This is a plea for our small but energetic denomination not to neglect a great opportunity to spread God’s truth, while at the same time possibly adding congregations to our number. How? By encouraging and aiding our pastors who are searching for pulpit ministries to consider ministering “out of bounds” (“out of ecclesiastical boundaries”). In the last decade the Presbytery of New York and New England has added three, long-established, independent congregational churches to their ranks, as OPC ministers labored “out of bounds” as pastors of these congregations. As the pastors of these flocks, these men were able to preach the gospel and teach the Reformed Faith, including (eventually) the biblical doctrine of connectionism. The result is, in our presbytery of twenty-seven congregations (including mission works), an 11 percent growth in the number of our churches. All of that with no financial outlay on the part of presbytery, since these congregations paid our pastors full salary and benefits, being long-established congregations. This did not leave any of our own pulpits vacant, as we have more ordained men than we do open pulpits. This was accomplished without using OPC financial resources, by loaning out only three of our “human resources,” which we could afford. Surely this is a good use of our ministers.

Our Book of Church Order, particularly in The Form of Government, chapter 28, lays down the rules for OPC ministers laboring in congregations outside our denomination.

Chapter XXVIII – Ministers Laboring outside the Church

1. A minister of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church may under certain circumstances and conditions labor in churches other than those of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. A candidate for ordination who seeks or intends to labor in such a church may under certain circumstances and conditions be ordained by a presbytery of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Such labor may be distinctly missionary in its nature and purpose in that it may provide the minister with the opportunity of ministering the gospel to unbelievers and of promoting the cause which the Orthodox Presbyterian Church represents. Such labor may, in certain cases, be that of a pastor or of a teacher, presenting the Orthodox Presbyterian Church with the opportunity of providing other churches with a ministry which otherwise they might not enjoy.

2. Although it is impossible to delineate all the practical circumstances and conditions under which it may be proper for a minister of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church to engage in such labor, the following general principles based upon the standards of the Church must be adhered to in all cases:

a. Ministers cannot undertake to labor in other churches if such labor requires the performance of functions inconsistent with their ordination vows or with the other provisions of the standards of the Church. They cannot undertake such work if the relationship requires that they preach anything contrary to the system of truth taught in the Holy Scriptures or requires that they refrain from preaching the whole counsel of God. Such work cannot be undertaken if the relationship requires them to conduct worship that is not in accord with the standards of the Church. Ministers cannot participate in the government of such churches if such government is contrary to the principles of presbyterian government set forth in these standards. And such discipline as the relationship may require them to administer must be in accord with the principles of discipline set forth in these standards.

b. Ministers who perform such labor shall remain under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and the churches concerned shall be advised of this fact.

c. Though the churches in which such ministers labor are in no respect under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the presbyteries and the general assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church shall always exercise oversight of the work being performed by such ministers, and shall take due care that the work being performed is consistent with the standards of the Church.

d. Ministers may act as pastors of such churches provided none of the foregoing conditions is violated in the assumption of such a responsibility.

e. Presbyteries cannot install ministers as pastors of churches other than those of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

f. If ministers are installed as pastors under other auspices, the installation must not be such as in any way prejudices the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church over them. Such pastoral installation cannot take place if the installation formula prescribed by the church concerned prejudices this jurisdiction.

g. The ultimate objective of all such labor cannot be anything less than the establishment of such churches as churches of Presbyterian and Reformed testimony, provided that the churches concerned are not already such. To make the objective less than this would be inconsistent with the profession and vows made in ordination.

3. The principles of Sections 1 and 2 shall also apply to the relationship of ministers to nonecclesiastical religious organizations.

4. Such ministers shall report at least once each year to the presbytery under whose jurisdiction they are. This report shall concern their ministerial activities, and shall include especial reference to the relationship of these activities to the interest and welfare of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

This chapter will act as the outline for this article, to guide our thoughts as far as the usefulness and good stewardship involved in encouraging ordained men or licentiates without an OPC charge to search for opportunities to preach the gospel in congregations outside of our denomination.

I. When and Where

What occasions justify loaning out an OPC pastor to a congregation that is not a member church in the OPC?

