Contents

A Fiery Gospel: The Battle Hymn of the Republic

Richard M. Gamble

The Christianity of Woodrow Wilson

Danny E. Olinger

Christian Education

Two Resources on Transgenderism

Foreign Missions

Educating “Third Culture” Kids

Home Missions

Meet the New Church-Planting Interns

2018 Short-Term Missions

Focus on Menominee and Montevideo

Stewardship

Presbyterians and Giving

Prayer Calendar

News

Letters

Reviews

Announcements

New Horizons
in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church
October 2018 • Volume 39, Number 9

© 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.

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The OPC website contains an archive of previous issues.

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On July 15, Knox OPC in Silver Spring, MD, celebrated with much joy its first baptism of triplets. Elise, Rose, and Julia Rueger were born on December 2, 2017, to Paul and Abi Rueger, but their baptisms were delayed for several months while Julia underwent a series of major surgeries to address a congenital heart defect. She is recovering well, and the Ruegers and Knox OPC rejoice in the Lord’s faithfulness. (left to right) Pastor Tom Martin, elder Jim Van Dam, elder Karl Schneider holding Elise, deacon Paul Rueger holding Rose, and Abi Rueger holding Julia.

A Fiery Gospel: The Battle Hymn of the Republic

Richard M. Gamble

The new Trinity Psalter Hymnal includes only two hymns under the topic “The Nation.” The first is national only by implication. It pleas for “God the all-terrible” to have mercy and grant “peace in our time.” The second appeals to the “great King of nations,” again to show mercy to a repentant, humble, and needy people. Neither is specific to America. Both can be sung by Christians in any land.

The OPC/URC psalter-hymnal takes an appropriately cautious approach to the nation’s place in public worship. But that caution has not always characterized Presbyterians in the United States. A century ago, songs about America and America’s wars provoked controversy among Presbyterians, in part due to the nation’s intervention in World War I and the desire evident among many pastors and congregations to mobilize themselves for earthly warfare.

J. Gresham Machen still had one of these hymns in mind in 1933 when he reviewed the new hymnal of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA). Never one to hold back, Machen charged “that the book does in rather clear fashion reveal the drift of the times” away from doctrinal clarity and orthodoxy and into modernism. Nevertheless, he found something good to say about it: Julia Ward Howe’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic” had been removed. Whatever one may think of the issues at stake in the Civil War, Machen wrote, “One thing is clear—a fiery war song like that has no place in the worship of a Christian congregation.”

Machen had already criticized the Battle Hymn a decade earlier in his landmark Christianity and Liberalism. In the closing paragraphs, he noted the sorrow that overwhelmed anyone who entered the modern American church seeking “refreshment for the soul” and heard instead “only the turmoil of the world”—a sermon consisting merely of “human opinions about the social problems of the hour” compounded by “one of those hymns breathing out the angry passions of 1861, which are to be found in the back part of the hymnals.” What cost did Machen see in political preaching and militant national hymns? Nothing less than this: instead of a refuge, hungry souls find that “the warfare of the world has entered even into the house of God.”

Apocalyptic Anthem

Machen’s reference to “the angry passions of 1861” might seem like a cryptic allusion to Julia Ward Howe’s famous poem, but by his adding that these kinds of hymns could be “found in the back part of the hymnals,” alert readers would have known that that is exactly where the PCUSA had placed the Battle Hymn during World War I.

Julia Ward Howe

In the spring of 1917, just weeks after Congress declared war on Germany, the General Assembly of the PCUSA approved the Committee on Publication’s recommendation to adopt “The Supplement of 1917.” The Supplement comprised Francis Scott Key’s “Star-Spangled Banner” (without the ferociously anti-British third verse sure to offend America’s new ally), Rudyard Kipling’s “Recessional,” and Howe’s Battle Hymn. At the head of the Battle Hymn, in the place typically reserved for a Scripture text, appeared Woodrow Wilson’s pledge that “the world must be made safe for democracy.” Rarely had religion, politics, and war been so perfectly synthesized.

Editors Louis F. Benson and Franklin L. Sheppard produced the Supplement. Benson was a distinguished hymnologist with a degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. Sheppard composed hymn tunes (among them the familiar setting of “This Is My Father’s World”) and served as president of the Board of Publication. These two opinionated editors might have disagreed about details, questioned each other’s musical judgment, or debated the merits of Kipling’s poem, but they never doubted that the Battle Hymn was appropriate for public worship or that the church should be mobilized for war. Together, the editors, the Board of Publication, and the pastors and elders of the General Assembly gave congregations the means to interpret the new war using Howe’s apocalyptic anthem and to imagine that they too saw the glory of the Lord coming on the battlefields of their day.

The Hymn-Writer

Julia Ward Howe was reared in a pious evangelical household of the Protestant Episcopal Church. She was baptized, confirmed, and received into communicant membership in that denomination. In moments of crisis, she sought out revival meetings in the city and turned to her Bible and trusted family friends for consolation, and yet her search led her far beyond the bounds of historic Christianity. After her marriage and move to Boston, she joined the most radical Unitarian churches in the city. She never looked back.

Well educated and fluent in several languages, Howe as a young wife and mother managed to read deeply in Spinoza, Kant, Swedenborg, and many other philosophers, mystics, theologians, and historians. Kant remained her favorite. She took her place easily in the popularized German Idealism of New England Transcendentalism. Most famously, she became active in the abolitionist movement. She admired John Brown as a Christlike hero raised up for the times. Her husband, Samuel Gridley Howe, was a member of the “Secret Six” that helped Brown fund his raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. (Another member of the Secret Six always insisted that Brown was the “Hero, born of woman” in the Battle Hymn’s third stanza.)

Front page of The Atlantic, February 1862

Howe wrote the Battle Hymn on a visit to Washington, DC, in November 1861. She made the most of her time in and around the capital by visiting the Union officers and soldiers of the Army of the Potomac. Inspired by a troop review and by her brush with a Confederate raid and skirmish, she awoke early on the morning of November 19 with lines of poetry crowding her mind. She found some paper and wrote out the stanzas that begin, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” The lines fit the cadences of the “John Brown Song” she had heard the soldiers sing the day before.

Bible Hymn of the Republic?

The original manuscript of the Battle Hymn of the Republic sits on display at the new Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, just a few blocks from where Howe stayed in November of 1861. Museum board chairman Steve Green paid nearly $800,000 for Howe’s manuscript at a Christie’s auction in 2012 as one of many pieces amassed by the Green family and Hobby Lobby’s millions in order to show how much the Bible has influenced American history, politics, and culture. It now lives on the museum’s second floor, a permanent exhibit on “The Impact of the Bible.”

Evidence for the Bible’s impact on America, from the colonial era to the present, is hard to miss, especially if we are familiar with the language and rhythm of the King James Version. But looking for that one-way impact uncovers only half the story at best. The story of what people have done to and with the Bible is at least as important as what the Bible has done to America. It may reveal much about our faith and nation. It’s tempting to imagine a museum with an exhibit called “What America Did to the Bible.” From John Winthrop to Tom Paine, from Abraham Lincoln to Franklin Roosevelt, from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump, that is a story worth telling. The Bible’s mobilization for the purposes of politics, war, and the culture wars is the very essence of civil religion. And never has the Bible remained unscathed as it has been snipped into pieces and reassembled for the purposes of the City of Man.

Like most of her generation, even among the liberals and skeptics, Howe knew her King James Bible, and she could count on a Bible-reading America to recognize what she was doing and what she meant to convey about America and Christianity. Her sermons, lectures, essays, and poems reflect her mastery of the pages of Scripture. While she filtered the Bible through the mesh of her radical theology and philosophy, and misapplied fragments in every way imaginable, she nevertheless had the text of the Bible readily at her command. Yet the Battle Hymn of the Republic’s extensive use of the Bible doesn’t make it biblical.

It is not necessary to match the Battle Hymn word for word to verses of Scripture in order to understand what Howe was attempting to do. In some cases, her language merely suggests the sound and weight of the Bible without being an actual quotation. Her opening line provides a good example: “Mine eyes have seen the glory.” These words echo Simeon’s prayer of thanksgiving when Mary and Joseph presented Jesus at the temple: “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation” (Luke 2:30). Howe’s technique may have simply evoked Holy Writ in the same way Abraham Lincoln did with his biblical-sounding “Four score and seven years ago.” Or she may have launched her battle anthem with a quotation from Isaiah the prophet’s vision of the Lord enthroned in his temple. A man of unclean lips, Isaiah cries out in woe “for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5).

Most of Howe’s biblical appropriations concern the impending day of the Lord. Isaiah 27 speaks of God’s punishment of Leviathan, the dragon, wielding his “great and strong sword” as he protects his “vineyard of red wine”—images central to the Battle Hymn. Isaiah 63 asks, “Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?” The answer comes, “I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.” Even the rhythm matches Howe’s verses.

