Contents

Our Generous God

Douglas B. Clawson

Home Missions

A Church Plant Planting Churches

Stewardship

Why All the Maps?

Foreign Missions

Coffee, Books, and Theological Discussions

Christian Education

Timothy Conference Goes to the Sunshine State

Prayer Calendar

News

New Horizons
in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church
November 2018 • Volume 39, Number 10

© 2018 by The Committee on Christian Education of The Orthodox Presbyterian Church

Editor: Danny E. Olinger

Managing Editor: Judith M. Dinsmore

Editorial Assistant: Diane L. Olinger

Proofreader: Sarah Pederson

Cover Designer: Christopher Tobias
Editorial Board: The Committee on Christian Education’s Subcommittee on Serial Publications

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Articles previously published may have been slightly edited.

New Horizons (ISSN: 0199-3518) is published monthly except for a combined issue in August-September by the Committee on Christian Education of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 607 N. Easton Road, Bldg. E, Willow Grove, PA 19090-2539; tel. 215/830-0900; fax 215/830-0350.

Send e-mail correspondence to the editor. Letters to the editor are welcome. They should deal with an issue the magazine has recently addressed. Their language should be temperate, and they may not charge anyone with an offense. They should be brief, and they may be condensed.

Views expressed by the writers do not necessarily represent the position of the magazine or of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

The OPC website contains an archive of previous issues.

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Following Hurricane Florence in late September, OPC Disaster Response was mobilized in Wilmington and New Bern, North Carolina, where the OPC has three churches. Here, the OPC Disaster Response Crew is at work soon after Florence swept through. The hurricane relief ministry to OPC members and neighbors whose homes were flooded is likely to go on for months. To donate, visit OPCDisasterResponse.org and click on “How to Donate.” To volunteer, contact FlorenceVolunteeers@opc.org. For updates, follow OPC Disaster Response on Facebook.

Our Generous God

Douglas B. Clawson

“The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing” (Psalm 145:15–16). Have you ever watched the hands of small children as they play with each other? Perhaps one has a toy, and the other does not. If the child with the toy doesn’t want to share, he will hold on to the toy so hard that his little hand will turn white with the effort. But, sometimes, a child will want to share. She will reach out her little arm as far as it will go and offer the toy to the other child. And how does she hold the toy in the balance of her tiny reach? She holds it out with an open hand. It is beautiful.

An Open-Handed King

That is how God is toward the desire of every living thing. We deserve nothing except curse and destruction. We treat almost every gift as if it is no gift at all but rather something owed to us. Yet, despite our attitude of ingratitude and entitlement, he gives us rain and sunshine. He gives us fields full of food. He gives us a home and family and friends. He does this for us and for every living thing on the face of the earth.

The context of the description of God’s generosity in Psalm 145 is found in verses 1, 11, 12, and 13. David describes his God and King as one who reigns over a universal kingdom that includes every work and creature of God. It is a kingdom that spans every generation. Unlike the kings of men to whom flowed the wealth of their subjects, this God and King supplies not just the needs but the desires of his creatures. He is the one who gives to them.

If this is true for every living thing, we who have Jesus have so much more —far more than we could ask or think. He gives us himself. We have Jesus; therefore, we have God. We have eternal life and salvation. We have an eternal inheritance in the heavens. We have fathers, mothers, sisters, and brothers in the Lord. He has given us everything that we have, and he has made us what we are for our good and for his glory.

God is open handed. He is generous. He doesn’t keep things from us like a child with white knuckles. He doesn’t dangle the things we need above our heads or hold them behind his back. He is open handed. And, he says that our hands should be open, too.

An Open-Handed People

In Deuteronomy 15:7 we read:

If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.

Our God is generous, and he calls us, his people, to be generous toward our brothers who are in need. Meeting that need is one of the ways in which we glorify him.

Jesus glorified the Father by doing the Father’s will (John 17:4). When we obey our God and King in our own generosity toward those in need, we are being like Christ, and in that obedience, we are praising him, we are thanking him, and we are glorifying him.

Many of us, if not all, have at one time or another been the recipients of the generosity of others. Maybe someone stopped to help us with a flat tire. Maybe we were short of cash and someone in line behind us helped with their change. Maybe we have been helped with far greater needs than those. It may humble us to receive help, but, hopefully, we did not feel humiliated. Sometimes we need help, and we need to understand that it is Jesus who is being served when we serve. Listen to what he says in Matthew 25:40: “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”

Yes, when you did something to help a brother or sister, you were serving Jesus. And, when a brother or sister helped you, they were serving Jesus. Therefore, we should not feel humiliated. We should feel humbled to know that Jesus was being served through us.

We should also be humbled to know that through the sanctifying work of his Spirit, as Christ makes us more and more like himself, we will be made more generous.

We may not recognize the change in ourselves, like those whom Jesus describes in Matthew 25:37–40:

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?” And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”

But, the change will take place. He is generous. In our service to him, he makes us generous, too.

An Open-Handed OPC

And, you have been generous.

Through your generous giving to Worldwide Outreach and the annual Thank Offering, the Committee on Christian Education was able to publish the Trinity Psalter Hymnal.

Through your generous giving, the Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension was able to support twenty-nine mission works (nine of which were new), two church-planting interns, and eight regional home missionaries.

Through your generous giving, the Committee on Foreign Missions was able to send three new missionaries to the field, which means that there are now four evangelists on one field in Asia at one time, and churches are being planted and strengthened in fourteen nations. Jesus is being ministered to by your generosity, as you have given to the spiritual and physical feeding and clothing and visiting of your brothers and sisters in North America and around the world through these ministries of Christ’s Word and Spirit.

During a Ugandan national holiday, the Karimojong diaconal committee at the OP mission in Karamoja collected money to aid the widows of the church. With it in hand, they had missionary David Okken drive them to the village to purchase goods—mostly food but also a few blankets. When they returned, they asked Okken to preach to the widows while they bagged the food. So they spread the Lord’s generosity.

As our church tries to reach the Thank Offering goal of $1,200,000, your generosity will continue to help others in the coming year. Your giving will support the work of the Committee on Christian Education by enabling it to help the church with additional interns, the Timothy Conference, and supplementing pastoral training through the Ministerial Training Institute of the OPC. Your continuing generosity will support the Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension as it assists the church with two additional regional home missionaries, ten new church plants, and three new church-planting interns. And your generous giving will support the Committee on Foreign Missions as it sends a new missionary to Karamoja, Uganda, and helps to plant and strengthen more churches around the world.

