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After a year off, the Ministerial Training Institute of the OPC is back in session. The courses are available for OPC ministers, licentiates, men under care, and elders. Qualified non-OPC ministers may attend if space allows.
Registration is open for four courses:
Classes begin on Monday, February 6, with online reading and writing assignments. Depending on the class, students may expect to spend between two and eight hours per week on course work before attending the Intensive Training session. At the term’s end, all students are required to meet for three days of in-person training with their instructors.
In the Washington, D.C., suburb of Vienna, Virginia, Grace OPC will host the Intensive Training session on Tuesday, May 23, through Thursday, May 25, 2017. Men arrive on Monday, May 22, and leave on Thursday afternoon, May 25.
All students must pay a $50 registration fee to be enrolled. The registration fee is fully refundable upon successful completion of the course. The registration deadline is January 27, 2017.
Tuition is free for OPC ministers, licentiates, and men under care of a presbytery. OPC elders pay $50 in tuition. Qualified non-OPC ministers pay $100 in tuition.
To help defray the cost of travel to Intensive Training, travel scholarships of up to $350 are available for OPC ministers, licentiates, and men under care. An additional $100 in travel reimbursement is available if that amount is matched by your local session or presbytery.
Students receive pass-fail grades at the completion of their courses.
Retired OPC minister Stuart Jones teaches the Book of Discipline, a one-credit course. Jones, who has served many years on the OPC’s Appeals and Complaints Committee, seeks “to enable church officers to effectively govern the church, especially in the troublesome areas of conflict that sometimes give rise to formal complaints and discipline.” His students should gain “a better ability to interpret what is essential in the Book of Discipline and apply it to situations.”
The Rev. Dr. William Dennison is the instructor for the two-credit course Defending the Faith (Presuppositional Apologetics). An OPC minister, Dennison teaches interdisciplinary studies at Covenant College and has taught apologetics and systematic theology at Northwest Theological Seminary. A follower of Cornelius Van Til’s presuppositional apologetics, Dennison will introduce the presuppositional method of defending the Christian faith. “The students will be challenged to remain faithful to the self-attesting Christ of Scripture as they address intellectual and practical issues in our world of information,” said Dennison.
The Rev. Dr. Glen Clary, pastor of Providence Presbyterian Church in Pflugerville, Texas, teaches the one-credit course on Reformed Worship. “It will benefit seasoned ministers who may still be wrestling with some issues regarding Reformed worship or who may be facing difficult situations in their own congregations in matters of worship.” Elders also will benefit.
Westminster Standards, a two-credit course, is taught by the Rev. Dr. Chad B. Van Dixhoorn. An expert on the Westminster Assembly, he is associate professor of church history at Reformed Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. The class examines the historical and theological background of our confessional standards as well as the standards themselves. “The main goal is to help participants move from confessional literacy to confessional fluency,” said Van Dixhoorn.
Applications are available at www.opc.org. Go to Worldwide Outreach, then Christian Education, and then to Ministerial Training at the bottom left. Click on MTIOPC.
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