The Origin and Features of OTH
History
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Ottawa Theological Hall came into existence at the time when efforts were
being put forth to see the renewal of the RPCNA in the Dominion of Canada.
Over the decades the RPCNA in Canada steadily declined in numbers both of
congregations and members, until the year 1978 when work was begun to
establish a new congregation in the nation’s capital of Ottawa. In 1980, Dr.
Richard Ganz, the organizing pastor of the Ottawa congregation envisioned a training
center for future pastors. He realized that indigenous church growth was not
practical without such a facility. His vision was to both encourage church
planting and develop men of God to preach.
It is this feature of being established within the environment of church planting which has lent immense momentum for the recruitment of gifted men eager to receive training for the pastoral ministry. They have been caught up by the Spirit in an aura of actually seeing the work of Christ’s kingdom develop, and this spirit of vision has and does permeate the ministry in Ontario and Quebec today. The vision of a growing church demonstrated in the leadership has fired the spirit of young men, and those young men have encouraged the members in their readiness to serve in new fields as they open. Probably it is impossible to say too much about the influence the growth of the church and the training of men have had on each other in fostering a positive anticipation of seeing Christ build His Church! Another feature of Ottawa Theological Hall has been its commitment to train men in their own environment rather than send them to some other location for their learning. This developed in many ways due to the men having jobs and families, and also because of their vital roles in the developing congregation. So, professors were brought to Ottawa, and the classes were/are conducted in the evenings and on Saturdays. (In many ways this follows the paradigm established by the “Seminary by Extension” movement widely used in Third World countries for many decades now.) While this has been a stretching experience for those in training, the quality of men God has raised up has met the challenge. The course covers a four-year curriculum rather than seminaries’ typical three, and men have been enabled to extend their course work even beyond the four years when necessary. As we look back over the years and see the men now serving to develop new congregations, we can envision these men assuming more and more of the future training. OTH, in other words, now has that potential of becoming indigenous, yet able at the same time to call upon guest professors as desired and needed. |