Your brothers and sisters in Christ in other congregations and missions of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church are very thankful to God for the work he has done to make you generous in your help to them. And Jesus, who satisfies the desire of every living thing, will say of your generosity, “as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” Therefore, give thanks to your King, who makes you more and more like himself, the generous giver of all good things.

The author is the associate general secretary of the Committee on Foreign Missions.

Home Missions

A Church Plant Planting Churches

Judith M. Dinsmore

When Chris Hartshorn opened a map of Southern California in 2011 to pick a city for a new Bible study, he was already planning a few steps ahead. “The reason I liked Anaheim Hills,” he explained, “was because it was close to Corona.”

Anaheim Hills is on the edge of Orange County. Thirteen miles east, up the freeway and across the county line, sits Corona. Mid-sized and relatively affordable, Corona attracts home-buyers who commute into Orange County for work, packing the sixteen-lane corridor between the cities with brake lights Monday through Friday. “It’s a nightmare,” Hartshorn said. “Corona is only twenty minutes away from Anaheim Hills, but it can take two hours.”

The Anaheim Hills Bible study, which began worship services in March 2013, regularly saw attendees from Corona, a city with no NAPARC churches, and this confirmed Hartshorn’s idea to plant a church there. Ideally, “the local church should be local,” to enable evangelism, he said. When you tell a friend about your church that’s an hour away, you probably won’t see them Sunday morning. But when you can tell a friend about your church and then point to the building, evangelizing is easier.

So after worship at Anaheim Hills one Sunday, Hartshorn approached a visitor from Corona.

“I said ‘Hey, what would you think about a church in your hometown?’ And this man just looked around the room. Attendance wasn’t great that day; we had about twenty-five people. He was probably thinking, You’re crazy! Worry about your own church plant!” Hartshorn laughed.

But a few months later, the man called. He wanted to help. With the approval of Anaheim Hills’s overseeing session, he and Hartshorn began getting the word out in Corona about a Reformed Bible study.

Chris and Megan Hartshorn

In 2015, Hartshorn began a third Bible study, this time in Pasadena, California, on the campus of Providence College (see “Ministry in the ‘Crown of the Valley,’” July New Horizons). It, too, took root. By 2017, there were three OP mission works in the area: Anaheim Hills Presbyterian Church, Corona Presbyterian Church (OPC), and Pasadena OPC. Before becoming particularized itself, Anaheim Hills had planted two other churches.

“When we were down numerically because we were sending people to Corona, the Lord grew us back up. Then we sent more people away to Pasadena, and the Lord grew us up again. There’s a real excitement here at Anaheim Hills,” Hartshorn said.

An Experienced Church Planter

Hartshorn is not new to the work of evangelism. To be always starting another study, helping with another church plant, or working in another city, is a skill he learned at Calvary Chapel. Calvary Chapel, a fellowship of evangelical churches founded in California at the heart of the Jesus movement in the sixties, is where Hartshorn became serious about his faith. In 2003, they sent him out as a missionary church planter and, as he put it, “parachute-dropped” him into New York. He labored there for four and a half years before moving to Lawrence, Kansas, to plant another church.

During this time, Hartshorn was becoming more and more Reformed and began looking at seminaries where he could study under Reformed teachers. He and his wife, Megan, chose Westminster in Escondido, California, because they wanted to plant a Reformed church in Hartshorn’s home area. “My heart, my passion, was to move back home,” he explained.

When the Hartshorns were connected with the Schroeders and Harvest OPC in San Marcos, California, they hit it off immediately. Mark Schroeder, the pastor of Harvest, and Hartshorn both grew up in nearby Fullerton, and they played basketball at rival high schools. “The first week we were in town, we knew where we were going to church,” Hartshorn said.

So he began going to seminary full-time, preaching on Sunday evenings at Harvest OPC, raising three and then four kids, and gathering up a Bible study in Anaheim Hills of people who, when it began, were not even believers, let alone Reformed. “It was really God’s great providence,” he said.

Anaheim Hills has spent this year preparing for particularization, which is planned for February 2019. “We’re focusing on training our leaders, on getting better equipped to do evangelism and outreach, and on getting ready to move into the next stage of church life as a new and separate congregation,” Hartshorn explained.

Evangelism in Every Fiber

Two ways that Anaheim Hills reaches out as a church is by considering its church life and by celebrating evangelism.

First, Hartshorn said, they look at every area of ministry in their church and think about how unbelievers could be included in that ministry, turning their emphasis a few degrees so that they’re not only thinking about their church but thinking about those outside the church, too. Practically, that means making a Sunday School on the Shorter Catechism intelligible to unchurched kids. Or taking down unnecessary barriers to including unconverted men and women in weekly Bible studies.

Anaheim Hills OPC member Albert Alvara with his five-year-old son, Anthony, at a fellowship dinner

Additionally, “we’re trying not only to equip, but we’re also celebrating when people are sharing their faith,” Hartshorn said. He had just been contacted by a member who was talking to her neighbor about the gospel. This Sunday, he’ll ask her about it in Sunday School, and the group will pray for the neighbor. Together, they’ll ask who else has been sharing their faith, what the conversation has been like, and what kind of feedback they’ve been getting.

A culture of evangelism has to be “in every fiber” of what they do, Hartshorn described. “God not only ordains the end, he ordains the means to accomplish the end, and that’s often us, praying for unbelievers and sharing our faith with unbelievers.”

But he admits that it is difficult. “I spend a lot of time saying, ‘don’t be ashamed,’” Hartshorn said. “We often don’t share our faith because we think that we are weird. We’re sorry for our faith, almost. Instead of having the greatest news that the world has ever heard, we think it doesn’t really line up.”

In this way, Hartshorn said, we buy the lie of the surrounding culture. He sees twenty- or thirty-somethings who may have grown up in evangelical and even Reformed contexts and heard plenty of information about their faith, but who think that this faith cannot answer all the questions their generation has. And they won’t be convinced by a chapter and verse. Rather, their presuppositions and worldviews have to be identified and confronted.

Hartshorn reading the membership vows to Scott, formerly a Mormon and now

Anaheim Hills OPC’s newest member

“In my sermons every week, we’re constantly thinking about apologetics—what are the questions people might have, and how can they be addressed in a Christian worldview?” Hartshorn said.

Corona OPC

Corona OPC recently used the curriculum Christianity Explored to, hopefully, do just that. This seven-week course, based on the gospel of Mark, is a thoughtful introduction to Christianity. One young man who began the course as an agnostic is now interested in being baptized, Matt Prather said.

