Did you know that our church was originally named Novato Orthodox Presbyterian Church? It wasn’t until 1976 that the congregation changed its name to Trinity Church, Orthodox Presbyterian, and later simplified to its current official name of Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC).
While Novato Orthodox Presbyterian Church was a rather simple name, it served its purpose well. It communicated from the beginning that our denominational identity, and everything associated with that, was very important to the church. To be clear, this identity was not about embracing denominationalism in the sense of glorying in sectarianism or in emphasizing narrow-minded doctrinal distinctives. But it signaled that we would be passionate about taking serious the Bible as the inerrant Word of God — something which already back then had been lost in mainline Presbyterianism. It also signaled that we would embrace the historic reformed faith as confessed in the Westminster Confession of Faith, because we believed it accurately summarized the most important teachings of Scripture in a comprehensive way. It is this reformed witness to the Scriptures that continues to identify our ministry and we remain blessed to be a part of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
Here is an article, presumably published circa May, 1971, announcing the public services of the congregation in its infancy as newly organized church. You’ll note that, consistent to its simple name at the time, the church is simply referred to in this article as “The Orthodox Presbyterian Church”.