These Old Testament images reappear in the apostle John’s vision, again associating God’s day of judgment with the harvest of ripe grapes, the treading of the vintage in the winepress of his wrath, and the blood flowing out from the press (Rev. 14:17–20). For centuries, Catholic and Lutheran art depicted Christ himself standing in that winepress, being pressed under the weight of the Cross, bearing God’s wrath, his blood pouring out of the vat for man’s redemption.

Howe’s more obvious use of the Bible appears in the Battle Hymn’s third verse. There the poet sees a “fiery gospel” glinting in the Union soldiers’ bayonets. She claims she witnesses nothing less than the fulfillment of God’s promise of redemption after the Fall. “Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,” she writes. In her hands, God’s pronouncement to Satan that the woman’s seed “shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15) is imagined as being fulfilled in the epic clash of army with army. One side fought as God’s “contemners”; the other received his grace.

Howe used her knowledge of the Bible to mobilize a nation for a protracted war of unification and emancipation. To do so, she wrote a poem and not a theological treatise. She spun images and not arguments. Her poetic imagination borrowed biblical images meant to inspire rather than to make a rational appeal to action, and they spoke beyond the confines of the Civil War, as they were meant to. Indeed, the Battle Hymn has been used to explain and justify every subsequent war in American history. Part of its durability comes from the fact that Howe never mentions North or South or even slavery by name. In 1863, Lincoln achieved similar results with his Gettysburg Address, an even more famous appropriation of the Bible—or more specifically, of the language of Christian redemption—for war.

Read alongside the Battle Hymn, the passages from Genesis, Isaiah, and Revelation make quite clear what the poet was up to. She claimed that with her very eyes she had witnessed the coming of the day of the Lord in the campfires of the boys in blue in northern Virginia. Whether Christians in the twenty-first century realize it or not, the Battle Hymn of the Republic is a celebration of bloody and violent divine justice enacted in the here and now as if the end of the ages had come on an earthly field of battle. More than that, it ties the messianic hope and Christ’s triumphant reign to a war of man against man where the stakes, however great and however urgent, are not the fulfillment of God’s plan of redemption.

Separate from the Warfare of the World

When Machen complained of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, he could have objected to it for any number of reasons. The Baltimore native could have taken pride in his Southern heritage and been loath to sing the songs of the victors. He could have criticized Howe’s radical Unitarianism with its denial of every fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith. He could have pointed to Howe’s misapplication of the vineyard imagery from Isaiah and Revelation. He could have raised all these problems with the Battle Hymn, but he did not. Instead, he objected to it because anthems like these bring “the warfare of the world into the house of God.”

Some might counter that perhaps the Civil War was still too recent for Machen to overcome his scruples. Perhaps time will rescue the Battle Hymn from its associations. Once the Battle Hymn no longer “breathe[s] out the angry passions of 1861” in anyone’s mind, then congregations might sing it in good conscience as a worthy hymn “baptized” for the use of Christ’s church.

But a further question has to be asked: Can any element of worship be “baptized” by theological and historical ignorance? Stripped of its context, the Battle Hymn still appropriates the Bible for political purposes in ways alien to the gospel and to the church’s calling. What Machen said in 1933 still holds: it “has no place in the worship of a Christian congregation.”

If the Battle Hymn endures in public worship, it will not be for its fidelity to the Bible but because it has become the quintessential expression of American civil religion and the gospel of nationalism.

The author, a ruling elder at Hillsdale OPC, is professor of history at Hillsdale College and author of the forthcoming A Fiery Gospel: The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the Road to Righteous War (Cornell University Press, 2019).

The Christianity of Woodrow Wilson

Danny E. Olinger

Woodrow Wilson, the twenty-eighth president of the United States, was also a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA). In fact, for a seven-year period, Wilson served on the session at First Presbyterian Church in Princeton were J. Gresham Machen attended.

Sadly, however, Wilson left behind the doctrinal content of the historic Presbyterianism that Machen embraced, as Barry Hankins, professor of history at Baylor University, demonstrates in his short biography, Woodrow Wilson: Ruling Elder, Spiritual President. Hankins examines the impact of Wilson’s progressive ideology, supported by his liberal theological convictions, on American culture and the Presbyterian Church in the early twentieth century.

Making of a Statesman

Wilson’s father, Joseph, was a Presbyterian minister who served from 1861 to 1898 as the permanent clerk of the Southern Presbyterian Church. Wilson himself studied for gospel ministry at Davidson College in 1873 but withdrew and enrolled at Princeton. When he graduated from Princeton in 1879, he no longer sought to be a Presbyterian minister, but a Christian statesman. From that point forward Wilson rarely agonized or even quibbled over doctrine. “Doctrine was only important,” Wilson explained, “to the extent that it could be translated into action” (135).

This did not stop Wilson from claiming that he embraced historic Christianity. “Unorthodox in my reading of the standards of the faith, I am nevertheless orthodox in my faith,” he said (52). The intellectual difficulties of maintaining such a position were not troubling for Wilson because, for him, Christianity was primarily a religion of doing.

Despite his doctrinal indifference, Wilson did not bypass elements of the faith in his personal life. As a father, he helped his three daughters memorize the Westminster Shorter Catechism. He practiced daily Bible readings and prayer with his family. During the Great War, Wilson nightly read a chapter of the Bible aloud to his second wife, Edith.

At the same time, Wilson believed that the Bible was flawed in its presentation of historical fact. This did not bother him because he believed the historical and doctrinal portions of the Bible did not affect its teaching on how to live a moral life. Saving faith was meaningless unless it could be translated into social activism, which is why the pastor’s job was to prepare his flock for community service. Hankins explains, “When [Wilson] said that Christ had come to ‘save the world,’ he meant it in the social and collective sense. And democracy was the means for this social salvation” (105).

President of Princeton

As Hankins details, when Wilson as president of Princeton (1902–1910) implemented this philosophical approach, Princeton ceased being Christian in any meaningful sense. Wilson’s predecessor, Francis Patton, had sought to maintain an evangelical orthodoxy at the school. Wilson recounted his own student days when revivals would break out at Princeton, then known as the “Ivy League Bible School.” Students who were trying to study would be constantly interrupted by those concerned about their spiritual condition. One of Wilson’s peers finally put on his door, “I am a Christian, but studying for exams” (6).

Wilson, however, desired to change Princeton into a modern research university. He believed that Christian presuppositions and supernaturalism needed to be removed from the intellectual work of the school. That is, academic excellence trumped doctrine. Hankins rightly asks how Princeton could retain Christ at its center under such a program. “The answer had to do with how Wilson redefined Christianity in the university setting. Essentially, he meant morality; the role played by this broad, non-sectarian religion in the university was moral, not intellectual” (89).

President of the United States

Having modernized Princeton, Wilson moved to public office to fulfill his life’s credo: to make the United States a mighty Christian nation and to Christianize the world. In his inauguration speech as president on March 4, 1913, Wilson promoted a civic religion that would restore the nation for the purpose of correcting evil and purifying humanity. Borrowing from the rhetoric of Social Gospel preachers, Wilson declared this would not be a cool process of mere science but a shared living-out of justice and brotherhood as if in God’s presence. Hankins explains, “Liberal Protestants sought to reconcile Enlightenment reason with theology, but they also retained a romantic experience with God as the centerpiece of lived religion. Wilson sought here to tap into that intuitive spirit” (123).

Woodrow Wilson

The day after the inauguration, a New York Times editorial stated that Wilson’s words implied a belief that during his campaign and since his election Americans had become regenerate. The editorial predicted that by the end of the Wilson administration “the nature of man here and elsewhere will be very much what it is today, and what it has been in the past” (123).

Throughout the book, Hankins pinpoints where Wilson’s exalted view of man was at odds with biblical anthropology. He writes, “One might argue that Wilson’s Reformed sense of calling, combined with the Progressive Era’s heightened sense of confidence in the human ability to remake the world, overwhelmed the Westminster Confession’s sense of the fall of humankind into sin” (202).

A Holy War

As president, Wilson viewed the nation as a vehicle for righteousness, which meant that patriotism was akin to Christianity, particularly when the United States entered World War I in 1917. He declared that the war was a holy war in which one had to choose whether to fight for God (America) or Satan (Germany). Accordingly, Wilson believed that the American soldiers who died fighting against the Germans had shed “sacred blood” (157). In Hankins’s words, “Social Gospel became redeemer nation” (138).