Prather is Corona’s church planter, called in 2016, and like Hartshorn he is passionate about equipping the church for the work of evangelism. “It’s a joy and not just a duty to share your faith,” he said. “To join Christ in what he’s doing as he builds his church—it’s exciting! It’s not something to be afraid of. It gives your life such added purpose.”

Blowing bubbles at one of the picnics that Corona OPC hosts each summer

Corona OPC hosts picnics, potlucks, and game nights, giving opportunities for members to invite neighbors, friends, or family. But Prather doesn’t emphasize the programs as much as Peter’s instruction to be always prepared to “make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).

In the diverse and growing city of Corona, all bets are off on who that “anyone” might be. California is of course one of the most culturally liberal states in the nation. It also has a thriving, broadly evangelical presence: when Corona OPC canvassed its neighborhood and the surrounding ones, they realized that most churchgoers are attending one of a few big megachurches in town. And like much of Southern California, the city has a large Hispanic population that is largely Catholic, as well as a quickly growing Muslim population.

In fact, there is a large moderate Islamic center close to the Prathers’ home. The family—Matt and his wife, Elin, have three young children, Macey, Aron, and Maya—recently toured it. “I’ve been thinking about how to make more contacts with people who attend there,” Prather said.

From Israel to the OPC

It helps that he spent two years studying Arabic.

Prather, like Hartshorn, grew up in California and matured in faith in Calvary Chapel. After a conversion at age seventeen, Prather gave his life to the mission field. Sent by Calvary Chapel, he worked in Israel for nine years doing first humanitarian work then Bible teaching and preaching in the middle of political tensions and the constant threat of terrorism. “I was a young man, excited about missions, serving the Lord overseas,” he said. “It was a wonderful time.”

Calvary Chapel is dispensational and so the nation of Israel is central to their eschatology. Initially, Prather was excited about working as a missionary where he believed the restoration of Israel was taking place. Over the years, however, he became a little disturbed by the prejudicial attitude of some evangelicals toward the Arabs. “I began asking questions—is this prejudice being driven by our theology?” he remembered. During his time in Israel, as he studied and read, he slowly became more Reformed. “I found covenant theology fascinating and a much better representation of what the Bible taught,” he said.

Prather leading worship at Corona OPC

Eventually, although his relationships with Calvary Chapel remained intact, he couldn’t keep teaching what he disagreed with, so he resigned. Then he went back home to attend Westminster Seminary California, at the same time as Hartshorn.

“Chris Hartshorn and I were good friends from the get-go at seminary. He was kind of nudging me toward the OPC, encouraging me to consider it.” Also impressed by the OP professors at Westminster, by the time that Harvest OPC offered him a yearlong internship, Prather was committed to ministry in the OPC.

Who’s Afraid of Evangelism?

Church planting was a natural next step after the internship. Prather wasn’t looking to pastor a big church. Instead, starting a church from the ground floor, being involved in people’s lives, and really getting to know the congregation, was very appealing to him. And perhaps unlike many Christians, evangelism doesn’t scare him. “I don’t have a problem just talking to strangers and having conversations with people about the Lord,” he said.

His confidence is rooted in the knowledge that our God likes to use weak people—that he is glorified in our weaknesses. “It is amazing how the Lord helps you when you step out and start talking,” Prather tells his congregation. “You just might realize that you can articulate the gospel much better than you thought.”

Being part of a church plant kicks you out of the classroom and into the field. “I think we in the Reformed world are very good at preparing ourselves to share the gospel, but many of us, including me, have room to grow when it comes to actually sharing it,” Prather said.

What gets Prather excited about the work at Corona are the frequent opportunities he has to introduce Reformed theology to people who come from a churched background but have never heard it before. “I love just being able to walk them through it and see their eyes open.”

Chris Hartshorn is excited, too. That Reformed theology is also precious to him as he ministers in Anaheim Hills and percolates ideas for the next Bible study in the region.

“I did a lot of research before I came into the OPC,” he said. “I had years to decide. I didn’t just stumble into it; I didn’t fall into it.” That doesn’t mean there aren’t difficulties: Anaheim Hills is always asking questions about what they could be doing better. But they’re on the right track.

“I’m really excited about where we’re going,” Hartshorn concluded.

The author is managing editor of New Horizons.

Home Missions Today

For up-to-date Home Missions news and prayer updates, e-mail HomeMissionsToday@opc.org. New editions: November 7, 21.

Stewardship

Why All the Maps?

You may have noticed that New Horizons looks a little different this month. Insides its pages are three maps designed to be easily removed for display. The maps feature the work of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church’s three standing committees: Foreign Missions, Home Missions, and Christian Education. They are featured this month because their work is closely tied to the Thank Offering.

Each year, the general assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church elects committees to oversee our church’s missionary, church-planting, and educational ministries, and approves their budgets for the coming year. The assembly then commits the whole church to carry out this work, which together is called Worldwide Outreach. Worldwide Outreach is funded during the year by contributions from churches and individuals. But over a quarter of the funding comes from the Thank Offering at the end of the year!

How Does the Thank Offering Work?

Thank Offering promotional packages are sent to OP churches in early October. They include the Thank Offering poster, four sets of bulletin inserts, and remittance envelopes. Additional print material, as well as digital versions (pdf) of the inserts, can be obtained from Janet Gregson at the OPC administrative offices (email: janet.gregson@opc.org; phone: 215-935-1024).

The bulletin inserts can be distributed on consecutive Lord’s Days prior to the collection of the Thank Offering. We suggest using them from October 21 to November 11, with a collection being taken up on November 18. Some churches collect the Thank Offering on more than one day or at a special Thanksgiving service.

Checks collected in local churches should be made out to those churches and designated for the Thank Offering in the memo line. Using the envelopes included in this issue of New Horizons, you may mail in a check, made out to “The Orthodox Presbyterian Church” with “Thank Offering” in the memo line.

As the chart below indicates, giving to Worldwide Outreach has fallen off in recent months. So we need a strong Thank Offering this year, as well as continued regular giving, to meet our commitment to support the ministries of Worldwide Outreach.

Requests for 2019

The 2018 General Assembly of the OPC determined to make the following requests for the financial support of denominational ministries in 2019 (generally to be made through individual congregations):

Worldwide Outreach: $4,438,900. This averages out to $193 per communicant member. Smaller churches may not be able to give this much, so larger churches should give more than the average. Thank Offering giving at the end of the year goes to Worldwide Outreach. Ideally, it takes these missions and education ministries beyond the budgeted goal.