1. In a situation which is clearly “missionary in its nature.” Sometimes a congregation has so little understanding of biblical truth that it might call a gospel preacher as pastor, even when the majority of the congregation does not understand the gospel. This happened here at First Church of Merrimack, New Hampshire, where I have been privileged to minister for over twenty-seven years, the last eighteen of those years as an OPC minister under the jurisdiction of the Presbytery of New York and New England.

I did not come to Merrimack, nor have I continued to minister here, in a ministry that would fall under this category of “missionary in nature.” However, back in 1967 a minster in the PCA was called to become pastor here, a seasoned minister named Bruce Gordon. Bruce’s presbytery approved the call, and for thirteen very difficult years he maintained his Reformed ministerial integrity while preaching the gospel to a congregation that at first was far from evangelical. By the end of that thirteen years, the church was well on its way to being identified as a “Reformed” church. A large portion of the flock held to Calvinism (salvation by God’s eternal decree and sovereign grace) and many had some growing idea of covenant theology (versus Dispensationalism and the rationalistic liberalism they had been taught in the first half of the twentieth century).

Such work is VERY difficult, requires an incredible amount of patience, and sometimes ends in what appears to be, from a mere earthly point of view, failure. However, the Great Commission is furthered as the gospel goes forth to another group of sinners in need of salvation, whether they are converted or not. We have been good stewards of our gospel resources, even if they appear to bear little fruit.

2. In more established, already evangelical congregations, OPC ministers can provide a strong gospel and Reformed ministry to a congregation that is desiring to grow in their understanding and practice of God’s Word. Even if the congregation remains independent and never unites with the OPC, during the time of the OPC pastor’s ministry there, the Reformed Faith is spread, sinners are converted, believers are built up, and the congregation is a major step closer to being conformed to the New Testament pattern.

This is what has happened during my twenty-seven plus years at Merrimack. Building on Bruce Gordon’s labors, I have continued to preach Christ as the point of the entire Bible, and God in his mercy has converted sinners and built up the saints. Even if First Church had not voted to seek union with the OPC, the labors here would not be wasted. Through my being an OPC minister, our congregation was able to share in the support of presbytery mission works, OPC world missions, and a growing fellowship with fellow Reformed ministers, elders, and members in our area. Since the congregation did vote to seek union with the OPC, our presbytery and denomination gained a new congregation, already long-established and self-supporting, to join with us in taking the gospel forth and in building one another up in the Reformed Faith.

This “out of bounds” labor, for the purpose of edifying an already established evangelical church in the Reformed Faith, can also be very difficult and frustrating. Patience is the number one quality required. The work cannot be rushed, including working with those who need to come to a genuine gospel faith, and with those believers who must be led to see the important doctrines of God’s Word that comprise the Reformed Faith. Many may resist, at least for a time. Those who can only labor under ideal situations, with every “T” crossed and every “i” dotted just so, should not send out their resumes. Those who are impatient when fellow sinners need to be taught the same truths, over and over again for a period of years, before they seem to be able to understand and embrace those truths as their own, either need to learn patience or find some other avenue in which to serve Christ. Of course, I would argue such impatience will not work if one wants to do the work of a Reformer or a missionary/evangelist. Our Reformers had to be patient men, more patient than I have ever been! What is more, perhaps all gospel ministry, if done biblically, requires such patience, inside or outside the OPC. Such patience can result in very rich fruit for God’s kingdom of grace, as we “do not lose heart” (2 Cor. 4:1, 16) or “grow weary of doing good” (Gal. 6:9).

II. “Out of Bounds” But not without Boundaries

1. An OPC minister must never take upon himself a labor that will require him to function contrary to his ordination vows or to work against the standards of our church.

For example, he should never accept a call that will require him to preach other doctrine than the biblical doctrine as summed up in our Confession of Faith and Catechisms. His concern must always be the entire Scriptures as God’s infallible Word and accordingly the need to preach “the whole counsel of God.” This does not mean that he is required to begin his preaching in a given congregation with the most difficult parts of our system of biblical doctrine, e.g., the decrees of God. With any group of people being introduced to the serious biblical truth emphasized in the historic Reformed Faith, we should begin at the beginning and, adding doctrine to doctrine, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, bring the flock to ever increasing degrees of doctrinal and practical maturity.

