FEATURE

Spring may seem like a long time away, but now is the time to sign up to take a course for the Spring semester of the Ministerial Training Institute of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (MTIOPC). Four courses are available to OPC pastors, licentiates, men under care, and elders who want to dig deeper into the OPC's faith and practice. Ministers from other denominations also may attend.

The four classes, which will begin with online reading and writing assignments on February 2, 2015, are:

• Ecclesiology, taught by the Rev. Dr. A. Craig Troxel
• Form of Government, taught by the Rev. Dr. Alan Strange
• Reformed Worship, taught by the Rev. Glen Clary
• Homiletics, taught by the Rev. William Shishko and the Rev. Douglas Clawson

At the end of the semester, all of the courses hold mandatory Intensive Training sessions where the students meet in person with their instructors at two different locations.

Ecclesiology, Form of Government, and Reformed Worship will hold their Intensive Training session on May 12-14 at Bethel Presbyterian Church in Wheaton (near Chicago), Illinois . Men arrive on Monday, May 11 and leave on Thursday, May 14. Since class times overlap, students wishing to take two of these courses must choose Reformed Worship as one of their two classes.

The Intensive Training session for Homiletics will be held on May 12-15 at the OPC of Franklin Square, near New York City. Men arrive on Monday, May 11 and leave late on Friday night. No student may take the Homiletics course with another MTIOPC course since the training sessions are held in different locations. This class is not available to ruling elders and is limited to eight students.

All students must register and send in a $50 registration fee to be enrolled in a course by the January 26, 2015 deadline. The registration fee is fully refundable upon successful completion of the class. Only OPC elders and qualified non-OP men pay the $50 or $100 tuition fee per course respectively.

Travel scholarships of up to $350 are available for OPC men under care, licentiates, and pastors to help defray the cost of travel to Intensive Training. An additional $100 for travel expenses also is available if matched by your local session or presbytery.

Applications and course descriptions are available on the MTIOPC page.