Joining and Receiving - June 3rd, 1981

From the website of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, This Day in OPC History:

June 3

Joining and Receiving

On June 3, 1981, the last full day of the 48th General Assembly of the OPC that met at Geneva College, the Committee on Ecumenicity and Interchurch Relations brought its recommendation regarding “Joining and Receiving.” “J and R,” as it was commonly abbreviated, was an ambitious plan to unite into one body three churches, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Church in America, and Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod. Bypassing a protracted process of negotiated merger, the plan called for the OPC and the RPCES to join and be received by the larger PCA. Noting that the RPCES had approved "J and R" three days earlier, the CEIR emphatically urged that the OPC could only come to one conclusion regarding this plan: it “must unite with these churches.”

Go here to read the rest of the story and to learn who kept the PCA, RPCES and the OPC from uniting.

Planting Confessional Churches

Over the weekend I listened to a fascinating interview about planting confessionally reformed churches.  The interview featured two OPC pastors planting churches in very different parts of our country.  The Rev. Brad Herzog, is planting an OPC church in Queens, New York.  The Rev. Mark Winder is planting a church in Collierville, Tennessee which is near Memphis.

What is particularly striking is that both men are using a "no frills" approach to ministry:.evangelism guided by presuppositional apologetics, expository preaching, catechetical training, and prayer.  I say "no frills" because I don't get the impression that they are starting with a budget of $500,000 or more so that they can hire a worship leader, and administrative help (that's pretty much the way it is done in the PCA).  What's encouraging is that both men are seeing fruit from their labors and God is growing their churches.  Last year we had the privilege of having a medical student from the Queens church worship with us as he worked on his residency at a local hospital.

We in the PCA have a skeptical view of such church plants.  Few think that they will succeed and even fewer want to try (sadly I've also seen us neglect such groups who come to us looking for guidance).

Go here for the interview.  

Review: Who Narrates the Orthodox Presbyterian Church?

Recently I read a thoughtful piece
penned by OPC historian, Dr. John R. Meuther. In it he raises the question about who is best qualified to narrate the history of the OPC – Those who have left the denomination or those who remain in it?

The article begins by discussing three well-known figures who were once in the OPC but have left - George Marsden, Mark Noll, and John Frame. Of these three only the third was familiar to me as having once been in the OPC. Meuther does a fine job summarizing these men and their opinions of their former church. Let me provide an overview.

George Mardsen, first wrote about the OPC in 1964 while still in seminary and his perspective that it was founded as an "Old School" church held sway for many years. This opinion was reinforced when his original paper was republished in 1987 for the 50^th anniversary of the OPC. One lasting result of his scholarship is the distinction used to classify different reformed denominations as "doctrinalist, pietist, and culturalist" (scholars debate whether he coined these terms or simply made them popular). With this in mind the OPC is usually understood as being chiefly a "doctrinalist" church.

Mark Noll, shares a similar perspective. He has argued that the denomination's name change in 1939 from the Presbyterian Church of America to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church led, perhaps unwittingly, to a sectarian spirit. Thus, to be in the OPC requires doctrinal precision along with a fairly healthy skepticism toward broader evangelicalism. Noll also expressed concern about the small size of the OPC fifty years after Machen's death.

John Frame, whose influence continues to grow in the PCA, has also written about his former denomination. His paper, "Machen's Warrior Children," while not solely dedicated to the OPC surely implicates that denomination in theological controversy. This paper summarizes twenty-two doctrinal debates in the world of reformed churches that have taken place since the death of J. Gresham Machen. His analysis of these issues is rather telling: those who stand opposed are the problem. With that broad brush he condemns not only the OPC but many in the PCA and other reformed churches.

After discussing these three former members of the OPC Meuther, moves to discuss the views of three important figures who stayed in the OPC – Paul Woolley, James Dennison, and D.G. Hart.

Woolley, was the first historian at Westminster Theological Seminary helped train the first generation of OPC ministers. Following Machen's lead he focused on doctrine and a renewed interest in theology. He sought to find a middle way between "liberalism" of the mainline church and the "pragmatism" of the newly emerging evangelical church. Neither movement had much interest in doctrine: the former denied many key propositions while the latter down-played doctrine for the sake of bigger influence.

Dennison, an OPC historian, is noted for his emphasis on biblical theology. In particular he argued from Scripture that God's people have always been a pilgrim people. This was embraced by the OPC and, as such, it ought to be embraced by all Christians.

Hart, a prolific author, has had great influence through his 1994 biography of J. Gresham Machen. In that work Machen is presented as a man of his times who was simultaneously against both the "modernist" and "fundamentalist" camps. Machen wanted nothing to do with a socially active church whether loyal to the political left or right. He argued for the spiritual nature of the church.

Meuther writes in an irenic style that is suited for the 75^th anniversary of the OPC, the occasion that prompted this paper. His aim is not to point fingers as much as to clarify the various opinions of his denomination. He writes, "This is not a call to silence any voices either within or beyond the church. It is an appeal to listen carefully to all speakers, taking note of the assumptions of the narrators." With this in mind he addresses some of the issues that have clouded the history of the OPC: the Clark – Tan Til controversy and the 1986 failed vote to unite with the PCA. Both, he argues, stigmatized the OPC as narrow and stubborn. He also notes that those events led a good number of people to leave the OPC.

In recent years I've become sympathetic to the OPC, perhaps in part because of the on-going battles in the PCA. I should also add that I've met some of its ministers here in Michigan. Additionally, over the last year or so I've been privileged to spend time with men like D.G. Hart, Carl Trueman, and Steve Baugh.