This mentality is what so disturbed Machen who had served in the YMCA on the front lines in France. In his May 6, 1919, address at Princeton, “The Church in the War,” Machen maintained that there was some plausibility to the judgment that the church had failed during the war. Soldiers who went bravely over the top were regarded in a messianic fashion, their sacrifice paying the price of sin. Machen explained, this did not mean that these men were opposed to Jesus. Rather, they were eager to admit Jesus into the noble company of those who had sacrificed themselves in a righteous cause. Such an attitude, which was built upon a profound satisfaction with human goodness, was as far removed as possible from the Christian attitude. Machen declared:

It never seems to dawn upon them that this was no sinful man, but the Lord of glory who died on Calvary. If it did dawn upon them, they could gladly confess, as men used to confess, that one drop of the precious blood of Jesus is worth more, as a ground for the hope of the world, than all the rivers of blood which have flowed upon the battlefields of France. (J. Gresham Machen: Select Shorter Writings, P&R, 2004, 378).

Machen’s remarks came a week before the beginning of the 131st (1919) General Assembly of the PCUSA, which considered Wilson’s League of Nations proposal. In promoting the proposal, Wilson said, “I believe that the solid foundation of the League of Nations is to be found in Christian principles and in the sustaining sentiment of Christian peoples everywhere” (198). On May 15, 1919, the PCUSA General Assembly officially endorsed the proposal. Many shared Wilson’s conviction that America had been Christ’s army in the war, and now America needed to be Christ’s instrument of peace after the war.

Wilson campaigned in the summer and early fall of 1919 to gain popular support for the League of Nations proposal, but on October 2 he suffered a devastating stroke. The US Senate voted against it, and Wilson lived out the rest of his life never fully recovering from his physical and political setbacks.

Hankins concludes the book by stating that Wilson was a man of his times, living in an era when Christians believed that their good works could usher in God’s kingdom. When the war came, Wilson spiritualized it, so that optimism about humanity’s progress would not be curtailed. The war became a war “fought for the salvation of all.” But all Wilson’s spiritualizing could not account for the fact that the war changed nothing about the basic nature of mankind.

The author is editor of New Horizons. Woodrow Wilson, by Barry Hankins, is published by Oxford University Press (2016). Hardcover, 256 pages, $38.95.

Christian Education

Two Resources on Transgenderism

David VanDrunen

“Transgender” refers to identifying with a gender different from one’s biological sex—ordinarily a biological female who identifies as a male or vice versa, although some people now claim there is a spectrum of genders. Many Christians were alarmed by the sudden emergence of transgenderism as a cultural and political cause just a few years ago, but found relatively little literature to help them think about these issues. It’s not surprising that such literature has begun to appear.

Ryan Anderson’s When Harry Became Sally and Andrew Walker’s God and the Transgender Debate both reject the views of transgender activists and argue that a person’s gender is the same as that person’s biological sex and cannot truly be changed. Yet these are two very different books. Both have real strengths, but neither is the book that Christians need. Readers of New Horizons may find help from both, but they should not expect everything from either.

When Harry Became Sally

Anderson’s volume is philosophical and political in focus, not theological. It is a culture war book, seeking to call and equip people to fight transgender ideology in the public square. In part, it does this by telling stories about the outrageous things radical activists have done and the harm they’ve caused. As such, it’s almost certain to rile up readers and make them angry—either at these activists or at Anderson for opposing the transgender movement so strongly.

Yet When Harry Became Sally is also a sophisticated volume. Anderson writes clearly and engagingly, but at a fairly high intellectual level. It requires readers to reflect seriously about the biology, metaphysics, psychology, politics, and jurisprudence of the transgender controversies. Anderson has done his homework and is able to synthesize many different strands into a coherent argument. In this sense, When Harry Became Sally isn’t the stereotypical culture war manifesto. I should also note that Anderson means to stir up opposition to activists, not to the people who suffer from gender dysphoria. He expresses warm concern for them, especially for the children, who are increasingly encouraged and enabled to begin “transitioning” at early ages.

Chapter 4 (“What Makes Us a Man or a Woman”) is perhaps the most helpful part of the book. It presents the core of Anderson’s case for why gender matches biological sex and why men cannot really become women or women, men. Although it is not theological, it is likely to resonate with readers who hold a Reformed anthropology, and may help them better understand how a biblical anthropology corresponds to biological facts.

Anderson’s work unfortunately invites the criticism that he has not been as objective or fair to his opponents as he could be. Although at places he claims simply to “report what activists say” and let them “speak for themselves,” Anderson cannot seem to resist inserting his own critical comments even in these “largely descriptive” sections of the book. This is too bad. It is almost always best to describe other people’s views with rigorous objectivity before beginning one’s own polemics.

God and the Transgender Debate

In contrast to Anderson, Walker seems to go out of his way to tamp down a culture war mind-set. His work addresses how Christians should think and speak truthfully about transgenderism, but repeatedly emphasizes the love they ought to express toward those struggling with their gender identity. He engages in no polemics against transgender activists and makes no forays into politics. If Walker is critical of anyone, it’s of himself, other believers, and the church for often not showing the compassion they should.

While Anderson’s book is philosophical and political, Walker’s is theological and pastoral. While Anderson’s book may make you angry, Walker’s may make you humble and remorseful.

Another difference, however, is that Walker’s contribution is not nearly as wide-ranging or sophisticated as Anderson’s. Walker’s style is simple and homey. He provides a basic introduction to theological themes such as divine authority, creation, human nature, sin, and salvation. Readers with a modest knowledge of Reformed theology will probably find these discussions agreeable but may not learn much that is new.

In addition to its emphasis on love, compassion, truth, and humility, a real strength of God and the Transgender Debate is its wise discussion about the difficulty of the Christian life. Although I doubt his view of “bearing one’s cross” in Matthew 16:24 is correct, Walker helpfully explains that those who trust in Christ and repent of their sins cannot expect to experience perfect wholeness and peace in this present age. That awaits the new creation. People struggling with gender dysphoria may continue to struggle with it after turning to Christ. The Christian walk requires patience and waiting upon the Lord.

In a way, Walker’s book isn’t about transgenderism as much as it is a basic statement and defense of divine and biblical authority, the goodness of creation, the Fall and salvation, and a Christian life marked by love, truth, compassion, and patience—with application to transgender issues. But some of these applications get rather specific. Walker briefly addresses issues such as how the church should respond to a transitioned person who wishes to become a member, how to discuss transgenderism with children, how to deal with a child who claims to be transgender, and how churches might respond to state bathroom laws.

Conclusion

Reformed Christians looking for resources on transgenderism to help them think and act well in all areas of life—including family, church, and the public square—will find helpful material from both Anderson and Walker, although neither is a comprehensive resource. Perhaps it is best to see them as complementary. When Harry Became Sally provides a much more thorough intellectual study of transgender issues, but the pastoral exhortations of God and the Transgender Debate wouldn’t be bad for any Christian to hear.

The author is an OP minister and professor of systematic theology and Christian ethics at Westminster Seminary California.

When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment, by Ryan T. Anderson, is published by Encounter, 2018. Hardcover, 408 pages, $20.75 (Amazon).

God and the Transgender Debate: What Does the Bible Actually Say About Gender Identity?, by Andrew T. Walker, is published by The Good Book Company, 2017. Paperback, 174 pages, $11.61 (Amazon).

Our Membership Vows

In Christ Alone

Glen J. Clary

Repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin. When the Holy Spirit changes our hearts, we repent of our sin and put our faith in Jesus Christ. We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; that is, we trust in him for salvation. We do not trust or depend on ourselves for salvation, but we trust in Christ alone.

The third membership vow of the OPC recognizes this connection between faith and repentance, and it requires us to confess that we trust for salvation in Christ alone. “Do you confess that because of your sinfulness you abhor and humble yourself before God, that you repent of your sin, and that you trust for salvation not in yourself but in Jesus Christ alone?”

Jesus alone can save us from our sins. Jesus is the only Savior. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot remove sin from our hearts. We cannot change our sinful nature. We cannot change our guilty status. We cannot pay for our own sins. But Jesus has already paid for our sins in full. He has done everything that was needed to secure our salvation. That’s why we trust for salvation in him alone.

The Shorter Catechism defines faith in Jesus Christ as:

a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel. (Q. 86)

The Bible repeatedly identifies Jesus Christ as the sole object of saving faith. One of the most well-known passages of Scripture is John 3:16, which teaches us that eternal life comes through faith in Christ alone. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Likewise, when the Philippian jailer asked Paul, “What must I do to be saved?” the apostle responded, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:30–31). Hence, Scripture teaches that salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

Congratulations

The First Catechism has been recited by:

• Leon Korkie, Providence OPC, Pflugerville, TX

• Marguerite Korkie, Providence OPC, Pflugerville, TX

• Talitha Clary, Providence OPC, Pflugerville, TX

• Grace Clary, Providence OPC, Pflugerville, TX

• Sophia Clary, Providence OPC, Pflugerville, TX

Foreign Missions

Educating “Third Culture” Kids

T. D.

How do we learn things? I don’t mean just being able to remember something in order to put it on paper and get a good grade for it. I mean putting information into our long-term memory and being able to apply it to our day-to-day lives. It wasn’t until I seriously started studying a second language in another country that I was really able to answer that question.

Learning Is Work!

