Background

Hillsdale, Michigan, was the epicenter of a region significantly lacking in confessional Reformed churches. There were four Orthodox Presbyterian churches, three Presbyterian Church in America churches, one Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America and one Reformed Church in the United States that are between 70-100 minutes from Hillsdale. There is a Christian Reformed Church in Jackson and an Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Battle Creek, but otherwise there were no confessional Reformed churches available.

Over the years the OPC’s Presbytery of Michigan and Ontario received occasional inquiries from southern Michigan, asking about the possibility of starting an Orthodox Presbyterian congregation in the area, but nothing developed.

In 2006, Dr. Richard M. Gamble, a ruling elder from Fellowship OPC in Lake Worth, Florida, moved to Hillsdale to take a position as professor of History. While occasionally driving 1-2 hours to visit a Reformed church, he had usually attended a conservative Missouri Synod Lutheran church about 35 minutes from Hillsdale. In 2007, Dr. Christopher Hamilton, with his wife, Anita, and their two daughters, moved to Hillsdale from Providence OPC in Austin, Texas, to take a position as professor of Chemistry. These two families contacted Grace Reformed OPC in Walkerton, Indiana, that summer, and inquired about starting an Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Hillsdale.

Also, over the years many students from confessional Reformed churches have attended Hillsdale College. While appreciating the ministry and oversight of other area churches, many of these students have voiced a desire for Reformed preaching and worship.

On September 22, 2007, the Presbytery of Michigan and Ontario of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church approved the petition of a group of professors and students to begin a mission work in Hillsdale, Michigan, by the name of Hillsdale Orthodox Presbyterian Church.