GA Operation Fund: Churches are requested to give $22 per communicant member.

GA Travel Fund: Churches are requested to give $12 per communicant member.

Diaconal Ministries General Fund: Churches are requested to give $25 per communicant member.

Send contributions to: The Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 607 N. Easton Rd., Bldg. E, Willow Grove, PA 19090-2539. Checks should be made payable to The Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Contributions are credited to Worldwide Outreach and support all its ministries, unless specifically designated.

Foreign Missions

Coffee, Books, and Theological Discussions

L. Charles Jackson

I love the smell that hits me when I first walk through a coffee shop’s doors. I also love books. Because of your generosity, I am able to walk into a beautiful room every day and experience both: the smell of coffee and the sight of books. Each time I enter the Reformation Book Room, I thank God for his generosity through you—his people.

The Reformation Book Room in Mbale, Uganda, is a library, a meeting place, and a coffee shop.

The Reformation Book Room is a library of Christian and Reformed books and resources for adults and children in Mbale, Uganda. When we started it last year, I wasn’t sure what to expect or how it would go. But the Lord has made so many things possible through his people. When we needed a place to rent, your gifts and generosity gave us the opportunity to find a good location. When I dreamed of adding coffee to the books, a donor stepped forward so that we could purchase an espresso machine, used but in good condition, giving us a genuinely professional look. We needed shelves, tables, and chairs, and your gifts made it possible. We were even able to add a blender for frappé drinks and make a few other repairs—all thanks to your generosity.

Reformed Resources for Readers

Most importantly, the book room is full of amazing books that came almost exclusively from OP churches and individuals. I’d like to give a shout out to the churches that were especially generous in sending boxes of books. I pretended that the work of unloading the books was hard, but, for a pastor like myself, it was more like Christmas morning. I opened every box with great anticipation.

Now that our shelves are almost full of numerous solid, excellent books, I do the “hard work” of reading them, talking to customers, and engaging in theological discussions. It’s a sacrifice, but someone has to do it, and, in addition to the classes that I teach at Knox School of Theology, I’m willing to keep drinking good coffee surrounded by great books as long as needed.

Robinah, manager of Reformation Book Room, behind the coffee bar

While I am enjoying fielding the many evangelistic opportunities that come through the doors, my wife, Connie, keeps the accounts and works with our manager, Robinah. Please pray for Connie and Robinah as they do the behind-the-scenes work so that the Book Room’s doors can stay open.

The Book Room Bearing Fruit

We see the purpose in your giving every day. Here in our city of Mbale, people are coming to know the love and generosity of Jesus Christ through the Book Room. Alongside the coffee and books, they can find such a relief from the hard world of Uganda just outside our doors. Thanks to your generosity, three little girls are able to come regularly to the Book Room after school and head directly to the kids’ section where they read Bible stories and other Christian books.

The voices of so many great minds in so many great books are also sparking discussions. People are reading books and asking about who God is, why the Holy Spirit is so important, what the difference is between Muslims and Christians, why Presbyterians baptize babies—and the list goes on and on.

With multiple copies of Calvin’s Institutes and Hodge’s Systematic Theology just an arm’s reach away, local Ugandan pastors come in to the Reformation Book Room a few days a week to study and prepare their sermons. Our most-used books are the counseling pamphlets—what a blessing to see pastors and laypeople reading books that direct them to the Scriptures and Jesus Christ in the context of life’s many struggles!

The front door of the Reformation Book Room

While many Ugandans are using the Reformation Book Room, I have also been amazed at the other visitors who come. One man from Argentina, who’s recently been living in America, started visiting our shop. He told me that he has always loved books, but now he has started reading about the Holy Spirit. He said, “I’m not sure what’s happening, but I think God may be doing something in my heart. These books have really helped me. Thanks!” Pray for him and many others who are having similar experiences.

The Generosity of Our God

God is so open handed that James says he gives without finding fault (James 1:5). For most of us, this kind of giving is hard to understand. As sinners, we tend to give with the hope of getting something in return. Many of our Ugandan neighbors have a genuine look of wonder on their faces when they see all the books and realize that they can use them for free. Some of them have never heard of such a thing, and they are amazed at the generosity.

Reformation Book Room is full of books about Jesus, but the very fact that these books are here in Uganda for people to read is also something that points us to the love of Jesus Christ. The love of God through Jesus is so amazing and so wonderful that we sing of it, we praise God for it, and we will be spending all of eternity thankful for it.

Jackson leading a Bible study with students in Mbale, Uganda

In closing, I would remind you that this is just a glimpse into the small world of Mbale, Uganda. However, because of your giving to Worldwide Outreach, stories like this are happening all over the world. Great stories are taking place just north of us in Karamoja, in Haiti, in Uruguay, in Ukraine, and through the whole earth. Stories like this could also be told by the Home Missions and Christian Education Committees. So thank you for your generosity, and please continue to give generously to Worldwide Outreach so that these stories will continue.

We are so grateful here in Uganda for your generosity that we know is flowing to us because of your love for Jesus Christ.

The author is an OP missionary to Uganda.

Christian Education

Timothy Conference Goes to the Sunshine State

Joel D. Fick

We have more information about the church at Ephesus than virtually any other church in the New Testament. We can read about its planting in Acts 19, when Paul together with Aquila and Priscilla labored together to see the work started in this key city of Asia minor. We can read of Paul’s encouragements to the Ephesians in his letter of the same name (which, even if not specifically intended for them, certainly came to them in a circular way). Paul wrote that their union with Christ must manifest itself in the way they walk. We also read of the Lord’s direct encouragements and warnings to this church in the book of Revelation. They were zealous for truth but had abandoned their first love.

But perhaps the best window we have into the life of the church at Ephesus is Paul’s letters to its pastor, the man whom we know as Timothy. Pastor Timothy had been trained from his youth in the Scriptures, and his gifts had become evident from a young age, but what a privilege it was for pastor Timothy to have a faithful, seasoned father in the faith like Paul! Paul not only recognized Timothy’s gifts but had walked the road of ministry before him and could encourage him and challenge him “to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you” (2 Tim. 1:6).

The Timothy Conference

The OPC’s Committee on Christian Education created the Timothy Conference in 2008 as a way of identifying, encouraging, and even preparing young men like Timothy as they consider whether or not the Lord may be calling them to gospel ministry. This year, the CCE’s Subcommittee on Ministerial Training invites conference participants to sunny Orlando in the Sunshine State—Florida.