I found that I needed to listen and observe the language over and over, then start mimicking it. The more I practiced, the better I became at it. The hard part can be having the patience to really listen, observe what is happening, and then practice until it becomes automatic.

T. D. interacting with local children

Too often we assume that if we do something correctly once, we must be a master—just to make a mistake the next time or not do as well as we did before. It takes time and diligence to learn something well, so therefore many never really learn! We live in a world that wants instant results and where we learn that if something takes us a long time, it is too hard. Not only that, but many think that if a task is hard, it must be bad, and they choose to not even try. However, God tells us things over and over again in his Word and then puts us in situations where we have to practice what he told us. This is his model for our instruction.

One of the things God tells us to do is to train our children in the way of the Lord (Deut. 4:9–10, 6:7, 11:19, 32:46, Joel 1:3, and Eph. 6:4, just to name a few). I took for granted the training I received from my parents, grandparents, Sunday school teachers, and extended church family. Now, I give thanks for how God used their faithful and consistent teaching to draw me closer to him and to show me what it means to live for him. For all those who take time to care for children, know that your work is being used mightily by our Father, even though you may not see immediate results or receive public recognition.

Challenges of Bridging Two Cultures

In some parts of Asia, however, the lack of this kind of godly community is a great concern for missionary and local Christian families as they raise their kids. Their community of believers is often very small and changes frequently.

T. D. with her students at a park

Our missionary children also wrestle with the questions of “Where do you come from?” and “Who are you?” Many of us would answer these questions without thinking too much—we would just give our name and then the city in which we live. However, these questions become much more difficult to answer when your passport says you are from the United States, but you are growing up in another country.

The term for this group of children is “third culture kids”—children who spend a significant number of their developmental years outside their country of citizenship. They tend to take part of the culture of their country of citizenship and part of the culture of their country of residence and blend them together into a third culture. Working with these kids over the last nine years in Asia has truly taught me what it means to be in the world, but not of the world.

Learning Whose We Are

One of the biggest lessons I have learned through working with these families is that none of us truly understand who we are until we come to understand whose we are! Paul tells us in Ephesians that we are God’s workmanship created for good works. Genesis tells us that we are created in God’s image. 1 Peter 2:11 and Hebrews 11:13 tell us that we are just pilgrims on earth waiting to go to our eternal home.

T. D. teaches the children of Mr. and Mrs. M. M.

Children of missionaries are faced with these realities early in life. Some make close local friends in the country in which they live, so they learn how to speak a second language quickly and fluently and enjoy local customs. At the same time, they are often aware that they are very different from their local friends. Other third culture kids don’t make local friends easily. Therefore, they do not learn the language and customs well, and, thinking that their country of citizenship is much better, they just want to “go home.” However, when they get back to their country of citizenship, they realize that they still do not fit in.

I would like to encourage you to try to get to know as many third culture kids as you can. Ask them about what they have learned growing up in a third culture, what activities they enjoy, what specific prayer requests they have, and how they deal with constant change; but, ask these questions knowing that you are going to get very different answers.

It is tempting to ask leading questions, which solicit responses that reinforce what we think, or to put up a mental guard against someone’s ideas when they are different from our own. However, if you stop to truly listen to third culture kids’ experiences and how they have learned to balance life in often extremely different environments, I think that you will find yourself learning that your own identity should not be found in your culture. As Christians, none of us should ever really “fit in” on earth because our true identity is in Christ alone.

Local Believers

The Lord has also brought me in contact with new Christians who desire to learn how to raise their kids in the Lord and to be godly husbands, wives, parents, and friends. However, they are often unable to observe the lives of experienced Christians around them because they are the first Christians in their area. In my opinion, this is where missionary families make a big difference that often goes unnoticed. New local believers watch what the missionary family does and then try to do the same, applying the faith to their day-to-day lives.

The heart of what I share with new believers is that their children will learn first from them, and, second, from the community around them. Local believers are realizing that they must raise their children in the home and church community that God desires, which tests their cultural assumption that children must go to local schools in order to be successful.

This applies to Christians in every part of the world. We all have a role to play in raising the children in our churches, whether at home, in Sunday school, or at VBS. It takes work, time, and energy. But God graciously uses that work (no matter how small it may seem to us) to train others—making disciples.

Please pray for these new believers in Asia as they seek to live out their faith in God and teach it to their children. Also pray for the missionary families who not only seek to directly tell people the good news, but also model it in places that often do not feel like home.

Tentmaking missionary T. D. is a professional teacher working with the children of missionaries on the OP mission field in Asia.

What’s New

Appointments

Ms. Michaela Sharpshair (Grace Bible Presbyterian Church, BPC, Sharonville, OH) has been appointed to serve as a missionary associate for one year, beginning in October 2018, in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Mr. P. F. (First Presbyterian Church of Opelika, EPC, Opelika, AL) has been appointed to serve as a missionary associate for one and a half years, beginning in September 2018, in Asia.

Other News

Dr. and Mrs. Flip (Anneloes) Baardman welcomed Loïs Danielle Baardman, their first child, on July 12 in Kampala, Uganda.

Home Missions

Meet the New Church-Planting Interns

Judith Dinsmore and Katie Stumpff

“Intensely gripped.” That’s how the book Planting an Orthodox Presbyterian Church describes a church planter. Not gripped by fame or fear, but by the significance of the message of the church, to the point of being “willing to move to a place where he is needed, and to love and serve a group of people temporarily as God builds them into a mature body of Christ and provides them with their own session and pastor.”

It’s no small call. Last year, a new yearlong OP internship was launched to train those considering such a call. This summer, three men became church-planting interns: Brock Pavier, serving in St. Augustine, Florida; Nathan Strom, in Andover, Minnesota; and Ben Ward, in Naples, Florida.

Prairie to Paradise

Pavier, newly located to the vacationer’s paradise of St. Augustine, grew up in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. “If that sounds flat, you’re right!” he said. In Saskatchewan, as the saying goes, “you can watch your dog run away for three days.”

As a kid living and working on a grain farm, Pavier spent plenty of time watching the prairie. “I remember chewing on the bits of the gospel I had been given for hours on end with only the horizon, the hum of the tractor, and the smell of soil being turned over to distract me,” he said. At the time, he promised himself that he would never become a farmer, but in hindsight he believes that the solitude was a blessing—it gave him time to think and meditate.

Brock and Jennifer Pavier

That desire to think and meditate on the truth hasn’t stopped. His wife introduced him to Reformed soteriology, and then R. C. Sproul’s Grace Unknown set Pavier down the trail of theological reformation according to the Scriptures. After years of faithful service as an elder at a Baptist church, and with their encouragement of his gifts, Pavier began to look at seminaries. In 2011, the family moved to Wales where Brock attended what is now Union School of Theology while working full-time as a firefighter.

He first heard of the OPC from a professor there, Robert Letham. “I soaked up as much as I could from him,” Pavier said. When the Paviers moved back to Canada, Brock became a member and later a ruling elder at Redeemer OPC in Airdrie, Alberta, under the shepherding of Pastor Larry Wilson. “Redeemer is the only OP church in Western Canada, and I’m fond of saying that the Lord sent Larry there just for my family and me!” Pavier joked.

Wilson encouraged Pavier to begin taking courses at the OPC’s ministerial training institute (MTIOPC). At Pavier’s first one, he met Eric Watkins, pastor of Covenant OPC in St. Augustine, Florida. “As we sat at lunch, Eric and I connected over our love for evangelism and biblical theology,” Pavier explained. “Later, this meeting blossomed into a church-planting internship and a cross-continental, international move for my family and me. I pray that it continues to blossom and grow into gospel fruit and the increase of the church.”

As they settle into life in St. Augustine, Pavier asks for prayer that he would successfully complete his credentials exams and that he would grow in both love for and skill in preaching, evangelism, and church planting. He also asks for prayer that his family would enjoy their time in St. Augustine. Brock and his “lovely, talented, and very patient” wife, Jennifer, have three children: Jack (16), Ella (14), and Bronwyn (10), who “are now enjoying learning to surf and play beach volleyball as part of their homeschool physical education program,” Pavier concluded.

“Go Tell Your Friends”

Like Brock Pavier, Nathan Strom and his wife, Anna, grew up in rural areas: Anna in southern Minnesota, or cornfield country, and Nathan up north in Minnesota’s cabin country, “where people go on the weekends to hide from the stress of their weekly life,” he said. Both Baptists, they had never heard of the OPC. But when Nathan felt a call to the ministry, they chose Westminster Seminary out of an interest in J. Gresham Machen and the other Princeton theologians. There, of course, the OPC was inescapable.

Nathan and Anna Strom

Three months before graduation, Nathan hit a turning point. “I went into Vern Poythress’s office and said, ‘Dr. Poythress, I want to be a Presbyterian but I’m not; I want you to convince me.’” Poythress “graciously dismantled” Nathan’s arguments for credobaptism. Eventually, Nathan and Anna joined the OPC.

