Background

Before 2007, Hillsdale, Michigan, was the epicenter of a region significantly lacking in confessional Reformed churches.

Over the years, the OPC’s Presbytery of Michigan and Ontario received occasional inquiries from southern Michigan, asking about the possibility of starting an Orthodox Presbyterian congregation in the area, but nothing developed.

In 2006, Dr. Richard M. Gamble, a ruling elder from Fellowship OPC in Lake Worth, Florida, moved to Hillsdale to take a position as professor of history at the college. In 2007, Dr. Christopher Hamilton, with his wife, Anita, and their two daughters, moved to Hillsdale from Providence OPC in Austin, Texas, to take a position as professor of chemistry. These two families contacted Grace Reformed OPC in Walkerton, Indiana, that summer and inquired about starting an Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Hillsdale.

Over the years, many students from confessional Reformed churches have attended Hillsdale College. While appreciating the ministry and oversight of other area churches, many of these students have voiced a desire for Reformed preaching and worship.

On September 22, 2007, the Presbytery of Michigan and Ontario of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church approved the petition of a group of professors and students to begin a mission work in Hillsdale. Hillsdale Orthodox Presbyterian Church began to hold evening worship services on Sunday, October 21, 2007.

In June 2008, Everett Henese arrived as a church planter, and plans were made to begin morning and evening worship services at the end of August 2008. This coincided with the arrival of a new batch of college students with their families. That Sunday morning there were around 100 people present.

The congregation met at the Dow Leadership Center on the campus of the college. As community members began to attend, it became clear that another facility would be more ideal, and a search began. After considering several properties in the community, the church purchased the Old Train Depot at 44 Monroe St., only three blocks from the college campus and just across the railroad tracks from downtown Hillsdale. The location is ideal for reaching both communities.

On Friday, April 17th, the Presbytery of Michigan and Ontario met to recognize HOPC as a new and separate congregation and to install its elders, deacon, and pastor.