As I assume the responsibilities of Interim President of Mid-America Reformed Seminary, I would like heartily to thank my predecessor, Dr. Cornel Venema. Dr. Venema has served with distinction over the decades as a systematics professor and our chief administrator. It will be odd not to have him regularly among us (he’s promised as President Emeritus to be with us some, perhaps even doing some teaching), and he will be greatly missed in his vital leadership role. We are truly grateful for all his service among us and look forward to the Lord’s blessing upon his writing, preaching, etc., as he continues in kingdom service.

I think most of you know that I’ve labored here in various capacities for twenty-five years, chiefly as a professor of church history. I intend to get to know many of you much better than I have as I assume my new presidential role, and I look forward to that, hoping to “get out” even more into the churches and homes of our friends and supporters. I pledge to all of you to do everything within my power to serve you faithfully, as I took vows to do so, administered by Dr. Venema in May, in the presence of the whole Board. I will seek to be faithful, first, to the Word of God. It alone is a direct, divine revelation from our Lord God, enjoying verbal, plenary inspiration, being infallible and inerrant.

The Word alone serves as our foundation, the source of all our doctrine, and the guide for life. Thankfully, the Lord has not given us this Word and left us without illumination. He has graciously, by the Holy Spirit, given light to his church rightly to understand the Word, and the church has expressed its understanding in the ecumenical creeds and the Reformed confessions and catechisms. To these, I also pledge my undying commitment: these expressions of the church's faith serve as the expression of my own personal faith. My commitment to God and his Word has been and remains rock solid, as does my affirmation of the church’s creeds and confessions/catechisms. My desire is not to modify the precious tenets of our faith but to live more fully in accordance with them, to be more faithful as a Reformed and Presbyterian churchman.

This last point highlights that as to the doctrine of the church and her polity, I am a committed Presbyterian, ministerial member of the Presbytery of the Midwest of the OPC and an associate pastor in our local church, First Church (South Holland, IL). All of us are Reformed and Presbyterian in some sense: Reformed in our doctrine and Presbyterian in our polity. I am fully committed to the Reformed and Presbyterian Church Orders. While there are some differences between the Reformed and Presbyterian bodies, we have far more in common than separating us, and I pledge to work with the URC, OPC, PCA, RCUS, and all other bodies that are the natural constituents of Mid-America Reformed Seminary. I’ve been, for instance, in countless URCs in the U.S. and Canada for preaching and conferences and am quite drawn to those churches in their doctrine, worship, etc. I look forward to visiting old friends and making new ones in these churches. We have so much to offer these churches, and I hope soon to be reminding or sharing that with many of you.

I am a Reformed and Presbyterian churchman not out of convenience but out of the conviction that this is the fullest and truest expression of the Christian faith, or, as Warfield put it, Christianity come into its own. I firmly believe that what our sinful world needs more than anything is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Reformed faith is, as has been said, but a nickname for the gospel. That is what I pledge, together with all my colleagues, to seek to inculcate in all our students—this passion for the gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ has come to save his people from their sins. I solemnly vow to do all within my power to help the churches fit those they see as graced and gifted for gospel ministry to develop those gifts to be used in the mission of the church as it evangelizes and disciples in every people group (nation) throughout the world. This, together with training for other kingdom service (teaching, translation work, etc.), is what I am committed to doing in this new venture together, carrying on the legacy of Dr. Venema as we go forward, seeking to serve more faithfully than ever the calling and commission that is ours as a Reformed theological seminary.

It is truly my joy and delight to labor with all the faculty, administration, and staff as we go forward in service together, seeking to wash the feet of the saints so that all may serve to the fullest. Soli Deo Gloria!

Dr. Alan Strange
Interim President
Mid-America Reformed Seminary