March 8 Today in OPC History

On March 8, 1975, OPC pastor John Rankin went to be with the Lord. In July 1936, Mr. Rankin, pastor of First PCUSA in Worchester, New York, sought to have that congregation enter the newly formed Presbyterian Church of America (later renamed the Orthodox Presbyterian Church). Almost all at First Church were supportive of J. Gresham Machen and the cause of the new church, but a majority did not want to give up the church property.

Mr. Rankin resigned as pastor on July 29, 1936, and helped organize Calvary Church. Ten members out of a possible 156 from First PCUSA joined with Rankin to worship at a local motion picture theatre starting that August. On September 17, 1936, Mr. Rankin was installed as pastor of Calvary Church as Dr. Machen preached the installation sermon. A country schoolhouse was purchased in 1943 to serve as Sunday School mission led by Mr. and Mrs. Rankin for the poor in the South Hill section of Worchester. For 21 years he served as pastor of Calvary OPC, where he and his wife, Grace, continued to live for 18 years after his retirement in 1957 until his death. In 1960 he published A Believer’s Life of Christ, which included a foreword by J.G. Vos.

Picture: John Rankin