The best place to begin for many congregations is with the doctrine of the Bible or divine revelation. Then moving on to the Fall and the greatness of our sin, we can begin to teach God’s eternal solution. The key is TO MOVE SLOWLY, so as to give people the time needed to spiritually and intellectually assimilate what is often for them a radically new way of understanding the biblical data. However, at no time should the minister of the gospel back off from preaching the gospel itself or teaching any portion of God’s Word that he deems needful at that time.

Neither should an OPC minister agree to direct worship that is not in accordance with (regulated by) the Scriptures, worship that would contradict the standards of our church. Our Directory of Worship is very clear that there are practices that are untrue to the worship of the New Testament church, and also that there are areas where there is some acceptable variance. For example, our Directory for Worship allows for a congregation to have a choir, even if that is not the normal thing for the average OPC congregation. In taking a charge out of bounds, the minister must be very clear that he cannot participate in, plan, or lead unbiblical worship.

This means he must be very careful before he accepts such a call to investigate what the out of bounds congregation expects of a pastor, how it worships before calling him, and whether or not they are willing to make any necessary adjustments for him to accept the call and continue to fulfill his ordination vows. If he is not given something of a “free hand,” it may not be a situation that is within the denominational boundaries for an out of bounds ministry.

The same is true when it comes to polity and discipline. The OPC minister, who is considering a call to a non-OPC congregation, should sit down with the leadership especially and find out how the church functions as far as rule and discipline. If the practice is so unbiblical as to be impossible for the minister to cooperate, even for a temporary period, he needs to explain this. He should be very irenic in his approach, explain that what they are doing is not biblical, and let them know that if they still want him to come, he would need to teach them a better way from God’s Word.

At this point there must be a boundary to the boundaries. I must assume that those who put together and voted for Chapter 28 of the Form of Government must have had this in view, for otherwise the allowance of out of bounds situations would be mere theory without the possibility of being practiced. The statement “if such government is contrary to the principles of presbyterian government as set forth in these standards” (FG 28.2.a) cannot mean that in every aspect of the out of bounds congregation there is no difference in polity between it and the OPC. There are slight differences even with our sister denominations with whom we have the closest ecclesiastical bonds. Congregational and independent churches are those that especially would be open to calling an OPC minister. If we demand a full acceptance of biblical connectionism, by definition an OPC ministry could never be approved for such churches. I have always assumed that the idea behind this expression must be that the out-of-bounds calling body, though perhaps not appreciating—yet—the place of elders and of connectionism, can still be served as long as the form of church government at the out-of-bounds congregation does not demand that the OPC minister violate his adherence to biblical, Presbyterian polity, even if that government stops short of all that we would desire.

For example, when I came to First Church back in 1988, it had deacons who functioned partly as biblical ruling elders and partly as biblical deacons, and a Prudential Committee that took care of some duties that I knew the deacons ought to be doing. I was able to work with the session (of deacons), so that together we proposed (after I had been here five full years) an internal change that resulted in ruling elders working with the pastors as the session, the elimination of the Prudential Committee, and a more biblically defined board of deacons. Then after another twenty-one years (I said it took patience, right?) the congregation was ready to vote to become Presbyterian. This work more often than not requires making changes one baby step at a time. Again, patience and perseverance can result in lasting fruit, to God’s glory and to the good of Christ’s Church.

III. Accountability

OPC ministers remain under the jurisdiction of the OPC, in particular, of their presbytery. This must be understood and agreed to by the calling body. The out-of-bounds congregation itself, obviously, is not under that jurisdiction. It is important that both the presbytery and the minister keep this in mind at all times. However, the church must understand that the presbytery has a right to oversee its own ministers’ gospel labors, even when a minister is ministering out of bounds. He is to operate within the boundaries of our accepted standards, functioning only in a biblical fashion in all of his work, and his presbytery is to ensure that this is the case. This accountability includes an annual report to the presbytery, which should reaffirm his adherence to his ordination vows and review how this labor is not only for the good of the church at large but in line with the interest of the OPC in particular.

If an out of bounds congregation cannot agree to the OPC minister remaining accountable to his denomination and presbytery, and to his ordination vows and biblical convictions, he must not accept such a call, nor should the presbytery approve such a call, if my reading of Chapter 28 is correct.