The conference will be held from April 11 to 14 and will be hosted by our two Orlando churches, Lake Sherwood OPC and Reformation OPC. Parts of the conference will be held on the beautiful campus of RTS Orlando where students will get a sense of what seminary life is like.

The Timothy Conference is a wonderful opportunity for students to consider their calling while enjoying fellowship with other godly young men from around the OPC in the city of Orlando.

Conference Speakers and Topics

At the conference, seasoned pastors will help students understand the call to pastoral ministry, what the call involves, how they might prepare for it now, and what the actual process of becoming ordained looks like in the OPC.

The Office of the Minister

Stephen Oharek (pastor of Reformation OPC in Oviedo, Florida) will give an overview of what it means to be a minister, including the nature of the office together with its responsibilities and privileges.

The Call to the Ministry

Joel Fick (pastor of Redemption OPC in Gainesville, Florida, and a member of the Subcommittee on Ministerial Training) will consider questions related to the call to ministry. What does it mean to be called to the ministry? And how might one know that he is called?

Seminary Education: What and Why

Dr. David VanDrunen (professor at Westminster Seminary California and a member of the Subcommittee on Ministerial Training) will explain what a Reformed seminary education involves and why it is necessary for future ministers.

Preparing for the Ministry Now

Geoff Downey (pastor of Lake Sherwood OPC in Orlando, Florida) will explore how participants might begin personally preparing for a life of ministry even now as they order their lives and set their hearts to know the Lord.

The Process Toward Ordination

Rev. Danny E. Olinger (general secretary of the Committee on Christian Education) will sew together the various elements of instruction received at the conference in a discussion of the required steps that candidates for ministry in the OPC must undergo in the ordination process. He will discuss the specific requirements, which include coming under care, licensure, and ordination, while also talking about when and where seminary and internships fit into the process.

Application Information

While the Timothy Conference is free to the students who attend, it represents the investment of the whole church through the funds given to Worldwide Outreach. We are investing in the future of the OPC and are looking for young men of piety and ability whom the Lord may be raising up to labor in his vineyard. To that end, we ask sessions to help us identify godly young men in their congregations between the ages of 16 and 21 whom they believe would benefit from such a conference. If there is a young man in your church who seems to fit the bill, would you consider asking if he’d be willing to attend?

If he is both willing and able to attend, please fill out the application form (available on the Christian Education page of OPC.org) and submit it by email to the CCE’s Subcommittee on Ministerial Training (danny.olinger@opc.org). The application deadline is January 15, 2019. Help us as we seek to follow Paul’s instruction together: “What you have heard from me … entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2).

The author is pastor of Redemption OPC in Gainesville, Florida.

Our Membership Vows

The Great Exchange

Glen J. Clary

When God justifies us, he forgives our sins and accepts us as righteous in his sight. He no longer considers us guilty law-breakers but righteous law-keepers. The Shorter Catechism defines justification as “an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone” (Q. 33).

In other words, God declares that we are not guilty of breaking his law but that we are perfectly righteous. But how can God do that if we are, in fact, guilty and unrighteous? The answer is what might be called “the great exchange.”

Christ exchanges our status for his. We are guilty sinners, but he is perfectly righteous. His status is given to us, and our status is given to him. Paul says that God made Jesus “to be sin who knew no sin” for us, “so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).

Since Jesus took our status, he also took our punishment. Thus, he died on the cross because of our sin. And since his status is freely given to us, God declares that we are righteous in his sight. So God accepts us as righteous (even though we are unrighteous in ourselves) because the righteousness of Jesus is freely given to us and received by faith alone.

Paul says that whatever righteousness he may have gained by his own obedience to the law, he “counted as loss for the sake of Christ” (Phil. 3:7). Indeed, he adds,

I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. (vs. 8–9)

Out of the Mouth

One Sunday, when our pastor announced the giving of tithes and offerings, my five-year-old son, Jesse, leaned over to me. “TIES?” he whispered. He was all dressed up for church that day. I explained that the word was actually “tithes,” but when the plate came down our row, Jesse was ready. He whipped off his tie and proudly put it in.

—Denise Baird

Aliquippa, PA

Note: If you have an example of the humorous “wisdom” that can come from children, please send it to the editor.

Congratulations

The Shorter Catechism has been recited by:

• Evalena Pinegar, Bethel Presbyterian Church, Wheaton, IL

• Daniel Olinger, Calvary OPC, Glenside, PA

The First Catechism has been recited by:

• Mason McKenna, Bethel Presbyterian Church, Wheaton, IL

• Lauren Shannon, Bethel Presbyterian Church, Wheaton, IL

• Isaac VanDrunen, Bethel Presbyterian Church, Wheaton, IL

Prayer Calendar

November

The Baardmans

1. Dr. Flip & Anneloes Baardman, Nakaale, Uganda. Pray for the physical and spiritual health of the patients at the clinic. / Home Missions administrative assistant Katie Stumpff.

2. Jim & Eve Cassidy, Austin, TX. Pray for the children in the communicants’ class at South Austin Presbyterian Church. / David Nakhla, disaster response coordinator. Pray for the OP families in NC affected by Florence.

3. Pray for Mark & Carla Van Essendelft, Nakaale, Uganda, as they balance the work at the mission while expecting a baby. / Gregory Reynolds, editor of Ordained Servant, a journal for church officers.

4. Jay & Andrea Bennett, Neon, KY. Pray for Neon Reformed Church to organize by 2020. / David & Rashel Robbins, Nakaale, Uganda. Pray that worship services would not be disrupted by those practicing witchcraft.

5. Bob & Grace Holda, Oshkosh, WI. Pray for warm fellowship and evangelistic zeal at Resurrection Presbyterian. / Pray for MTIOPC coordinator Pat Clawson and others preparing for MTIOPC Intensive Training.

The Jacksons

6. Pray for Charles & Connie Jackson and Eric & Dianna Tuininga, Mbale, Uganda, at Knox School of Theology. / Pray for MTIOPC students and instructors Glen Clary, Craig Troxel, and Matthew Patton during Intensive Training, Nov. 6–8.

7. Missionary associates Leah Hopp and Angela Voskuil, Nakaale, Uganda. / Mark Stumpff, administrator of the OPC Loan Fund, which helps congregations with capital acquisition or expansion projects.

8. Chris & Megan Hartshorn, Anaheim Hills, CA. Pray for Anaheim Hills Presbyterian Church to grow numerically and spiritually. / Yearlong intern Dhananjay (Corrie) Khanda, Hope OPC, Grayslake, IL.

