Appointed to Serve

SA-108

Founded by the Presbyterian Church U.S. in 1914, the Assembly's Training School was the church’s first coeducational "lay workers" school. Through the school, women barred from seminary received a theological education. Among the earliest faculty were women who taught social welfare, Christian ethics, and practicum at the 17th Street Mission, Richmond factories, and parts of Appalachia. Students and professors broke gender and racial boundaries, even creating an integrated roller rink and housing participants of the Poor People’s March in the 1960s. Renamed the Presbyterian School of Christian Education in 1959, the school is now part of Union Presbyterian Seminary.

Department of Historic Resources, 2014

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

The General Assembly’s Training School for Lay Workers. Training School Bulletin. 1.4 (1918). Little, Sarah. “Claiming Our Heritage 1914-1994.” Alumni Weekend 1994. Presbyterian School of Christian Education. 15 April 1994. Keynote Address. Little, Sarah. “Historical Uniqueness: The Federation of Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education.” Donor Honor Roll. Spec. Issue of Focus Magazine (December 1997). McComb, Louise. The First Seventy Years: A History of the Presbyterian School of Christian Education. Richmond, VA: Presbyterian School of Christian Education, 1985. Melchert, Charles F.. “Obedient Serving.” Presbyterian School of Christian Education, Richmond, VA. 4 November 1986. Founders Day Address. Thompson, Dean. Aristotle. Poetics. “The Bannerman Legacy in Christian Recreation.” The Presbyterian Outlook, 18 February 20013. Web. ‹http://pres-outlook.org/infocus-features/current-features/17903-the-bannerman-legacy-in-christian-recreation.html›. Sadler, R. Jackson and Johnston, R. Claiborne, Jr.. Footprints of the Saints: A Narrative History of First Presbyterian Church Richmond, Virginia 1812-2012. Petersburg, VA: The Dietz Press (2013) pp. 120-125.