Empowered Witness

"The goal of the church should be simple—share the gospel to the ends of the earth. But in our highly politicized age, Christians can tend to place earthly political and social agendas over God’s spiritual mission of the church."

At the 2024 Dallas/Fort Worth Reformation Conference: "Empowered Witness," the Rev. Dr. Alan D. Strange (Interim President, Professor of Church History, Mid-America Reformed Seminary) "examines the doctrine of the spirituality of the church, making a clear distinction between the functions of the church and other institutions. Strange argues that if the church continues to push political agendas, no institution will be focused solely on the Great Commission and the gospel will be lost entirely. Dr. Strange calls us to become aware of the church’s power and limits and shed light on moral issues in a way that doesn’t alter the deeply spiritual and gospel-centered mission of the church."

• Explores the Spirituality of the Church: An important biblical doctrine developed in the 19th century
• Appeals to Thoughtful Laypeople and Church Leaders: Considers the critical distinctions between the church and other institutions
• Historical: Examines the purpose of the church throughout history and the development of the spirituality of the church in the 19th century

A limited number of copies of our speaker's book, Empowered Witness: Politics, Culture, and the Spiritual Mission of the Church, will be available for $10 at the conference. 

DFW Reformation Conference 2024: Empowered Witness will also be livestreamed on our church's YouTube channel. You can find our channel on YouTube by putting @midcitiesopc in the search engine. No registration will be necessary to view the livestream. 

Get a preview of what you're in for on Facebook and Instagram by viewing posts from past conferences going back to 2014 by searching for #DFWRefCon. Please use this hashtag if you share any photos from the conference or other related posts. Thanks! 

Lectures:

1. “The Heavenly King of a Heavenly Kingdom.” (John 18:36)--Christ is a heavenly, not an earthly king (though impacting all earthly kingdoms), and his church is a spiritual kingdom that must distinguish itself from the world even as it gives itself to the world. | Friday, October 18, 7:00 pm
2. “The Great Commission Refocused.” (Matthew 28)--Christ calls us to preach the gospel to all people groups with the promise of his abiding presence, even though people naturally reject him, as did the religious leaders of his time. | Saturday, October 19, 9:30am. A 30-minute break for snacks and fellowship to follow.
3. “All things to all people.” (I Cor. 9:19-23)--We are to be all things to all people positively and not, negatively, to give way to the partisan siren-songs in our churches as reflected in the new Christendom and Christian Nationalism. Saturday, October 19, 12:30pm

About Our Speaker:

Professor Strange served Providence Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Glassboro, New Jersey, for over nine years before coming to Mid-America. He is an Associate Pastor at First OPC (South Holland, IL), frequently preaching there or speaking in other church and conference settings.

Dr. Strange is active in the Presbytery of the Midwest (currently serving as moderator) and serves on or chairs various OPC committees, including the Committee on Appeals and Complaints, the Psalter Hymnal Special Committee, the Committee on Christian Education, and the Board of Trustees of Great Commission Publications. He served as chairman of the Committee on Creation Views and as vice-chairman of the Justification Committee and the Committee on Updating the Language of the Westminster Standards, producing substantial reports for those study committees. Dr. Strange teaches the ministerial Training Institute of the OPC course on the Form of Government and has written extensively on church polity. He also served as the Moderator of the 75th OPC General Assembly (2008) and as general editor of the Trinity Psalter Hymnal (2018).

Professor Strange has been a frequent contributor to the OPC denominational magazines New Horizons and Ordained Servant (serializing commentaries on the Form of Government and Book of Discipline in the latter) and the Mid-America Journal of Theology. He has also written for and serves as a contributing editor to The Confessional Presbyterian. He has recently published The Doctrine of the Spirituality of the Church in the Ecclesiology of Charles Hodge (P&R), The Imputation of the Active Obedience of Christ at the Westminster Assembly (RHB), and What is the OPC? (CCE).  He is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society, the Conference on Faith and History, and the American Society of Church History.