Another ministry thread traced its way through the Stroms’ time in Philadelphia. Although Philly grew on them, it was not love at first sight. Living there gave them a sense of who they are as Minnesotans. Although of course open to the Lord’s call, the Stroms feel a strong pull toward the Midwest in general and Minnesota in particular.

“My sense of call mirrors the demoniac’s at the Sea of Galilee,” Strom said. “After Jesus casts out the demons, the demoniac begs to go with Jesus. But Jesus says, ‘No, go tell your friends and your family what I’ve done for you.’ That’s what I feel the Lord is calling me to do: to minister and hopefully bring about health in churches, through his Word, sacraments, and prayer, here in Minnesota.”

The Stroms began attending Mission OPC in St. Paul, Minnesota, during the summer of 2014, and then in 2015 they started worshiping and serving at Mission’s plant in Andover, Minnesota.

As a church-planting intern, Strom is providing support and help to three pastors: Jim Hoekstra, church planter in Andover, Minnesota, Shane Lems, pastor of Covenant OPC in Hammond, Wisconsin, and church planter Kim Kuhfuss in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin—“some tremendously wise and gifted men.” Strom has worked on the church websites and helped with online outreach for events. He is also laboring on the beginning stages of a possible new OP group.

His wife, Anna, serves alongside him, as Strom described, with a real love for people who are different from her, a readiness to host despite dust on the ceiling fan, and a growing comfort with their blue-collar neighborhood in St. Paul. They have two children: Elliana and Noah. They ask for prayer that their family would increase their capacity to savor Christ, ability to serve the church, and wisdom in managing the resources the Lord has entrusted to them.

Testimony of Grace

Ben Ward is serving as a church-planting intern in Naples thanks to the OP church in St. Augustine. After wandering from the faith for most of his college life, Ward came back to Christ and began attending “the most faithful church I knew of”—Covenant OPC in St. Augustine, Florida. That’s jumping into his story half-way, however.

Ward grew up in small-town New Jersey. Although raised in a loving and stable home, by thirteen years old he was questioning what the meaning of life was all about. “I was up for confirmation at my parents’ local church [PCUSA], which would culminate in making a profession of faith in front of the whole congregation. As I was going through the class, I realized I didn’t believe any of what they were teaching—anything about spirituality, Jesus, or God. I found that atheism most closely aligned with what I believed about the universe, so after ‘professing my faith’ to appease my mother, I declared myself an atheist,” Ward wrote in his testimony (published on chmce.org).

Ben and Tiffany Ward

Once he did, Ward was an effective “evangelist” for atheism and even got his father to dismiss Christianity completely. “My lack of belief in God, though, perhaps ironically, left me with a void in my own life,” Ward wrote. As a teenager, Ward was depressed. Around this time, he discovered Tim Keller’s book The Reason for God at the local Barnes and Noble. It didn’t convert him overnight, but it did pave the way.

While living the “unadulterated secular college life,” Ward remained in touch with some Christian friends. When God called him back to faith, it was one of those friendships that brought him to Covenant OPC. And it was another friendship, with a godly woman named Tiffany, that became his “greatest earthly blessing.” Tiffany and Ben were married the summer after he graduated from college.

Having completed seminary, Ward is now interning with church planter Eric Hausler at Christ the King OPC in Naples, Florida. “There are many exciting ministries going on at Christ the King Presbyterian Church, and we cannot wait to be a part of them. Yet we are also very nervous and hope that the Lord prepares us for what might be a very trying time,” Ward wrote. Tiffany is combating chronic Lyme disease, a difficult struggle that has caused them both to “seek the joy found in the Lord rather than in the things of the world.”

The Wards ask for prayer for Tiffany’s health, for wisdom as they consider adopting children, for growth in evangelistic skill and zeal, and for Benjamin’s increased pastoral and organizational abilities.

2018 Short-Term Missions

Focus on Menominee and Montevideo

Stewardship

Presbyterians and Giving

Stephen J. Oharek

“So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul” (Acts 11:29–30). The book of Acts is one of the most overtly Presbyterian books in the New Testament. Right from its opening pages, after the ascension of our Lord in the first chapter, the immediate concern of the church is to fill the vacant apostolic office left by Judas—how very “decently and in good order” of them! Concern for proper church order is also a driving force behind the choosing of the seven prototypical deacons in Acts 6. Acts is famous among Presbyterians for its Jerusalem Council, which seems to resemble our own deliberative assemblies where decisions are reached only “after much debate” (15:7). And every Presbyterian loves Paul’s address to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20. More examples could be marshaled to demonstrate that Acts is a book simultaneously concerned about executing the Great Commission of Matthew 28 and doing so with proper church order.

One more example proves useful for the purposes of this article. Near the end of Acts 11, we read of an offering taken that was to be given to the Judean church as relief for their famine-induced suffering. While that offering appears to be specifically of a diaconal nature, throughout the book we see the sharing of resources, material and spiritual, among the churches. The churches were not independent bodies, each doing their own thing. Throughout the book, you see a self-conscious awareness of what today we would term “Presbyterian connectionalism.” The Great Commission was too great for any one congregation to execute. They needed to work together to fulfill the calling of their Lord to teach the commands and to proclaim near and far the excellencies of our Savior.

This is the opportunity and obligation to one another that we have as Presbyterians. Giving to the Worldwide Outreach of the church (Christian Education, Home Missions, and Foreign Missions) is not mandated in the OPC, and that for good reasons (not least, to preserve liberty of conscience). But by our membership and ordination vows, we have covenanted to be subject in the Lord to one another. One expression of that connectionalism is found in our offerings. Every congregation, even ones of the humblest means, ought to relish the opportunity to give toward the church.

Does your congregation have a line item in your annual budget, even of a small amount, designated to Worldwide Outreach? Does your congregation participate in the OPC’s annual Thank Offering (typically collected in November), the donations of which go to our Worldwide Outreach? If not, have you asked a pastor or elder why? I have served in congregations that, in many years, had financial difficulties. I have firsthand knowledge of what it feels like for the church to struggle to meet the most basic needs in its budget, much less give to the broader work of the denomination. But even in the leanest years financially, my desire has always been for us to give anything we could as a congregation, just out of Presbyterian principle, to keep us materially connected to the church’s effort in Worldwide Outreach.

Praise God that he has not left us as independent congregations tasked individually to execute the Great Commission! Our Presbyterian connectionalism allows us to participate in this joint effort, materially and spiritually, to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ through the Worldwide Outreach of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

The author is pastor of Reformation OPC in Oviedo, Florida, and a member of the Committee on Coordination.

Prayer Calendar

October

1. Ray and Michele Call, Montevideo, Uruguay. Pray for the evangelistic Bible studies starting in members’ homes. / Ryan and Rochelle Cavanaugh, Merrillville, IN. Pray for Mission Church to find its place in the community.

2. Jeremy and Gwen Baker, Yuma, AZ. Pray for Yuma OPC’s relationships with friends and neighbors. / CCE general secretary Danny Olinger as he meets with the CCE over the next two days, and Katrina Zartman as she assists them.

3. Mark and Jeni Richline, Montevideo, Uruguay, give thanks for the work of missionary associates and short-term mission teams. / Pray for CCE’s Subcommittee on Ministerial Training as it oversees the internship program and MTIOPC.

4. Home Missions associate general secretary Al Tricarico. / Pray for missionary associates Markus and Sharon Jeromin and Michaela Sharpshair, Montevideo, Uruguay, as they follow up with this summer’s English Club contacts.

5. Josh and Kristen McKamy, Chambersburg, PA. Pray for Covenant OPC’s outreach and a good relationship with the new staff of the school where they meet. / Yearlong intern Christopher Byrd, Knox OPC, Silver Spring, MD.

6. Pray for Eric and Dianna Tuininga, Mbale, Uganda, as they encourage the Christian education efforts in the village schools. / Charlene Tipton, database administrator, and Janet Birkmann, Disaster Response communications coordinator.

7. Charles and Connie Jackson, Mbale, Uganda. Pray for Charles’s teaching as he equips men to be pastors in Uganda. / Larry and Kalynn Oldaker, Huron, OH. Pray for fall outreach and new families at Grace Fellowship OPC.

8. Steve (Joanie) Doe, regional home missionary for the Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic. / Army chaplain Stephen (Lindsey) Roberts and Navy chaplain John (Linda) Carter.

9. David and Rashel Robbins, Flip and Anneloes Baardman, and Mark and Carla Van Essen-delft, Nakaale, Uganda. / Pray for the newly formed Committee on Ministerial Care and its director, David Haney.

10. Ron and Carol Beabout, Mifflintown, PA. Pray for God’s Spirit to direct and empower the gospel witness of Grace and Truth Presbyterian Church. / Pray for missionary associates Leah Hopp, Donald Owen, Christopher and Chloe Verdick, and Angela Voskuil, Uganda, as they assist the clinic.

