From its earliest days, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) has been a church accustomed to carrying the cross. All but three of our founding congregations lost their properties. All our founding members and ministers sacrificed the social capital that came with being a part of the prestigious mainline Presbyterian Church (PCUSA). Our first generation of home and foreign missionaries labored in desperate places—sometimes under shocking poverty.

The men and women who sacrificed to establish the OPC were not motivated by hopes of fanfare or influence. The ignominious way in which the PCUSA had silenced their leaders, seized their sanctuaries, and leveraged state power to deprive the fledgling denomination of its first name thoroughly inoculated our first fathers and mothers against any delusions of earthly power or worldly splendor. To join the OPC was to accept scorn, embrace loss, and surrender any seat at society’s “big table.”

Yet all this did not make our members, ministers, and missionaries morose. Rather, they rejoiced! What greater privilege could there be than to suffer for the Savior who died to set them free? What greater mission could any man or woman undertake in this world than to seek to establish new churches at home and abroad that would be faithful in proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ?

The OPC was not founded under the shadow of fear, whether the fear of loss or the fear of failure. Rather, the OPC was founded with the conviction—sometimes afflicted, but never fading—that following Jesus was worth more than gaining the whole world. The OPC began with the persuasion that the words of the apostle Paul were as true in 1936 as they were when they were first penned: “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:9–10).

As the OPC celebrates our ninetieth anniversary in 2026, the theme verse for this year’s Thank Offering is Luke 9:23: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” These words call us to self-denial, self-giving, and self-surrender to Jesus.

Self-Denial: Giving Our Treasure

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself . . .”

One of the simplest ways we can deny ourselves for the sake of Jesus is by giving our treasure to him rather than spending it on ourselves. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warned us that how we spend our wealth is a direct indicator of where we rest our hearts: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:19–21). In another place, Jesus told a very sobering parable about a wealthy man whose first instinct in prosperity was to provide more comfort for himself (Luke 12:13–21). And in the verses immediately following our theme verse, Jesus asks what is perhaps the most haunting question of all time: “For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (Luke 9:25).

Even in the humblest days of our early decades, the OPC has been a generous and sacrificial denomination. Though we are small, our self-denial has enabled us to provide for our ministerial interns and our missionaries (both church planters and those serving overseas) in a way that differs from many larger denominations: Through regular giving to our denomination’s Worldwide Outreach fund, we free them from the burden of having to raise their own support.

The autumn Thank Offering, the only annual special offering in the OPC, is especially focused on gathering additional funds to support this unified approach to
ministerial training, Christian education, home missions, and foreign missions. The goal for the 2026 Thank Offering is $2,000,000. As the season approaches, would you ask the Lord to show you and your family areas in which you might deny yourself for the sake of giving him your treasure?

Self-Giving: Giving Our Talents

“If anyone would come after me, let him . . . take up his cross . . . and follow me.”

Our Lord’s call extends beyond self-denial to self-giving. As a missionary church, the ministry of the OPC has a perpetual need not just for ministry finances, but for ministry servants. More than ever before, we need a new generation of men and women—church planters, their wives, and others—who are willing to forego comfort, give their lives to full-time gospel ministry, and carry the cross.

As of the writing of this article, the OPC’s Vacant Pulpit List contains two dozen churches looking for pastors—and half a dozen prospective church plants are looking for organizing pastors. In a denomination of approximately 340 congregations, our pastoral vacancy rate stands at almost exactly 10 percent. Meanwhile, an aging population among serving ministers means that this challenge is only going to increase in the coming years.

The present author’s call to pastoral ministry began not through some extraordinary experience, but rather through honest meditation upon the words of our Lord, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required” (Luke 12:48). Some years later, our family’s call to foreign missionary service began when an OPC missionary asked those gathered at the General Assembly to pray for young men who would give themselves to missions. In both circumstances, my wife and I had no idea how things could work out for us to serve. But God did not need us to bring him a well-formed plan; he had plans of his own. All we did was offer ourselves.

As the Thank Offering season approaches, would you ask the Lord to show you whether he is calling you and your family, or someday one of your children, to follow him into full-time gospel ministry—perhaps at home, or perhaps even abroad? Would you ask your pastor and elders to join you in this prayer?

Self-Surrender: Giving Our Hearts

“. . . let him deny himself and take up his cross daily . . .”

The Lord Jesus does not just want our treasure and our talents. He wants our hearts. His call to self-denial, self-giving, and self-surrender is not just occasional but “daily.”

The most fundamental way in which we surrender to Jesus on a daily basis is through daily prayer. Prayer is how faith breathes: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34); “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him” (Ps. 62:8). Prayer is how we give the Lord our hearts: “Into your hand I commit my spirit” (Ps. 31:5).

Not every Orthodox Presbyterian is possessed of great treasure. Not every Orthodox Presbyterian is able to consider full-time gospel ministry. But every Orthodox Presbyterian can pray.

Every day, the present author prays three things for the OPC. First, I pray that the Lord will make us as fruitful in reaching the lost as in welcoming the found. Second, I pray that the Lord will make new Christians today through the ministry of the OPC—directly or indirectly. Third, I pray that God will raise up the next generation of preachers, pastors, church planters, and foreign missionaries. Will you join me in these daily prayers?

The author is general secretary for the Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension. New Horizons, November 2026.