The Rev. Matthew Kingsbury and I attended
the 83th GA of the OPC as commissioners on behalf of our regional church, the Presbytery
of the Dakotas, at Sandy Cove Conference Center in North East, MD from June
8-13, 2016. The meeting of the GA also coincided
with the 80th anniversary of the OPC as a denomination. The GA is the governing body of the OPC and
the highest court of appeal in judicial matters.
The Assembly was addressed by delegates from denominations
with which the OPC enjoys fraternal relations. The delegates represented
denominations from Austria, Switzerland, Australia, Brazil, Canada, South
Africa, New Zealand, and several others here in the United States. The Committee on Diaconal Ministries
highlighted the opportunity for our deacons to attend Diaconal
Conferences. The Committee on Home
Missions and Church Extensions now provides updates on Facebook in an attempt
to provide churches with timely prayer request information about mission
works. There is also a monthly bulletin,
Home Missions Today, which is posted
on the committee’s website. The
Statistician reported that while total membership of the OPC reached 31, 191 members
this last year, a new record high, this is only a 0.22 percent increase from
the year before. While this stagnation
is concerning, we can give praise that God continues to gather in His own!
The Assembly asked the Committee on Christian
Education to return to next year’s GA with recommendations on the preparation
of a “Modern English Study Version” of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which
would modernize the language of the catechism without changing its meaning. The Assembly agreed to move forward in
publishing the new Psalter Hymnal, a collaboration between the OPC and the
URCNA. The Committee for the Historian
reported that there is a book project in progress titled Choosing the Good Portion: Women of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
This anthology, scheduled to be
published fall 2016, will feature 52 essays highlighting the lives of dozens of
women in the OPC. We give thanks to our
Lord for the faithful service of these women over the last 80 years!
The Assembly received a study report on the topic of
Republication, which will be distributed to presbyteries and made available to
interested parties for study. In light
of the report, the Assembly recommended that presbyteries examine a candidate’s
understanding of the covenant of works, the Mosaic Covenant, and the specific
topics enumerated in the report. May
this report be an aid in crafting more biblical shepherds charged with the
preaching of His Word to the flock!
The OPC Pension Plan will now change from a
trustee-directed plan to a participant-directed plan, allowing members the
flexibility to choose an investment allocation that best fits his unique
circumstance. A new Committee on
Ministerial Care will now be created, which will take over the duties of the
Committee on Pensions, oversight of the OPC Obadiah Fund, and provide advice or
resources regarding financial risk management and planning to OPC ministers. May these coming changes meet the temporal
needs of our ministers, who have so fervently labored after our eternal needs!
Praise God for His eternal faithfulness to His own as
we see the Gospel of Jesus Christ lived out through the many efforts of the OPC
and her fraternal denominations, all to the glory of our God and our enjoyment
of Him forever!
