes, Weekly Men’s group, Weekly Prayer Group, Women of the Church, Adult, Youth and Children Music programs, and Church Committees.
Pines is an active participant in the Presbytery of the New Covenant.
