Question:

What are some seminaries the Orthodox Presbyterian Church recommends attending?

Answer:

Thank you for your question. While the OPC does not have a denominationally-affiliated seminary and does not require attendance at any particular seminary, it has tasked its Committee on Christian Education with identifying and visiting certain Reformed seminaries from which most of its ministers received their training and which are, in some measure, amenable to ministry in the OPC.

The following is from the 2007 report of the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education to the General Assembly and should furnish you with some idea of the seminaries to which I refer and when visits were made to them (all of which are contained in the minutes of the respective General Assemblies or are also available upon request from the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education, the Rev. Danny Olinger:

"The SMT visits Reformed seminaries in order to glean information about seminaries whose graduates are regularly entering the pastoral ministry in the OPC. SMT seminary visitation does not function as an accreditation program. The outcome of a SMT visit is not intended to be either an endorsement or a disqualification of a seminary as a place suitable for training men for ministry in the OPC.

2. Seminary Visit Chronology

* October 1998 Mid-America Reformed Seminary, Dyer, Indiana

Visitation Members: The Rev. G.I. Williamson, the Rev. Bruce Hollister, and the Rev. William Bomer

Report: Minutes of the Sixty-Eighth (2001) General Assembly, page 98.

* March 1999 Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Visitation Members: Mr. James S. Gidley, the Rev. Lawrence Semel, and the Rev. Hailu Mekonnen

Report: Minutes of the Sixty-Eighth (2001) General Assembly, pages 95-96.

* April 1999 Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Greenville, South Carolina

Visitation Members: The Rev. William Shishko, the Rev. Thomas S. Champness, and the Rev. T. Nathan Trice.

Report: Minutes of the Sixty-Eighth (2001) General Assembly, pages 96-98.

* February 2001 Westminster Theological Seminary, Escondido, California

Visitation Members: Mr. David Winslow, Jr., the Rev. Thomas E. Tyson, and the Rev. Larry E. Wilson

Report: Minutes of the Sixty-Eighth (2001) General Assembly, pages 98-100.

* March 2002 Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Visitation Members: The Rev. Thomas E. Tyson, the Rev. Mark R. Brown, and the Rev. Danny E. Olinger

Report: Minutes of the Seventieth (2003) General Assembly, pages 165-166.

* October 2003 Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Hamilton, Massachusetts

Visitation Members: Mr. David Winslow, Jr., the Rev. Gregory E. Reynolds, and the Rev. John R. Hilbelink

Report: Minutes of the Seventy-First (2004) General Assembly, pages 102-104.

* February 2005 Westminster Seminary California, Escondido, California

Visitation Members: The Rev. Danny E. Olinger, the Rev. Alan R. Pontier, Jr., the Rev. Rollin P. Keller, and Mr. David Winslow

Report: Minutes of the Seventy-Third (2006) General Assembly, pages 185- 188.

* March 2005 Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, Florida

Visitation Members: The Rev. Danny E. Olinger, the Rev. William Hobbs, and Mr. David Winslow, Jr.

Report: Minutes of the Seventy-Third (2006) General Assembly, pages 188-191.

* September 2006 Mid-America Reformed Seminary, Dyer, Indiana

Visitation Members: The Rev. Danny E. Olinger, the Rev. Larry Wilson, the Rev. Glenn Jerrell, and Mr. David Winslow, Jr.

Report: Minutes of the Seventy-Fourth (2007) General Assembly"

I trust that this will prove useful to you.