October 21 Today in OPC History

On this day in 1997, the Synod of the United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA) convened at Trinity Orthodox Reformed Church in St. Catharines, Ontario. Fifty-seven churches sent delegates to this second meeting of churches that had seceded from the Christian Reformed Church in North America. Mr. Chuck Dykstra, chairman of the host council, was elected chairman of the Synod.

Fraternal observers from the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) to the Synod were the Rev. Thomas E. Tyson and the Rev. Stephen L. Phillips. Early that summer at its General Assembly, the OPC had extended an invitation to the URCNA to enter into "Corresponding Relations" with the OPC.

One of the main actions taken at the Synod was the appointment of a committee to explore what would be required to produce a Psalter Hymnal. Fourteen years later in 2012, the URCNA and OPC entered into a cooperative agreement to produce a joint Psalter Hymnal. In June 2018 the 85th General Assembly of the OPC and the URCNA 2020 Synod met together on the campus of Wheaton College to celebrate the release of the first printing of the Trinity Psalter Hymnal.

Picture: URCNA and OPC representatives at the joint GA/Synod in June 2018.