August 2018 New Horizons

Report on the Eighty-fifth General Assembly

by Danny E. Olinger

After the United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA) was formed on October 1, 1996, members of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, especially senior saints, sympathized with the new federation’s courageous stand for the straight teaching of the Bible. The Christian Reformed Church of North America (CRCNA) had determined to ordain women to the offices of minister and ruling elder and could not be persuaded to repent. Because this change affected the biblical marks of the church, some CRCNA members believed that they had no choice but to depart, forming the URCNA. The senior saints of the OPC knew from their own experience in joining the OPC that this action meant leaving behind family members, and almost always church buildings and church saving accounts, too. But, these older OPC members also knew firsthand the relationship that had existed between the OPC and the CRCNA. When the OPC was formed on June 11, 1936, the CRCNA was the first church to recognize it two days later. For decades, the OPC ... Read more

Presentation of the Trinity Psalter Hymnal

by Alan D. Strange

The Trinity Psalter Hymnal is hereby presented to the church to aid her in fulfilling the mandate of Psalm 150:6: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!”—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who created and sustains all things, and who is, from first to last, the one who grants eternal salvation. All praise, honor, and glory be rendered unto our great and gracious God for all that he is and has done, particularly for the Father bringing his own from death to life by the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, in and by the power of the Holy Spirit, through all the appointed means. And singing his praise forms no small part of that worship that we render to him in the appointed means of Word, sacraments, and prayer. In the liturgy and worship of the church in the last century and more, especially in North American evangelicalism, hymns have eclipsed psalms. Actually, in many communions, hymns themselves have given way to ubiquitous Scripture songs and choruses. This comparatively recent loss ... Read more