Join us for worship this Sunday at 6:00 p.m.
We are currently meeting at The Dow Leadership Center.

Background

Hillsdale, Michigan, is the epicenter of a region signally lacking in confessional Reformed churches. There are 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 are no confessional Reformed churches available.

Over the years the OPC's Presbytery of Michigan and Ontario has 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 has usually attended a conservative Missouri Synod Lutheran church around 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 Biochemistry. These two families contacted Grace Reformed OPC in Walkerton, Indiana, this 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.

College and Community

This background indicates that the origin of this church plant was found in a desire to provide a church for college professors and students. And given the large number of Hillsdale College students who have expressed an interest in the church, we expect that Hillsdale OPC will have a considerable opportunity to train future leaders for Reformed churches around the country. But in order to do this effectively, Hillsdale OPC will also need to have a significant number of members from the surrounding communities.

The relationship between the college and the surrounding community will no doubt be a major part of the ongoing life of Hillsdale OPC. Hillsdale OPC will be a training ground for future ministers and lay leaders in the church. Just consider the possibility of what a confessional Reformed church could do in training some of the brightest students in the country!

The Church

The church needs to focus on the ministry of word, the sacraments, and evangelism. There are various ministries in and around the Hillsdale area. What is lacking is a distinctively Reformed church – a body that is devoted to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and the prayers. The goal is to plant a church that truly sees worship at the heart of all of life.

For this reason the Psalms will be a prominent part of the life of the church, along with the best of Christian hymnody from all ages. The order of worship will follow the historic patterns of Reformed liturgy. The preaching will be expository and redemptive-historical. The Lord’s Supper will be celebrated weekly.

As for programs and ministries? These will develop in the course of the life of the church as the outpouring of her worship. Recognizing that Reformed worship may be somewhat new to people, we are planning on having a class on worship. The preaching of the word will challenge the people of God to love their neighbors in tangible ways, so mercy ministry will emerge from the worship of God. As we devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers, we cannot help but then also care for one another and live together as the body of Christ.

The Plan

The Rev. Dr. Peter Wallace, Pastor of Michiana Covenant Presbyterian Church, in Granger, Indiana, will be preaching at the opening service, Sunday morning, October 14, and then for a series of Sunday evenings, October 21-December 2, in order to lay out the vision for Hillsdale OPC. Dr. Wallace will be unable to continue at a high level of involvement after December. Therefore, the goal is to find a church planter who will be able to be on the field by January or February of 2008.

If we are unable to find a church planter by then, we have three preachers (Glenn Jerrell, Hans Molenaar, and Peter Wallace) who have already committed to preach once a month at the evening service at Hillsdale.

The Elders
 

Dr. Deliyannides, a native of Thessalonica, Greece, has served as an elder for over 40 years in Orthodox Presbyterian churches in Pennsylvania and Florida, and served for more than fifteen years on the OPC's Committee for the Historian and the Committee on Christian Education. He is a member of Grace Reformed OPC in Walkerton, Indiana.

Dr. Gamble was ordained as an elder in Fellowship OPC in Lake Worth, Florida, in 1997. He is also a member of Grace Reformed OPC in Walkerton, Indiana. Drs. Gamble and Deliyannides served together for six years on the session of Fellowship OPC in Lake Worth, Florida, so this mission work has a session that has a great deal of working experience.

Dr. Wallace was ordained in the OPC as the pastor of Grace Reformed Church in Walkerton in 1997. He presently serves an ecumenical call as the OPC pastor of Michiana Covenant PCA. He is also a member of the OPC's Committee on Ecumenicity and Interchurch Relations.