The Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension
- Assists the presbyteries of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church to plant new churches throughout the United States and Canada
- Assists presbyteries in supporting regional home missionaries, who identify and develop new church planting sites and help new congregations to find organizing pastors
- Has a special concern for the large metropolitan areas of North America and for the urban centers of many cities
- Conducts training seminars for church planters
- Introduces seminary students to ministry in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church
- Helps established congregations find pastors
- Provides an OPC Loan Fund to help congregations in need of property and buildings
About the Committee
Since its beginning in 1936 the Orthodox Presbyterian Church has had a Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension to assist with the establishment of new churches. The General Assembly elects nine ministers and six ruling elders to carry out this task. To accomplish their work they have been authorized to call and employ a general secretary and an associate general secretary and other staff as the need arises. The Committee meets four times a year (usually at the OPC Administration Office Building in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania) to approve funding for new works, to set budgets, to review policies, and to direct the work of their employed staff.
Meet the Staff
Rev. John S. Shaw serves as the general secretary for the Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension. A 2006 graduate of Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, he was the founding pastor of Mission Orthodox Presbyterian Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he served from 2006 to 2013. He also served as a member of the Committee from 2008 until his hiring in March 2013. He and his wife Anne live near Philadelphia with their five children.
Katharine Olinger serves the Committee as administrative assistant. She is a 2018 graduate of Geneva College, and she currently attends Westminster Theological Seminary. Katharine resides in Glenside with her family.
Rev. Al Tricarico serves as the associate general secretary for the Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension. Al graduated from Biblical Theological Seminary [Hatfield, PA] in 1983 and served two congregations before laboring in Uganda as a missionary evangelist from 2005 through 2015. He and his wife, Laurie, live near Philadelphia and have five children and four grandchildren.