Harold John Ockenga

Our Evangelical Faith Harold John Ockenga

Sermons on an Evangelical Statement of Faith When the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) was founded in 1942, Harold John Ockenga was elected as it first president. By the following year, the young organization had adopted a written statement of faith affirming its commitment to historic Christianity, to the truth of Scripture, and to sound doctrine. As pastor of Boston's historic Park Street Church, Ockenga took the opportunity to preach a series of sermons explaining the basic teachings of the NAE and applying them to the life and labors of his congregation. His clear and powerful expositions are as relevant today as they were when they were first delivered. ""My earliest memory as a child was attending the second meeting of the National Association of Evangelicals held in Chicago in 1943 with my parents and their close friends, the Ockenga family. It was at that meeting that the new NAE Statement of Faith was adopted--the document on which Harold John Ockenga subsequently focused his attention in the series of Sunday evening sermons you now hold in your hands. To read these sermons today is a marvelous walk back into the history of the mid-twentieth century re-emergence of authentic Evangelicalism. These powerful messages are also a helpful reminder that today's preaching must never neglect its responsibility to uphold the whole teaching of the faith once delivered to the saints with gracious theological and pastoral integrity."" --The Rev. Dr. John Huffman, Chair, Board of Trustees, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Harold John Ockenga (1905-1985) studied at Taylor University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Westminster Theological Seminary, and the University of Pittsburgh. From 1931 to 1936 he served as pastor at Point Breeze Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, and from 1936 to 1969 as senior minister at historic Park Street Church in Boston. From his base at Park Street he rose to international prominence, becoming one of the most recognized leaders of the resurgent evangelical movement that swept across America and around the world during the 1940s and 1950s.