REMEMBERING A SPIRITUAL GIANT

For 5 years from 1971 to 1976 I worked with Harold John Ockenga at Gordon College, Massachusetts. He was President of the college, I was Dean of Christian Life, the chaplain. He was at the same time President of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary which was on an adjoining campus. Harold Ockenga was finishing out his ministerial career after being pastor of Park Street Church in Boston for 33 years, and with Billy Graham instrumental in the establishment of the National Association of Evangelicals and Christianity Today magazine. He also had been the founding president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California and made countless airline trips every Monday from Boston to Los Angeles to launch it and return on Friday to preach on Sunday.

I have just completed reading The Surprising Work of God, by Garth M. Rosell, which tells the story of his life and work. Harold Ockenga (1905-1985) was born in Chicago and raised in the Methodist Church. He attended Taylor University in Upland, Indiana, then Princeton Theological Seminary and was part of the student body that left with Professor J. Gresham Machen to found Westminster Theological Seminary. He was ordained a deacon in the Methodist Church but was called to assist Clarence Macartney at First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh where he ordained by the Presbyterian Presbytery.

He began his graduate studies at the University of Pittsburgh, completed his M.A. degree having written his thesis on “The Role of Competition in Marx.” By 1939 he had successfully completed a PhD degree having written his thesis on “Poverty as a Theoretical and Practical Problem of Government in the Writings of Jeremy Bentham and the Marxian Alternative.” He was no ivory tower preacher but one who was interested in the teachings of science, in literature, in philosophy and art.

He became pastor of Point Breeze Presbyterian Church from 1931 to 1936. Park Street Church in Boston, which was founded in 1804 as a Trinitarian congregational church during the Unitarian controversies and is a landmark on Boston Common called Ockenga to be its pastor in 1936. During his ministry he emphasized the centrality of the Cross of Christ, the Church as the Body of Christ, the authority of the Bible, the necessity of spiritual conversion or new birth, the importance of spiritual renewal and the task of worldwide evangelization.

His preaching included systematic expositions of biblical books; biographical studies of biblical and historical characters; doctrinal sermons on major theological themes; topical series on prayer, the person and work of the Holy Spirit, and the cost of discipleship and a wide range of interpretive sermons on contemporary political, social and ecclesiastical issues.

He lived in turbulent times: World War II, the Cold War, the denominational theological debates between liberals, conservatives, fundamentalists and evangelicals. He remained true to his calling and founded enduring Christian institutions and ministries. He befriended me and gave me the opportunity to serve at his side amongst students. I honor his legacy and the privilege of knowing him. The task of Christian leadership is challenging and perilous for those of us who are called to it. His example is worth preserving as the culture changes and there are new ways of doing ministry. May God preserve and protect us as we seek to be faithful to our calling as ambassadors of Christ.