11. Daniel and Amber Doleys, Springfield, OH. Pray that Living Water would use their new building to bless the neighborhood and share the gospel. / Mark Stumpff, Loan Fund administrator and Kathy Bube, document specialist.

12. Ben and Melanie Westerveld and missionary associate Janine Eygenraam, Quebec, Canada, give thanks for the thirtieth anniversary of the Reformed Church of Quebec. / Home Missions general secretary John Shaw.

13. Retired missionaries Betty Andrews, Cal and Edie Cummings, Greet Rietkerk, Young and Mary Lou Son, and Brian and Dorothy Wingard. / Pray for MTIOPC coordinator Pat Clawson as she prepares for next month’s training.

14. Matt and Elin Prather, Corona, CA. Pray that Corona Presbyterian would grow in zeal for the glory of God. /Pray for Ross Graham, stated clerk of the General Assembly, as he assists presbyteries and committees with their work.

15. Ben and Heather Hopp, Haiti. Pray for Ben as he organizes diaconal assistance for church families still affected by the 2010 earthquake. / New Horizons proofreader Sarah Pederson and cover designer Chris Tobias.

16. Pray for the biblical marriage counseling work of affiliated missionaries Jerry and Marilyn Farnik, Prague, Czech Republic. / Yearlong intern Zach (Sandra) Siggins, Calvary OPC, Glenside, PA.

17. Mark (Peggy) Sumpter, regional home missionary for the Presbytery of the Southwest. / David and Rebekah Graves, Coeur d’Alene, ID. Pray that God would grow Coeur d’Alene Reformed Church to full maturity in Christ.

18. Andrew Moody, OPC.org technical assistant. / Associate missionaries Octavius and Marie Delfils, Haiti. Pray for the spiritual growth of the La Gonâve members as they face economic trials.

19. Affiliated missionaries Craig and Ree Coulbourne and Linda Karner, Japan. Pray for the student ministries beginning this fall. / Brock (Jennifer) Pavier, church-planting intern, Covenant Presbyterian Church, St. Augustine, FL.

20. Bill and Sessie Welzien, Key West, FL. Pray that the Lord would bring to Keys Presbyterian many hearts yearning for his truth. / Doug Watson, part-time staff accountant, and Jan Gregson, assistant to the finance director.

21. Pray for Heero and Anya Hacquebord, L’viv, Ukraine, as they disciple the students at their church. / Chris and Grace Ann Cashen, Clarkston, GA. Pray for opportunities to share the good news with Muslim neighbors.

22. Pray for the OPC and PCA trustees of Great Commission Publications as they meet today in Atlanta, GA. / Mr. and Mrs. M. M., Asia. Pray for strength for Mr. M. M. as he helps with peacemaking efforts within the local presbytery.

23. Bradney and Eileen Lopez, Arroyo, Puerto Rico. Pray for the Lord to open doors for Iglesia Presbiteriana Sola Escritura to preach the gospel. / Pray that OPC.org will edify the church and help it communicate its message to others.

24. Pray for affiliated missionaries Mark and Laura Ambrose, Cambodia, as they learn the language and seek to serve in Bible studies. / Pray for fall MTIOPC students and instructors as they complete assignments this month.

25. Pray for Mr. and Mrs. J. M., Asia, as they seek more fellowship with local believers. / Kevin and Rachel Medcalf, Cumming, GA. Pray that the Spirit would work mightily in Providence to make disciples in Cumming.

26. Pray for tentmaking missionary T. D., Asia, as she encourages those trying to homeschool. / Judith Dinsmore, managing editor of New Horizons, Gregory Reynolds, editor of Ordained Servant, and Diane Olinger, who assists both publications.

27. Home Missions administrative assistant Katie Stumpff. / Pray for coordinator David Nakhla and Disaster Response teams as they help those in Puerto Rico still struggling to recover from 2017’s Hurricane Maria.

28. Ben (Tiffany) Ward, church-planting intern, Christ the King Presbyterian Church, Naples, FL. / Pray for Mr. and Mrs. F. and Mr. and Mrs. K., Asia, as Mr. F. and Mr. K. work with a new pastoral intern at the local church.

29. Pray for Chris (Nancy) Walmer, area home missions coordinator, Presbytery of Central Pennsylvania. / Pray for the Trinity Psalter Hymnal joint venture and its director Joel Pearce as they develop a digital edition.

30. Pray that the Lord would bless the labors of our missionary associates E. C., P. F., E. K., and M. S., Asia. / Yearlong intern Adam (Joy) Harris, Covenant OPC, Komoka, Ontario, Canada.

31. Pray for Foreign Missions general and associate secretaries Mark Bube and Douglas Clawson as they travel to our missionaries. / Regional Church Extension Conference, Orlando, FL. Pray for fruitful discussions.

News

Tkach Installed at Rio Rancho

On June 29, 2018, Thomas Tkach was ordained as a minister and installed as pastor of Orthodox Presbyterian Church of Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Rev. Mark Sallade preached on “A Portrait of Christian Ministry.” Rev. James Cassidy directed the questions, Rev. Adam York gave the charge to the minister, and Rev. Joe Keller gave the charge to the congregation. The newly ordained Rev. Thomas Tkach gave the benediction.

At the ordination of Thomas Tkach (left to right): Al Frahm, Mark Moody, Joseph Keller, Mike Mahon, Michael Kolysko, Adam York, Terry Neighbert, Jim Cassidy, Thomas Tkach, Greg Thomas, Charles Williams,

Mark Sallade, Andrew Moody

In Memoriam: Dorothy Anderson Barker

Linda Posthuma

Dorothy (Partington) Anderson Barker died on Saturday, June 30, 2018, at her residence in Quarryville, Pennsylvania. Born on April 27, 1927, in Newark, New Jersey, into a family that would become charter members of Grace OPC in Westfield, New Jersey, Dorothy attended Wheaton College and later Barnard College, where she earned a BA in English. While teaching at a Christian school in Massachusetts, she completed a master’s degree in education at Harvard University. Edmund Clowney noted Dorothy’s gifts as a teacher, writer, and editor and enlisted her to assist in writing a Sunday school curriculum. Thus began a writing career that continued until her retirement from Great Commissions Publication in 1987.

Dorothy Anderson Barker at GA in 1987

In 1955 Dorothy married OP minister Robert W. Anderson, and after being widowed at a young age, married OP elder Richard A. Barker, whom she had known as a youth at Grace OPC. After her wedding, she returned to Grace and served as church organist.

She is survived by her sons, Jonathan (Leslie) Anderson and Peter (Monica) Anderson, four grandchildren, three stepsons, and six step-grandchildren.

In Memoriam: John Savvos Deliyannides

Danny E. Olinger

On July 10, 2018, Dr. John Savvos Deliyannides went to be with the Lord in glory. Born in 1934 in Thessaloniki, Greece, John immigrated to the United States in 1952 and started attending Calvary Community Church in Harmony, New Jersey, as a student at Lafayette College. After hearing Rev. Lewis Grotenhuis preach, he wrote to his family in Greece on November 6, 1952, “My joy and gratitude to God for the opportunity he has given me is great. I finally heard a sermon in which the emphasis was given to the work of Christ, and the necessity of salvation. I finally saw a church full of faithful children of Christ.” A year later when the Grotenhuis family was hosting OPC young people at their home, John met Barbara Ellen Farace, a member of Calvary OPC, Glenside. They were married on July 2, 1955, and were blessed with five children: John Jr., Rebecca, Deborah, Timothy, and Andrew.

John Savvos Deliyannides

In 1968, the same year that John earned a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh in engineering, he was ordained as a ruling elder at Covenant OPC, Pittsburgh. For the next half century, John served faithfully on the sessions of Covenant Church, Fellowship OPC in Lake Worth, Florida, Grace Reformed Church in Walkerton, Indiana, and Hillsdale OPC in Hillsdale, Michigan. Denominationally, he served as president of the Committee for the Historian for nearly two decades, and played a vital role on the Committee on Christian Education in the development of OPC.org.

In Memoriam: Steven F. Miller

Mark T. Bube

Reverend Steven F. Miller was called home to his Lord on July 17, 2018, at the age of sixty-seven, following a three-year battle with ALS. He never tired of reminding his flock that the core of our religion is “having Christ, not for what he can give you, but for the wonderful God that he is.”

Steven Miller teaching

Born in Westfield, New Jersey, he attended Covenant College, where he met his wife of forty-eight years, Mary Jane. Steve pastored Tri-County OPC in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and Calvary OPC in Glenside, Pennsylvania, before he answered his church’s call to missionary service in Eritrea in 1994. In 1998, he took a call to pastor Nashua OPC in Edinburg, Pennsylvania, and began teaching missions at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Steve told students, “What is Jesus’s call in missions? ‘Come die with me!’” In 2014, Steve accepted a call to pastor First RP Church (RPCNA) in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.