IV. The Big Purpose

Our Form of Government affirms that the “ultimate objective” of such a situation “cannot be anything less than the establishment of such churches as churches of Presbyterian and Reformed testimony” (FG 28.2.g). Otherwise, the minister’s profession and vows as an OPC minister would be violated.

Does this mean that if the session or congregation affirms at any point they absolutely will not become Presbyterian that the minister must leave? Some OPC men interpret Form of Government 28.2.g in this way. Others have told me they would not see it necessary for him to leave as long as no restriction is made on what he teaches, in other words, as long as he can continue to teach on all subjects biblically, including polity. I know that at certain points throughout my history here at First Church certain members have told me that our church could never change, but the session never made that affirmation to me nor forbade me to teach on the subject. They never forbade me to teach on any biblical text or to teach in line with any part of the Confession of Faith. As a matter of fact, the church bylaws in effect when I came affirmed that a man could minister here only if he subscribed to the form of doctrine taught in the WCF. The bylaws did not limit this to just some of the WCF, but to the entire document.

It seems to me that the answer to this question would depend on the situation. In some places, it might appear at a given time that there is a totally closed mind and heart to our doctrine. So, even though there is no direct prohibition of teaching that doctrine, the minister should probably begin to seek another place of ministry. In other places, even though there is not an immediate acceptance of the full biblical teaching, as long as the minister is not restricted in his teaching and preaching of the truth, he might want to continue, praying and laboring to see people’s minds and hearts transformed by God’s Word.

Conclusion

How does a minister looking for a place to serve find out about independent or congregational churches needing a pastor? When I was a young man, I found out about First Church through the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, of which I was a member at that time. However, if I had been OPC back in 1988, I could only have found out about an open pulpit in an independent congregation by word of mouth. Today with the Internet this is much easier. Many independent churches will post their need with one or more of the websites available for this need.

What advice would I offer to an OPC licentiate or minister who is desirous of considering an out of bounds opportunity?

1. Be very careful in the interviewing process to make sure you discuss all differences with the session and congregation of such a church. Be certain that you express very clearly, up front, restrictions that you have placed yourself under as an OPC minister. Do not proceed until you have talked through these differences and unless they agree with your need to maintain your ordination vows. Isn’t it better to not “get married” than to “get married and then divorced,” as the normal rule? Do not enter into a relationship that is doomed from the start.

2. Remember that things will be different in an independent church, as far as some of the practices and many of the generally held opinions in the congregation and/or session. This is why an OPC minister would take this route in the first place, to help biblically educate and strengthen a congregation that is open to learning God’s Word but its faith and practice fall short at this time. Make sure you can live with the differences, at least in the short term, until the congregation becomes more open to your teaching.

3. Do not forget that patience is the key. Do not rush anything. Take your time. Especially take time to lay a solid foundation in teaching before you advocate change in practice. As a very young minister in Iowa, I preached a three-week series on a subject, and then sought to have the congregation take what was for them a fairly radical step. Talk about failure! It did not “fly” at all; it never got off the ground. I asked an experienced minister in that denomination where I went wrong, and he told me that three sermons were nowhere near enough teaching nor enough time for them to reflect and make the teaching their own. Maybe three years! This should not be a problem for the minister of the gospel; we are in this for the “long haul” anyway, correct?

4. Faith is essential. Trust the Holy Spirit to use his Word and the other biblical ordinances to convert and transform and to change minds and hearts. Preach and minister, trusting in the Holy Spirit to accomplish his will, whether that results in this congregation becoming OPC or not. Our chief desire is eternal fruit that glorifies God.

OPC ministers laboring out of bounds can help other churches come to a deeper appreciation and practice of biblical truth, to God’s glory. They might also be used to add Reformed congregations to our number. If you are an OPC minister or licentiate and cannot find an OPC pulpit from which to proclaim God’s Word, have you considered looking for an independent pulpit open to hearing the Reformed truth?

Allen G. Tomlinson is a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church serving as pastor of First Church of Merrimack (OPC) in Merrimack, New Hampshire. Ordained Servant Online, February 2016.