February 2012 Ordained Servant

From the Editor One of the most important tasks performed by our presbyteries is their oversight of the preparation of men for the ministry of the gospel. From taking men under care, through licensing them to preach, to the goal of ordaining them, presbyteries take action under the guidance of their committees on candidates and credentials. In the local church the session seeks to recognize and encourage gifted men to pursue this calling. At a denominational level the general assembly has charged the Committee on Christian Education, under whose over sight this journal functions, with the task of facilitating this important work through its Subcommittee on Ministerial Training. This subcommittee oversees programs such as the Ministerial Training Institute of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (MTIOPC), providing training supplementary to seminary to candidates and ministers; summer and year-long internships; the Timothy Conference to challenge young Orthodox Presbyterian men in their late high school and early college years, aged sixteen to twenty-one years, to consider the gospel ministry as God's calling for their life; and the OP Summer Institute to give a taste of ministry in the OPC to men in late college and early seminary through an intensive time of reflection and conversation.

The lead article this month is Jim Gidley’s informative piece, “Why a Candidates and Credentials Conference?” given at the inaugural Candidates and Credentials Conference at the offices of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, on August 8–9, 2005.

Next up, Ryan McGraw encourages men preparing for ordination exams as one who has been through the ordeal in the PCA in “How to Prepare Spiritually for Ordination Exams.”

I offer thoughts on the temptations of young theologians entering ministry in our heady tradition of a “learned ministry.”

PCA Pastor Charlie Wingard reviews a fascinating new book giving a personal view of the brilliant historian Elizabeth (Betsey) Fox-Genovese from the perspective of her equally brilliant husband Eugene. Their journey from Marxism to Catholicism is instructive.

Finally, this month’s poem “On the Road” by the editor was written during the Summer Institute at Shiloh Retreat in Jefferson, New Hampshire.

Blessings in the Lamb,
Gregory Edward Reynolds

From the Archives "MINISTERIAL TRAINING"

http://opc.org/OS/pdf/Subject_Index.pdf

• "Avoiding the Dangers of Distance in Officer Training." (Gregory Edward Reynolds) 15 (2006): 19–21.
• "Ingredients of a Meaningful and Successful Internship Program." (Nathan Trice) 6:2 (Apr. 1997): 28–30. Reprinted 15 (2006): 62–65.
• "Some Thoughts on the Preparation of Men for Ministry." (John Kramer) 6:4 (Oct. 1997): 94–96.
• "Who's Doing It?" (Thomas E. Tyson) 3:2 (Apr. 1994): 46–48.
• "The Ministerial Training Institute of the OPC." (Thomas E. Tyson) 10:2 (Apr. 2001): 42.
• "A New Stage on the Pilgrimage of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church." (James S. Gidley) 8:3 (Jul. 1999): 63–66.

Ordained Servant exists to help encourage, inform, and equip church officers for faithful, effective, and God glorifying ministry in the visible church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Its primary audience is ministers, elders, and deacons of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, as well as interested officers from other Presbyterian and Reformed churches. Through high quality editorials, articles, and book reviews we endeavor to stimulate clear thinking and the consistent practice of historic, confessional Presbyterianism.