Steve is survived by his wife, Mary Jane, three children, sixteen grandchildren, his mother, and his brother. Reverend Brian T. Wingard preached on Psalm 16 at Steve’s funeral service on July 21 in the Metheny Fieldhouse on the campus of Geneva College.

On Sunday, August 5, Jehoash Presbyterian Church in Catlett, VA, a mission work of the Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic, received its first members. The service included baptisms, professions of faith,

and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

Update

Churches

• Grace Presbyterian Church in Norman, OK, was dissolved on August 31.

Ministers

• On July 14, the ministerial relationship between M. Austin Britton and Calvary OPC in La Mirada, CA, was dissolved.

• On August 31, the ministerial relationship between Todd P. Dole and Grace Presbyterian Church in Norman, OK, was dissolved.

Milestones

• Elder John S. Deliyannides, 84, died on July 10.

• Former OP pastor Steven F. Miller, 67, died on July 17.

• Former OP pastor Claude D. DePrine III, 72, died on July 22.

Letters

Secular School an Option, Too

Editor:

In the July issue of New Horizons, four post-high-school paths were represented. I want to add one more big category: state school education. First, to dispel some of the concerns regarding the secular influence, let me point out that most of a state school’s secular worldview is taught in general education courses and that more colleges are now accepting CLEP and AP tests, which allow students to test out of nearly all, if not all, of those courses.

Second, for many fields of study, state schools offer a far better education than any other option. My degree was harp performance, and I studied at one of the two best schools in the nation for harp, allowing me to hone my skills. Finally, state schools are significantly cheaper. Not having a huge debt after college allows young people to get married sooner, provide for their families better, and have more time and resources to serve their churches.

Rachel Green

Tucson, AZ

Editor:

I was quite disappointed with “A Case for Christian Higher Education” (July 2018). Not only is the voice of the secular institution missing, but this piece also erases the distinction between secular research universities and secular liberal arts colleges: much of the article’s praise bestowed upon interdisciplinary, holistic education at Christian colleges could likewise be given to the same model at secular liberal arts colleges. To students considering college as a post-secondary plan, I would encourage them not to discount secular schools. What a blessed way to be salt and light! The type of institution a believer attends is, in all likelihood, less important than his or her firm spiritual footing on move-in day.

Elease Layman

Frederick, MD

Thank You, Pat

Editor:

Patricia Clawson’s organizational gifts were readily apparent to me through her work with MTIOPC (“In Fond Recognition,” August-September). She also showed her gifts in delivering heartfelt encouragement to those of us fortunate to cross her path. Thank you, Pat, for your service, and you have our prayers for your family.

David J. Koenig

Dover, NH

Reviews

Thomas Aquinas, by K. Scott Oliphint. P&R, 2017. Paperback, 168 pages, $11.50. By OP pastor Benjamin W. Swinburnson.

K. Scott Oliphint provides a tremendous service in carrying forward the best of the theological tradition of the OPC. Leaning on the biblical theology and exegesis of Geerhardus Vos and the apologetic tradition of Cornelius Van Til, Oliphint provides a penetrating analysis and critique of the basic architecture of Thomas Aquinas’s theology. Employing Van Til’s “transcendental” critique to Aquinas’s thought, Oliphint exposes its fatal flaws as a consistent Christian expression of biblical truth.

The book is structured around two main sections which outline Aquinas’s approach to the foundations of knowledge (epistemology) and existence (metaphysics). In the first section, Oliphint draws upon Aquinas’s primary sources to outline his understanding of a twofold way of knowing God: (1) natural reason and (2) revelation. The second section outlines and examines Aquinas’s famous “five ways” or proofs for the existence of God. Oliphint finds both foundational elements of Aquinas’s thought to be fatally flawed, in that they are an (unwitting) attempt to harmonize the antithetical principles of these fundamentally contrary systems. Likewise, Aquinas fails to do full justice to the biblical teaching on the radical effects of sin upon the human mind and faculty of reason, which is most faithfully summarized in the Reformed Standards (Westminster Larger Catechism 28; Canons of Dordt, Heads 3–4, Articles 1 and 4). Oliphint’s interaction with the biblical text and the exegesis of Geerhardus Vos is particularly helpful.

One might object to Oliphint’s approach (and Van Til’s) from a historical perspective, arguing that Aquinas did not see himself as trying to reconcile the “unreconcilable,” and instead viewed natural reason and special revelation as complementary aspects of knowing the one true God. But this objection confuses the different tasks inherent in historical exposition with transcendental theological analysis. Oliphint is not simply trying to explain what Aquinas thought he was doing, but providing a biblical analysis of the objective failure of his system. Likewise, it is true that in Aquinas’s many commentaries on Scripture, he does take note of biblical passages regarding the effect of sin on the mind. Whether he consistently integrated that teaching into the basic structure of his theology is another question.

Perhaps most helpfully, this book represents not only a penetrating analysis and critique of Aquinas’s own thought, but by extension provides a basic critique of all attempts to structure our theology (in part or in whole) around the twofold principles of “natural reason” (functionally isolated from the full Christian system of truth) and “special revelation.” It convincingly demonstrates the fundamental failures of this approach, whether as the foundation of epistemology and metaphysics, or as the basic structure of a theology of the relationship of the “two kingdoms” (i.e., the church and the civil/secular spheres)—as attempted by many in the Protestant tradition. Although this book deals directly with a medieval thinker, it indirectly gives much food for thought in view of several contemporary theological proposals.

Redeeming the Life of the Mind: Essays in Honor of Vern Poythress, edited by John M. Frame, Wayne Grudem, and John J. Hughes. Crossway, 2017. Hardcover, 432 pages, $21.75 (Amazon). Reviewed by OP pastor Martin Emmrich.

Three things cause madness, four things despair: violence, oppression, injustice, and a Festschrift book review. Any attempt at doing justice to all the essays in a short review is doomed to failure, but I will do my best to provide a few comments on the work as a whole and some of its articles in particular.

The editors, each a contributor as well, arranged the selection in six parts, headed by rather personal pieces by Poythress’s children, Ransom and Justin. The opening articles have testimonial character providing the reader with first-hand evidence of the godly life that Poythress is known and loved for. All of us may be born as liars, but there is no better testimony to a man’s character than the word of his own children.

Subsequent parts of the book—“Exegesis,” “Doctrine of the Trinity,” “Worldview,” “History,” and “Ethics”—become decidedly more technical, and Beale’s article on the New Testament background of ecclesia sets the signal. It argues against a Greco-Roman background of the word “church” as a civic gathering in order to affirm its rootedness in the Old Testament concept of the holy assembly of God’s people.

The exegetical essays by Crowe, Cara, Duguid, Tipton, and Gaffin are, on the whole, well balanced, with the last of them (the eschatological future of creation seen through the lens of Vos’s Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 5) taking a more or less long-held, middle-of-the-road position on the tension between re-creation and radical transformation. Gaffin concludes, “We do not [know what the enjoyment of God’s world will be like], if for no other reason because we lack any adequate comprehension of the new world itself.”

The articles on the doctrine of the Trinity and worldview have been the most rewarding for me. Hibbs’s exposé of “Language and Trinity” is closely aligned with fine insights from Genesis 11, the confusion of language at Babel. Frame’s piece on “Presuppositionalism and Perspectivalism” explores the interdependence of ultimate values or divine norms and subjective experience. Norms are prerequisite to understanding experience while subjectivity (in theory) offers a true perspective on God’s truth. Subjectivity, as God designed it, is no impediment to knowledge but a necessary corollary of being made in his image. Trueman’s analysis of Sophocles’s Antigone is perhaps the most culturally relevant essay of the collection. It reveals, on the one hand, how our perception of family, history, and the dead has been eroded, and on the other, how Sophocles’s tragedy offers some inspiring vistas, anticipating (to some extent) a counter-cultural Christian perspective on these three ideas.

The collection closes with contributions of Grudem and Hughes. Grudem’s article on the problem of an “Impossible Moral Conflict” as argued by Norman Geisler and John and Paul Feinberg (though their views are not identical) is a useful reminder to us Christians drowning in a sea of relativity. I do believe, however, that a brief synopsis of the differences between verbal lies and deceptive actions would have been in order. Grudem provides references for further study, but of all the cases cited in the essay, Rahab seems the gnarliest of the lot. To leave the reader without the necessary tools to understand the differentiation is regrettable. Hughes’s perspectives on the kingdom of God are a gold mine of Christian ethics based on Romans 14:17, using the triadic perspectives of norm, situation, and existence (existential experience) as a helpful grid to elucidate the significance of “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

All in all, the Festschrift reflects some of the wide range of Poythress’s exceptional scholarship, at times stimulating and truly inspiring, but always as I imagine the honoree would want it to be: pointing away from the man to our Savior and God.