9. Pray for missionary associates Donald Owens and Christopher & Chloe Verdick, Nakaale, Uganda, as they assist with construction projects. / David Haney, director of the Committee on Ministerial Care, and Doug Watson, staff accountant.

10. Gregory & Ginger O’Brien, Downingtown, PA. Pray for Downingtown OPC as they begin receiving denominational support. / Ben & Heather Hopp, Haiti. Pray that God would raise up spiritually mature and humble leaders among the church youth.

11. Bill (Margaret) Shishko, regional home missionary for the Presbytery of Connecticut and Southern New York. / Trinity Psalter Hymnal executive director Joel Pearce, as he leads efforts to develop a digital edition.

12. Associate missionaries Octavius & Marie Delfils, Haiti, give thanks for fruitful discussions as church leaders draft the Book of Church Order. / New Horizons editorial assistant Diane Olinger.

13. Pray for the labors of Heero & Anya Hacquebord, L’viv, Ukraine, and affiliated missionaries Jerry & Marilyn Farnik, Prague, Czech Republic. / Ben (Tiffany) Ward, church-planting intern, Christ the King, Naples, FL.

14. Matthew & Lois Cotta, Pasadena, CA. Pray for more families to visit and attend worship services at Pasadena Presbyterian Church. / Yearlong intern Eric (Viviane) Cuer de Andrade, Harvest OPC, Wyoming, MI.

15. Ben & Melanie Westerveld, Quebec, Canada. Pray for the efforts to encourage church visitors to return and attend worship consistently. / Home Missions general secretary John Shaw.

Lowell and Mae Ivey

16. Lowell & Mae Ivey, Virginia Beach, VA. Pray for the Lord to prepare men from Reformation Church to be church officers. / Katrina Zartman, secretary for CFM, and Kathy Bube, loan fund documentation specialist.

17. Jason & Amanda Kirklin, Waco, TX. Pray that frequent visitors to Trinity OPC will pursue membership. / Andrew Moody, technical assistant for OPC.org, and Charlene Tipton, database coordinator.

18. Pray for the health of retired missionaries Betty Andrews, Cal and Edie Cummings, Greet Rietkerk, Young and Mary Lou Son, and Brian and Dorothy Wingard. / Ross Graham, stated clerk of the General Assembly.

19. Mr. and Mrs. S. F., Asia, give thanks for some progress in fellowship and hospitality among church members. / Brock (Jennifer) Pavier, church-planting intern, Covenant Presbyterian Church, St. Augustine, FL.

20. Bill & Sessie Welzien, Key West, FL. Pray for new visitors to Keys Presbyterian who will integrate into church life. / Foreign missions general and associate secretaries Mark Bube and Douglas Clawson.

21. Pray for missionary associates E. C. and P. F., Asia, as they begin Bible studies for Russian-speaking and South Korean student groups. / Committee on Chaplains and Military Personnel.

22. Mr. and Mrs. D. K., Asia. Pray that the Lord would increase and deepen their contacts with new local friends. / Missionary associate Janine Eygenraam, Quebec, Canada, gives thanks for English Club.

23. Bradney & Eileen Lopez, Arroyo, PR. Pray for Iglesia Presbiteriana Sola Escritura as they show their community the love of Christ. / Janet Birkmann, communications coordinator for Short-Term Missions and Disaster Response.

24. Dave (Elizabeth) Holmlund, regional home missionary for the Presbytery of Philadelphia. / Pray for CCE general secretary Danny Olinger, and for CCE’s Subcommittee on Marriage and Sexuality.

25. Pray for missionary associates E. K. and M. S., and tentmaking missionary T. D., Asia, as they encourage women to share their faith. / Jan Gregson, assistant to the finance director.

26. Mr. and Mrs. M. M., Asia, praise the Lord for the recent growth in the number of licensed and ordained men. / Chris & Grace Ann Cashen, Clarkston, GA. Pray for the Lord to break into the hearts of Afghan friends and neighbors.

Al and Laurie Tricarico

27. Home Missions associate general secretary Al Tricarico. / Mr. and Mrs. J. M., Asia. Pray for those who seek to live in peaceful submission to authority without compromising their faith.

28. Nathan (Anna) Strom, church-planting intern, Immanuel OPC, Andover, MN. / Pray for affiliated missionaries Mark and Laura Ambrose, Cambodia, and Craig and Ree Coulbourne and Linda Karner, Japan.

29. Yearlong intern Ryan (Alisabeth) Woods, Covenant OPC, Rochester, NY. / Pray for health concerns of Marvin Padgett, a PCA minister who serves as executive director of Great Commission Publications.

30. Jim Bosgraf, regional home missionary for the Presbytery of the Midwest. / Pray for the labors of Ray & Michele Call, Mark & Jeni Richline, and missionary associates Markus & Sharon Jeromin and Michaela Sharpshair, Montevideo, Uruguay.

News

In Memoriam: Judy E. Bosgraf

Lendall Smith

In the evening of the Lord’s Day, September 9, 2018, after a short stay in the hospital, Judy Bosgraf was called to her eternal rest after a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer.

Judy E. Bosgraf

Born in 1941, Judy grew up in Massachusetts and graduated from Wheaton College and West Suburban School of Nursing. She married Jim Bosgraf on August 8, 1964. They served churches in Hanover Park, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; and Oostburg, Wisconsin. For the past twenty-six years, she has supported her husband in church planting throughout the Midwest and Canada. She also served as director of nursing at Windsor Park Retirement Community until 2003.

For her love and care of her family and so many others in her field of nursing and in the church, she will be greatly missed.

Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord … that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them. (Rev. 14:13)

In Memoriam: Larry D. Conard

George Cottenden

The Reverend Larry D. Conard entered his Savior’s glorious presence on September 8, 2018, at the age of 82.

Larry D. Conard

Larry had deep roots in the OPC. His father served as a ruling elder of Valley OPC in Santee, California, for more than fifty years. Upon hearing the preaching of missionary Bruce Hunt in the 1940s, he sensed a call to the ministry. In 1959, he married Bonnie Hanks. After serving in the US Air Force, he studied at Westminster Theological Seminary. Ordained in 1968, he served congregations in Denver, Colorado; Chula Vista, California; and Eugene, Grants Pass, and Roseburg, Oregon. He also served for a time in the PCA and as a Christian school administrator and Bible teacher.