What I took away from this article was that there is a prevailing view of the OPC that has been largely created by those who left it: the OPC is narrow, doctrinally precise, small, and irrelevant. That's the perspective I've held for years. However, there is also another perspective, drawn from those who continue to labor in its midst: the OPC is an "old school" church, more concerned with faithfulness than numbers. This article asks its readers to give the OPC another look, particularly from the perspective of those who belong to it. In light of its 75^th anniversary that is an entirely reasonable expectation.

Small is Beautiful, Darryl Hart

Darryl Hart has written a thoughtful piece commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.  Here is a snippet

If Google is a reliable search engine, the anniversary of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church on June 11 passed without any mention by the press. The reasons are not hard to fathom. The OPC is small, and it lacks a celebrity. In an era when megachurches rival Walmart and Home Depot in square footage and pastoral fame generates worshipers, the OPC usually slips under the media radar.

The OPC’s lone celebrity was J. Gresham Machen, a professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary who fought liberalism in the mainline Northern Presbyterian church throughout the 1920s and 1930s. In 1929 he took the lead in starting Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia, which he hoped would counteract the liberalism of the Northern Presbyterian seminaries.

In 1933 he continued to fight liberalism, this time on the mission field, by creating a rival Presbyterian missions board. Finally, after a Presbyterian church court tried him for his competitive ways in 1936—a trial that received significant press coverage—Machen found peace and quiet in the new Presbyterian denomination he helped establish on June 11, 1936. Just six months later he died, on January 1, 1937. The faculty at Westminster Seminary tried to fill the vacuum, but as familiar as the names of Cornelius Van Til, John Murray, and Ned Stonehouse may be to Orthodox Presbyterians, to outsiders they garner only confused stares. At the time, even some of those who knew the names didn’t care for Dutch and Scottish theologians giving direction to an American denomination.

The new Presbyterian church never really took off. The OPC began as a small band of 5000 committed communicants with a remnant mind-set—a drop in the bucket compared to their competitor, the PCUSA, which then had upwards of 2.5 million members. Today the OPC’s rolls include slightly under 30,000 members. For the past twenty years the PCUSA has been losing more members each year than the OPC’s total membership. Obviously, evangelically minded PCUSA members have not been looking to the OPC as an alternative to their mainline church.

Meanwhile, many born-again Protestants in the United States seem to prefer congregations whose membership is bigger than any of the OPC’s presbyteries. For instance, in one new membership class, Rick Warren’s Saddleback Community Church trained 2400 new members. The OPC as a denomination is lucky—wrong word for Calvinists, of course—if it receives 2400 new members in an entire calendar year.Many inside and outside the OPC have speculated about why the denomination has stayed so small.

Read the rest at the following link and pay attention to the end.  Would we in the PCA have the same mindset: Small is Beautiful - First Things

Something You Don't See Every Day



Though this is a bit dated it is worth publishing (double-click to see a larger version).  Three years ago in September 2007, Great Lakes Presbytery of the PCA and the Michigan-Ontario Presbytery of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church held a joint meeting at Christ Church PCA, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Photos were taken by both groups but until this week I never saw a copy. 

Our meeting was cordial, friendly, and full of mutual respect.  If my memory serves me correctly it was the OPC who initiated the meeting.  Believe it or not OPC men sat in PCA committee meetings and vice versa.  An OPC man was examined on the floor before both presbyteries and later a PCA man went through the same experience.  In the end it was a wonderful time of fellowship that cleared the air of suspicion amongst both groups of men. 

I bring this up in part because it was a personal highlight of my ministry.  Among other things I met an OPC minister who was discipled by one of my college roommates who was a Campus Crusade staff member at Ohio State.  Talk about a small world. 

I also bring this up for another reason.  Here in Michigan it is fairly common to run into people from other NAPARC  churches.  For instance, while the PCA is making inroads in this state the OPC has TWICE as many churches in Michigan as the PCA.  Additionally, I have men in my church who have relatives serving as officers in the RPCNA and the URCNA.  Beyond this at the presbytery level I am in conversations with Classis Michigan of the URCNA about a situation of mutual concern.  My church is in the process of receiving a family into membership who is transferring from one of the Heritage Reformed Churches.  Last winter I took a class at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary and sat under a professor from the Eglise Refomee Du Quebec (Reformed Church of Quebec).  I have sat in classes with brothers from other NAPARC churches as well. 

It goes without saying that my faith has been strengthened by these contacts.  Beyond that I would say that my theology has been sharpened as well.  Though the PCA is larger than all of these denominations combined I view these brethren and their churches as kindred spirits.  In many respects we in the PCA have much to learn from these folk.

Last spring I was upset to learn that some at the highest levels of the PCA thought it was time for us to part company with NAPARC.  Earlier this week NAPARC held its annual meeting and I'm anxious to learn what transpired. The dust has barely settled but I'd love to read a report, even if it is preliminary.

2009 OPC General Assembly Report

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church is holding their General Assembly at Kuyper College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It convened on Wednesday May 27th. I was in Grand Rapids last Thursday and hoped to sit in as an observer but things didn't work out.

The assembly recessed early last evening and will convene tomorrow morning. I've read the daily updates and to date there are no bombshells to report. That could change (I don't know what's on the docket) but all in all things appear to be running along quite smoothly.

2009 OPC General Assembly Report