Enlisting Faith: How the Military Chaplaincy Shaped Religion and State in Modern America, by Ronit Y. Stahl. Harvard University Press, 2017. Hardcover, 384 pages, $39.65 (Amazon). Reviewed by OP minister and retired Army chaplain Christopher H. Wisdom.

Dr. Ronit Stahl, a historian and professor at University of California-Berkeley, describes her book Enlisting Faith as “a history of religion, the state, and society from World War I through the 1980s” (7). Her conviction is that “the story of the modern American military chaplaincy unmasks the bidirectional influence of religion and state,” and her purpose in writing is to “demonstrate how a state institution worked hard—sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing—to build a religiously diverse and pluralist nation” (6).

Stahl supports her thesis with three main points. First, “Over the twentieth century … the military served as a crucible for religious change” (4). Second, “the chaplaincy unveils the processes of state regulation in … religion” (4). Third, “an account of the chaplaincy makes American trials of faith visible” (5). She concludes: “Braided together, these stories of religious encounter, the regulatory state, and the trials of faith, underscore the centrality of religion in modern America” (5).

Stahl argues that several formidable forces drove the military to serve as a crucible for religious change from World War I to the 1980s. During the first half of the twentieth century, progressive and patriotic political influences in the military led to a tri-faith chaplaincy (Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish) (44). During the 70s and 80s, “Chaplain Corps further diversified in three ways: by recruiting racial minorities, assenting to the inclusion of women, and addressing the needs of more varied faiths” (228).

Stahl’s passing reference to tensions between theological conservatism and liberalism in American Protestant denominations implies that theological liberalism played a role in the emergence of this tri-faith moral monotheism in the military. As a result, chaplains “could evangelize only religion in general, offering nondenominational spiritual succor that transcended sectarian differences” (48). However, racial integration, anti-nuclear opposition, and anti-Vietnam War opposition challenged this status quo and contributed to an increasing inclusivism in the US military chaplaincy and, thereby, in America. Stahl discusses how the 1984 landmark federal district court case Katcoff v. Marsh (summary judgment, affirmed on appeal), which upheld the constitutionality of the chaplaincy program, contributed to the transition from three major faith groups to numerous “distinctive faith groups” (247–48, 250).

Stahl argues that these intentional, emerging military policies led, in order, from a tri-faith moral monotheism, to a military-spiritual complex characterized by pragmatic pluralism, to finally an increasing inclusivism.

This emergence of denominational diversity in the military chaplaincies today facilitates our own OPC chaplains’ opportunities to preach biblically and confessionally Reformed historic Christianity.

Stahl’s views may not find a home in the minds of all those who read Enlisting Faith. But her book should move readers to respond critically and constructively to the history she presents, to the arguments she marshals, and to the conclusions she reaches about how the US military chaplaincy influenced religion in twentieth-century America.

Between Wittenberg and Geneva: Lutheran and Reformed Theology in Conversation, Robert Kolb and Carl R. Trueman. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2017. Paperback, 272 pages, $18.35 (Amazon). Reviewed by Prof. J. V. Fesko.

Luther’s pounding fist on the table at the Marburg Colloquy emphatically declared to Zwingli that hoc est corpus meum (“this is my body”) referred to the literal body of Christ. This action signaled that the Lutheran and Reformed wings of the Protestant Reformation would remain distinct and divided. Since then, Lutheran and Reformed theologians have continued to engage in dialogue to explore the prospects of resolving debated issues.

The most recent entry in this ongoing discussion comes from two well-respected and accomplished theologians and church historians, Robert Kolb and OPC minister Carl Trueman. Kolb and Trueman do not debate but rather converse in print regarding the similarities and dissimilarities between the Lutheran and Reformed traditions. The book has eight chapters that cover the waterfront: Scripture, law and gospel, the doctrine of Christ, election and the bondage of the will, justification and sanctification, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and worship. In each chapter, Kolb and Trueman address these doctrines from the vantage points of their respective traditions.

In the chapter on law and gospel, the authors note that both traditions share these doctrinal categories (48–49). But Trueman helpfully identifies the different ways that law and gospel function in the two traditions. The Reformed, argues Trueman, historically place greater emphasis on the third use of the law, whereas for Lutherans the pedagogical receives greater attention (49).

Another area of shared substantial agreement between the two traditions is on the doctrine of justification. For both traditions, union with Christ, the Savior’s work, the instrumentality of faith, and imputed righteousness are common elements. Evidence of Reformed and Lutheran agreement appears in Calvin’s subscription to the Augsburg Confession Variata (133–34). But where the dissimilarities surface is in how the Reformed take this doctrine and integrate it in the Christian life in concert with sanctification, an emphasis to which some Lutherans might object. One must walk a tightrope to ensure that the quest for greater sanctification does not fall into legalism on the one side or antinomianism on the other (145).

At a time when caricature and unfamiliarity with basic primary source texts abound, Kolb’s and Trueman’s book is a welcome respite from the noisy din. Both write with clarity, depth, and an excellent, historically grounded knowledge of their respective traditions. This is a must-read for any person who wants to know where the agreements and disagreements lie between the Lutheran and Reformed traditions.

The Big Idea of Biblical Worship: The Development and Leadership of Expository Services, by David A. Currie. Hendrickson, 2017. Paperback, 184 pages, $14.95. Reviewed by OP pastor George C. Hammond.

Most of our ministers work hard to accurately and compellingly communicate the Word of God each Sunday. Does the service of worship that is the context for their sermons aid the message or detract from it? Anyone who has been present in churches for any length of time can sadly tell of instances of hymns or other elements in the service that smacked of being at cross purposes with the message of the text, such as singing “Jesus Paid It All” after a message on the enduring necessity of tithing, or “You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart!” after an Easter sermon on the historical and factual “many convincing proofs” by which “Jesus presented himself alive” (Acts 1:3).

Using the “big idea” method of Haddon Robinson’s approach to preaching, David Currie applies a rubric that enables those responsible for planning and leading the worship service to construct a service that underscores, enhances, and reinforces the message of the biblical text preached, so that what is presented each Sunday is a unified whole.

Currie begins by defining biblical worship: “Biblical worship is lifted up when the whole Word of God guides the whole person together with the whole people of God into the full presence of the Father in full union with the Son through the full power of the Holy Spirit to further the fulfillment of the whole mission of God.” Pastors and elders will recognize the familiar dialectic principle in which there is an alternation of God’s speaking through his Word, and the response to God by the congregation.

Currie then notes the importance of, and gives practical ideas for, selecting passages for the services of worship and developing liturgical (worship) ideas that are consonant with the homiletical (sermon) ideas.

From this principle, he takes the reader through the development of five liturgical movements that he argues should characterize every act of corporate worship: rejoice (what should we praise God for?), repent (what should we confess to God?), request (what should we ask God for?), sacrifice (what should we lift up to God?), and service (what should we live out for God?).

Resisting formulas, Currie does not advocate a particular order of service for every church, but rather gives principles that are biblical and applicable to any church, urban, rural, Western, or non-Western. The last chapter and conclusion of the book are dedicated to the principles of building a worship-planning team (whether made up of only the elders, or with wider participation), with practical but theologically astute insights into handling differences in perspectives on worship.

The book is an excellent aid to those planning and leading services of worship. Worship is the context for the sermon, and the sermon is a part of the worship. This book guides readers into crafting a service of worship that glorifies God, evokes adoration, and leads to a unified and unifying message. This reviewer believes it would greatly benefit pastors, elders, and others (including musicians) who help to plan or who lead in worship.

Announcements

Leather Trinity Psalter Hymnal

The leather edition of the Trinity Psalter Hymnal is available from October 1 through the end of the year at $42, which is a 40% discount from the list price. To order, go to gcp.org.

Corrections

In the July issue of New Horizons, Kyle Will’s home church should have been given as Shiloh Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, NC. On page 9 of the August-September issue, “effect” should have been “affect,” and the page 15 caption should have read “Carolyn Sawyer.”

Positions Available

Faculty: Mid-America Reformed Seminary announces an opening in ministerial studies or practical theology. Applicants should be able to teach courses in ministerial studies and practical theology, including homiletics, missions and evangelism, pastoral care, and counseling. Applicants should send their curriculum vitae, including names of three references, to info@midamerica.edu. For more information, visit www.midamerica.edu.

Stated Clerk of General Assembly: The Trustees of the OPC seek a minister or ruling elder with administrative and delegation skills to assume the office of Stated Clerk of the General Assembly on January 1, 2020. It is a paid, part-time position, averaging 20 hours per week, and may be done remotely, from any location in the United States. The work requires basic computer skills and involves preparations for the annual meeting of the general assembly, the printing of an agenda, minutes, and yearbook, the maintenance of addresses and budgets, and the management of a part-time staff that provides assistance to the Clerk. Applicants are urged to apply to Clerk Search Committee Chairman Richard N. Ellis at ellis.1@opc.org by November 1, 2018.