Larry ministered in the broader church as a regional home missionary, as moderator of two presbyteries, as moderator of the Forty-fifth General Assembly, on presbytery and general assembly committees on Home Missions, and as the first president of the Board of Trustees of Westminster Seminary California.

Larry is survived by his wife, Bonnie, his son, Jeffrey, and three grandchildren.

Update

Churches

• Gospel Life Presbyterian Church in Chicago, IL, was dissolved and its last service was held on March 25.

• Skowhegan OPC in Skowhegan, ME, was dissolved and its last service was held on July 1.

• On September 28, the ministerial relationship between Randall A. Bergquist and Emmanuel OPC in Kent, WA, was dissolved at his request.

• The Eighty-fifth General Assembly of the OPC dissolved the Presbytery of the Central United States effective October 31. Its three remaining churches were transferred as follows: Faith OPC in Lincoln, NE, to the Presbytery of the Midwest; Westminster OPC in Bartlesville, OK, and Providence OPC in Tulsa, OK, to the Presbytery of the Southwest.

Ministers

• On September 8, Charles M. Oliveira, previously a PCA minister, was installed as the pastor of Westchester OPC in Mount Vernon, NY.

• Having been received by the Presbytery of the Southwest, John Canales, formerly a PCA minister, was installed as the pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church, Flower Mound, TX, on September 21.

• On September 21, Miller E. Ansell was ordained as a minister and installed as the associate pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church, Flower Mound, TX.

• On September 21, Alan J. Dueck, previously the pastor of Grace OPC in Battle Mountain, NV, was installed by the Presbytery of Ohio as the associate pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Columbus, OH.

• At its September 25–26 meeting, the Presbytery of the Dakotas removed Kevin P. Swanson from its roles. He was received into the Covenant Presbyterian Church on May 24.

Milestones

• Longtime member of Trinity OPC in Hatboro, PA, Vickie L. Swann, 62, died on September 3. Before her retirement, she worked for the administrative offices of the OPC, serving various committees.

• Retired OP pastor Larry D. Conard, 82, died on September 8.

• Judy E. Bosgraf, 77, died on September 9. She was the wife of Rev. James L. Bosgraf, regional home missionary for the Presbytery of the Midwest.

• Retired OP pastor José Vera, 84, died on September 20.

Reviews

The Gospel Comes with a House Key, by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield. Crossway, 2018. Hardcover, 240 pages, $16.84 (Amazon). Reviewed by OP member Rebecca Sodergren.

This book challenges Christians to practice “radically ordinary hospitality.” What is that?

It’s “using your Christian home in a daily way that seeks to make strangers neighbors, and neighbors family of God” (40). It’s making “sacrifices that hurt so that others can be served and maybe even saved. We are called to die. Nothing less” (42).

Mingling theology and practical teaching with stories from her family’s daily life, Butterfield shows how her home has become a place where neighbors with diverse viewpoints can meet together, where those who are struggling can find refuge, where needs are met so that others may see the love of Jesus. But it’s not always pretty.

The central narrative is the story of Hank, the reclusive neighbor who bit by bit opens up to Butterfield and her children as they walk their dogs together. When Hank and his girlfriend, Aimee, are arrested and imprisoned for running a meth lab, neighbors begin looking askance at the Butterfields: How could they be friends with such unsavory characters?

The Butterfields do what they always do: call a potluck. Neighbors come to vent their anger, share their fear, process the distress together. The Butterfields also write to Hank and Aimee, who come to Jesus in desperation and neediness.

There’s a lot of desperation in this book. “Radically ordinary hospitality” isn’t just inviting people over for dinner. It’s making time for people at their neediest: when their cat is dying, when grad school stresses them almost to collapse, when they’re temporarily blind after eye surgery, and even when they’re on their deathbeds.

Butterfield’s mother’s mental health issues had wracked their relationship, yet Butterfield saw her mother come to faith during her final days. But even this required a sort of “hospitality”: Butterfield had to make the time to move into the hospice center 24/7 to live with her mother, sing psalms to her, and make herself available as her mother processed her own dying.

“Radically ordinary hospitality” comes at a cost. One must make time for people, and that means not having as much time for other things, like moneymaking and solitude. It means loving people who criticize you even while they drink up the last of your coffee. It means not regarding your home as your fortress. It means denying yourself and taking up your cross.

This book is beautiful because Butterfield knows how to tell a story. She knits us to Hank, and to the troubled teens her family adopts, and to Butterfield’s stepfather, who also comes to know Jesus in his final days. She depicts the striking contrast between the chaos of her upbringing amid alcohol and mental illness, when no Christian neighbors helped, and the loveliness of her own home, where Christ meets the needs of many.

But I suspect the author would agree: No amount of beautiful writing will be worthwhile unless it makes us change. This book is a plea to the church. We must make radically ordinary hospitality a way of life, one daily decision at a time.

Departing in Peace: Biblical Decision-Making at the End of Life, by Bill Davis. P&R, 2017. Paperback, 300 pages, $15.00. Reviewed by OP minister and professor David M. VanDrunen.

Bioethical decisions about treatment and care at the end of life—concerning oneself or others—confront nearly all contemporary Christians. The process of dying has always raised important moral questions, but recent advances in medical technology and the complexity of the health-care system have made them exceedingly more complicated. Scripture doesn’t directly address many options we face. What are we to do? Bill Davis has offered an excellent resource on this issue for Reformed Christians.

Davis draws on his experience as a philosophy professor, PCA elder, and member of local hospital ethics committees. He devotes a long early chapter to foundational moral-theological ideas that guide the rest of the volume. The following chapters are theoretically substantive but have a practical focus. Davis reflects upon treatment decisions people face as death looms, the function and importance of advance directives, how financial responsibilities affect treatment choices, and how to navigate hospital culture. He helpfully utilizes concrete examples to illustrate the process of moral reasoning that leads to godly decisions. Along the way, he advises readers how to interact with people wisely and pastorally.

Davis’s primary audience is Christians inclined to think that being pro-life implies an obligation to try to extend life as long as medically possible, and hence to accept whatever treatment options accomplish this. Davis argues that being pro-life does not carry such implications. But he also warns readers tempted, in the other direction, to claim autonomous authority to choose life or death as they wish. In almost all cases, I believe Davis makes the right moral judgments. Many readers will undoubtedly disagree with some of them. Even in those cases, they will profit from Davis’s analyses of the important issues at stake.

