Hi there. I suggest you DM me and we can talk in a more personal fashion.
Thank you for the comment. The closest NAPARC church that I see is a little over an hour away from my current address. I am very interested in the ARP. Large in part to its southern culture & im not sure of my stance on female deacons but am not principally opposed.
I had heard mixed things about Erskine? Would you recommend it?
I would love any referrals / contacts you may have. Thank you!
Osprey, please take Dr. Duguid up on his offer to speak with you. A firsthand conversation with a seminary professor could be worth its weight in gold in helping you make your choices.
For Dr. Duguid -- you are absolutely spot-on regarding the difference between J. Gresham Machen and Martyn Lloyd Jones on the value of the original languages, or perhaps better said, the perceived necessity -- I think both of them understood that Greek and Hebrew are valuable but disagreed on whether they are must-haves or good-to-haves.
As a Congregationalist by conviction, it will surprise nobody that I believe this is a local church matter to be decided in consultation with the association of churches, which in practice makes the languages a "good idea," not a mandate, since candidates for the ministry will be able to find a church and association that shares their views. But as Martyn Lloyd-Jones also understood, the Puritans REALLY emphasized the value of the original languages while not making them an absolute mandate -- though as the founders of Harvard and Yale, they certainly came close to mandating the languages at some points in New England Congregational history though they had no power to force it, only to make life difficult for associations of Congregational churches that had lower-than-recommended ordination requirements. I personally think that is a good balance: encourage the languages, and encourage formal acaedemic training. but recognize that adding to the biblical standards of I Timothy and Titus is a bad idea so recommendations are helpful but requirements are unhelpful. Of course, Presbyterians will have a different approach, and should.
I also need to note that I am not so much "endorsing" Erskine as saying it may be an option if other options are not. I'm pretty sure the Erskine professors themselves would say that WTS and RTS have a much stronger reputation academically than they do, and the two main advantages of Erskine that would make it a first choice, not an option if others aren't options, are 1) the ability to be an online option and 2) Erkine's role for ARP seminarians as the ARP seminary. That's not a minor factor. But for historical reasons, large numbers of ARP students go to other seminaries dating back to the era when the denomination had not yet won its battles against liberalism and cleaned up doctrinal problems in the denominational structure. Those battles were won years ago.
As for driving an hour to church -- Osprey, that's nothing in large parts of rural America.
When working outside Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico, I drove almost two hours to an OPC in New Mexico until it closed, and then then over two hours the other direction to an OPC in Texas. In a part of Iowa with almost no Reformed options, I drove about 40 minutes to an RPCNA. Here in Missouri outside Fort Leonard Wood, before we began Hazelgreen Reformed Chapel, I was driving over an hour to Springfield to a church that began as a URC, then went independent, joined the ARP, and just last year transferred into the OPC.
I realize you have issues of caring for relatives (elderly parents, if I'm reading this right) and that may limit your ability to travel. I have a 95-year-old mother-in-law living with us who speaks no English. I get it. That may make regular travel impossible but you really DO need to become a member of a Reformed church unless your conservative Methodist church is one a tiny number of Calvinistic Methodist churches that think Whitefield rather than Wesley was right. If so, that's a whole different ball game.
