The Church sign welcomes all who come to the Madras community for worship.

 Pictures of early church leaders.

 Newspaper article when church's centennial marker was placed in 1933.

A Brief History

Cumberland Presbyterian entry in Texas occurred when it was still a part of Mexico.   During the 1820's and early 1830's thousands of colonist from the United States settled in Texas under the Austin grant.   At that time, all the colonist legally were required to join the Catholic Church.   Until 1834, preaching by protestants was forbidden. 

The Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church is the oldest protestant church in the present state of Texas.  And thus, it is the oldest Cumberland Presbyterian church in Texas as well.  

   Three signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence in 1836 (Richard Ellis, Robert Hamilton, and Albert Hamilton Latimer were members of the Shiloh church.

Copy of the Texas Declaration of Independence with Shiloh church members highlighted.   This is displayed on the back wall of the present sanctuary.  

 At the same time, two church members were members of the Arkansas Legislature (since this part of Red River County was in dispute over jurisdiction with Arkansas.)  

It was named Shiloh because Cumberland Presbyterians from the Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Carroll County, Tennessee migrated to this area and helped start this church.   

Shiloh was a part of the first presbytery formed in Texas by Cumberland Presbyterians in 1837.    At that meeting the Rev. Sumner Bacon was elected moderator, Mitchell Smith, Clerk and Rev. Amos Roark was elected to represent the presbytery at the General Assembly.   The Rev. Richard O. Watkins (a member of the Shiloh church) was the first protestant minister to be licensed and ordained in Texas.   

The Shiloh church became part of the Clarksville Circuit sharing a minister with the other churches between the Red River and the Sulfur fork.   

In 1848, part of the Shiloh congregation and another congregation called Hopewell were consolidated with the newly formed church in Clarksville.   The old people in this community say that, according to their parents, part of the congregation continued to worship at Shiloh.

The original building was located near the Shiloh cemetery, which has the oldest recorded grave in Red River County.   The present church building was constructed in 1910.    

Who are Cumberland Presbyterians?

Born in response to the spiritual needs of the American frontier, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church grew out of the Great Revival of 1800.  Differing opinions about how to judge the qualifications of ministers and the doctrine of predestination led three ministers from Kentucky Synod of the Presbyterian Church to organize a separate Cumberland Presbytery on February 4, 1810, in Dickson County, Tennessee.  These three men—Finis Ewing, Samuel Mc Adow, and Samuel King—were soon joined by other, like-minded men who preached and organized churches over a wider and wider area.  By April 1813, when reconciliation with the parent body of Presbyterians seemed impossible, the ministers who gathered for a meeting of the rapidly-growing Cumberland Presbytery created two additional presbyteries from its membership and formed Cumberland Synod.  In 1829, due to increasing growth, additional synods were organized and a General Assembly was established. 

    Since 1810, the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination has been inviting all who will, to respond to God’s gracious offer of salvation and a restored relationship.  This group of Free-Will Presbyterians began a church as an outgrowth of the Revival of 1800 in the Cumberland Country of Tennessee and Kentucky.  Using Presbyterian church government and a medium theology between Calvinism and Arminianism, Cumberland Presbyterians have carved out a distinctive niche in the United States and throughout the world.  Cumberlands have a proud heritage, yet an ecumenical spirit willing to serve with other churches and denominations to glorify God. 

   Approximately 100,000 Cumberland Presbyterians have churches in Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, and California, as well as Japan, Hong Kong, Liberia and Columbia, South America.  The Denominational Headquarters are in Memphis, Tennessee.

What We Do

- We worship God each    

   Sunday at 11:00 A.M.

- We maintain the Madras

   Community Center

- We maintain the original Shiloh    Cemetary

- We help with food to local

   families

 - We pray for and support

   families who are sick and

   grieving.

- We host an annual Celebration

   dinner on the grounds and a 

   trail ride to the old Shiloh 

   Cemetary.

 
This cemetary has the oldest marked grave in Red River County. It was next to the original church building. Click on the cemeteries button on the left for even more information.