I have only one critical concern. A large part of what Davis does is to help readers think through difficult end-of-life moral decisions that Scripture doesn’t address, and to do so wisely, in a way consistent with our theological commitments. This is good. But, Davis’s way of speaking frequently gives the impression that he’s a biblicist who expects Scripture to answer everything. Throughout the book, Davis writes of what “God’s Word permits,” what “God’s Word authorizes,” or what “God’s Word requires” (or of what’s “biblically permissible,” “biblically appropriate,” etc.).

In some cases, Scripture does what he says. In other cases, it really doesn’t. Consider a farmer who wants to carry out his vocation in a godly way. The question for him is not whether Scripture permits him to plant soybeans, or authorizes him to harvest in October, or permits him to sell his produce to China. God did not give Scripture to answer those questions. The farmer must exercise wise judgments about the climate, soil quality, government regulations, and market conditions. He is authorized to make such judgments as a divine image-bearer created to exercise dominion and to love God and neighbor. Farmers had such authorization long before Scripture existed.

A number of the “principles” Davis lays out require similar evaluation. For example, it’s not exactly true that “God’s Word authorizes spouses to speak … for each other.” That authorization comes from the nature of the marriage relationship as God created it; it existed long before Moses took up his pen.

Davis’s topic, end-of-life bioethics, exposes the problems of a biblicist mindset. I don’t think Davis really is a biblicist. In effect, he helps readers work through moral issues that Scripture doesn’t contemplate. But if he had used words such as “wisdom” and “prudence” much more often and phrases such as “God’s Word permits/authorizes” much less often, I believe he would have communicated more clearly.

Trinity Psalter Hymnal. A joint publication of the Committee on Christian Education of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the Psalter Hymnal Committee of the United Reformed Churches in North America, 2018. Hardcover, 1040 pages, $23.00 (distributed by Great Commission Publications). Reviewed by OP pastor J. Mark Sallade.

Having been raised in the OPC, singing from the Trinity Hymnal all my life (mostly from the “Blue,” some from the “Red”), it was with no small apprehension that I received the news that our denomination was producing a new psalter-hymnal. After all, how could Amazing Grace be anything but no. 402? Hymnals, we all know, are treasured parts of our lives that sink deep into our memories, and this was really going to throw me off!

But whatever apprehensions I initially entertained, the final product has proven them all wrong. It was with excitement that I pored over my freshly printed copy at this summer’s general assembly, creating my own lists of hymns and psalms that we will sing at Calvary OPC in Glenside, Pennsylvania, as well as categorizations of when they would fit best. I think that you will find poring over it yourself to be an enjoyable and rewarding task.

In the psalter, I am particularly thankful for a host of rousing tunes for the psalms of praise, which will serve well for the opening of worship. Those that come to mind are 87A, 92A, 95A, 96, 98A, 98C, 100A, 100B, 104A, 122A, 134, 138A, 138B, 145A, 145B, 146, 147A, and 148A. There are also numerous psalms with lovely, subdued tunes, which will work well after confession of sin, such as 23A, 24B, 32B, 42B, 67B, 69B, 77, 89B, 97B, 102A, 103C, 103E, 130A, 139B, and 142. Though a simple observation, I am also delighted to have a songbook that makes us keenly aware when we are in fact singing a psalm and not a hymn.

In the hymnal, we truly have the best of the “Blue” and the “Red” Trinity Hymnal. I am thankful for an increase in explicitly Trinitarian hymns, as well as hymns that are well suited to the Lord’s Supper. The Trinity Psalter Hymnal also includes many outstanding examples of modern hymnody. Our congregation sings with gusto “In Christ Alone,” “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us,” and “Before the Throne of God Above,” along with a number of excellent selections by former director of music at Tenth Presbyterian Church Paul Jones and young OP pastor Jonathan Cruse.

Psalms and hymns have been set in keys that are singable for the modern congregation (I don’t think there are any hymns that reach higher than an E-flat in the melody/soprano). The texts of many psalms and hymns have been updated in such a way that they sound traditional, while also feeling modern and fresh, no easy feat for the poet. And the layout of the hymnal is highly readable—a significant improvement from the “Blue” Trinity, in particular. One downside is that there are a few longer psalms that it may have been better to split up into a few selections, but that is a small quibble.

Praise God, and many thanks to the Committee on Christian Education, for a volume that I believe will serve Christ’s church with distinction for generations to come.

Alphabet of Bible Creatures: Considering God in His Creation, by Peggy Noll, illustrated by Cheryl DeGraaf. CreateSpace, 2017. Paperback, 56 pages, $11.95 (Amazon). Reviewed by OP member Lois Sorkness.

I tested this book out by reading it to two of my grandchildren, aged three and four. Following my short explanation that this was a book about animals that are mentioned in the Bible and that there is one for each letter of the alphabet, the two were thrilled page after page. They tried to name the animal, made the first sound in that animal’s name, then traced the letter with their fingers.

Each double-page spread consists of a simple yet colorful and captivating illustration. DeGraaf’s art incorporates the featured capital letter and its animal in a scene that fits well with the biblical concept conveyed in Noll’s short rhyming poems. Each poem is well crafted from, and substantiated by, several Bible verses, which are also written out. The opposing page is neatly arrayed with nine of the same capital letter pictured with its animal. My granddaughters loved spotting the animal from the right page that was used in the array on the left.

Noll’s poems are rich with deep theological truth stated in a child-friendly way that is fun to read and listen to as well as reverent, which I find rare in today’s world of trite Christian children’s media. She demonstrates how Scripture uses animals as metaphors to show the characteristics of God, the plight of man, and what God in his rich mercy has done for his people. God is our refuge and strength as the rocks are for the rock badger. The psalmist is like a desert owl in the wilderness. Our heavenly Father loves us more than the sparrows, each of whom he knows and sees.

I was surprised to see “U” is for unicorn, but the King James version of Job 39:9 asks, “Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee?” Noll handles it well in her poem:

It may have been a unicorn
That God revealed to Job
To show His servant who was boss
Of all who walk the globe.

This is a delightful and valuable book for regular teaching of Bible truths and Scripture memory. As a teacher I have one critique. The alphabet should feature the lowercase letters more; children learn to read more readily when taught lowercase letters first.

Announcements

Positions Available

Head of School: Philadelphia-Montgomery Christian Academy in Erdenheim, PA, is searching for a new Head of School. Serving Christian families for 75 years, Phil-Mont is a Reformed, college prep academy with a diverse student body. Salary: $75,000. Other details available at phil-mont.com under “About-Employment.” Candidates should send a cover letter and resume to Board president Michel Hatem at board@phil-mont.com.