August 2004 New Horizons

The Seventy-first General Assembly

by Danny E. Olinger

Amidst the beautiful hills of western Pennsylvania, the Seventy-first General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church convened on Wednesday, June 2, on the campus of Geneva College. There 135 ministers and ruling elders, commissioned by sixteen different presbyteries, met to conduct the business of the church from June 2 to June 9. Opening Worship Service The Assembly opened in the chapel at "Old Main" (the oldest building on campus) with an evening worship service and celebration of the Lord's Supper. The Rev. Donald G. Buchanan, Jr. (Calvary OPC, La Mirada, California) delivered the call to worship. Mr. Robert M. Coie, the moderator of the previous general assembly (an elder from Westminster OPC in Westminster, California), exhorted from Acts 4:13, asking, "Ministers of the Word-Have You Been with Jesus?" He urged OP ministers to proclaim the Word of God with power and boldness as those who have been with Jesus, the one from whom power and boldness come. The Rev. William J. Gorrell (Westminster ... Read more

Declaration on Justification

by 71st General Assembly

Adopted by the Seventy-first General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church The 71st (2004) General Assembly of The Orthodox Presbyterian Church i ) declares its continued commitment to the teaching of the Word of God, the Westminster Confession of Faith, and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms with regard to the doctrine of justification by faith alone; ii ) reaffirms that faith, which is a gift of God, is the sole instrument of justification; and iii ) reaffirms the following beliefs: a. "Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone" (WSC 33). b. "Those whom God effectually calls, he also freely justifieth; not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone; nor by imputing faith ... Read more

Fighting the Good Fight in San Francisco

by Danny E. Olinger

Thirty-one years ago, the Rev. Charles McIlhenny accepted a call to serve as pastor of First Orthodox Presbyterian Church in San Francisco. Little did Chuck or his wife, Donna, know what the Lord had in store for them as they began to serve First Church and the community in which they lived. In 1978, Chuck fired the organist for First OPC when he learned that the organist was a practicing homosexual. The organist sued the McIlhennys, First OPC, and the Presbytery of Northern California for violating a city ordinance banning discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation. As far as many scholars can determine, this was the first time in U.S. legal history that immorality had taken on the church for fulfilling its God-given responsibility within the parameters of biblical worship. With the help of attorney John Whitehead and the financial support of hundreds of individuals and churches across the country to pay for the legal costs, the McIlhennys won the case by arguing protection under the ... Read more