First Presbyterian Church - Joplin, Missouri

09/06/2026

We’re back live today!

Please be patient with us as we stream for the first time from the Fellowship Hall. We’re grateful you’re joining us, and we appreciate a little grace as we get everything settled in our new setup.

See you at 10:30!

Join First Presbyterian Church of Joplin for Sunday worship as we e...

09/03/2026

Faith should not numb us to suffering. It should move us to confront it.

Jesus proclaimed good news to the poor, freedom for prisoners, and liberation for the oppressed. Justice is not politics intruding on faith. It is part of what following Jesus requires.

There’s a church in Joplin that believes that.

Come walk humbly with us as we do justice, love mercy, and follow Jesus together.

First Presbyterian Church of Joplin
Sundays at 10:30 a.m.
509 S. Pearl Ave., Joplin, Missouri

08/28/2026

What if being saved isn’t about getting your ticket punched for heaven?

In Scripture, salvation looks like healing. Freedom. Restoration. Being pulled out of fear, shame, isolation, and everything that crushes a human life.

It means being made whole.

Salvation isn’t only about where you go when you die. It is about God leading you out of the narrow places and into a life where you can breathe again.

It starts now.

Not fire insurance. Freedom.

First Presbyterian Church of Joplin
Sundays at 10:30 a.m.
509 S. Pearl Ave.

08/19/2026

Jesus didn’t keep his distance from the people religion had pushed aside. He ate with them. He talked with them.

He settled in with them. They weren’t a project. They were his people.

We’re reimagining what it means to be the church here in Joplin, and we believe the table gets bigger, not smaller.

First Presbyterian Church of Joplin
Sundays at 10:30 a.m.
509 S. Pearl Ave., Joplin, Missouri

08/19/2026

Sunday morning looked a little different at First Presbyterian.

With the electricity out in our sanctuary, we gathered in the Fellowship Hall, moved a few things around, and worshiped together anyway.

We weren’t able to livestream as usual, but we did record the service and wanted to share it with those who could not be with us.

This week’s message, “Even the Crumbs Are Enough,” takes us into one of the more uncomfortable stories in Matthew’s Gospel: a Canaanite woman who refuses to be ignored and a faith so persistent that Jesus calls it great.

Her story leaves the church with a question worth asking:

When someone cries out for mercy, will we say, “Send them away,” or will we listen long enough to be changed?

The mercy of God is wider than our boundaries. There is room at the table.

Watch Sunday’s worship service below.

First Presbyterian Church of Joplin
509 S. Pearl Ave., Joplin, Missouri
Worship Sundays at 10:30 a.m.

08/11/2026

The God who keeps score, waits for failure, and threatens punishment is not the God revealed in Jesus.

Scripture says something else, and it says it relentlessly:

God is love.

Not God has love.
Not God loves us only after we have earned it.
God is love.

Love is not one of God’s moods. It is God’s very nature.

At First Presbyterian Church of Joplin, questions are welcome. Doubts, hurts, fears, and hopes do not have to be hidden here.

Traditional worship. Progressive theology. A welcoming and inclusive community.

Come and find us.

Worship Sundays at 10:30 a.m.
Fellowship at 10:15 a.m.
509 S. Pearl Ave., Joplin

Plan your visit: https://fpcjoplin.com/visit/

08/09/2026

Please join our Sunday service every week in person at 10:30 am:

https://youtube.com/live/eSu6e01bv5w

Local to ? Come sit with us!

📍509 S. Pearl

Join us for worship at First Presbyterian Church of Joplin on Sunda...

08/02/2026

Join us this morning at 10:30 a.m. for worship at First Presbyterian Church of Joplin.

This week, we’ll gather for music, prayer, Scripture, Communion, and a message of God’s mercy and presence. Our readings remind us that God is near to all who call, that Christ brings reconciliation and new creation, and that even in the struggle, blessing can still be found.

All are welcome. Come worship with us.

First Presbyterian Church of Joplin
509 S. Pearl Ave.
Joplin, MO

Join us for worship at First Presbyterian Church of Joplin on Sunda...

08/02/2026

We are not cast out because we struggle.

Like Jacob, we are met in the wrestling. We are named within it, blessed through it, and slowly shaped more fully into God’s likeness because of it.

Our struggles do not disqualify us from grace. They may be the very place where grace is doing its deepest work.

So, in the poorly borrowed words of Michael Buffer, let’s get ready to rumble.

08/02/2026

Mercy admitted us into the ring before we had done a single thing to deserve it.

The lifelong struggle against the part of us that grasps, schemes, and seeks its own advantage is not our punishment. It is part of the gift because it is where grace changes us.

Grace strengthens us. Grace holds us when we fail. Grace stays in the ring through the long night until dawn comes and, like Jacob, we leave both limping and blessed.