The Early History Of Peniel Bible Conference Part 2: A Theological Mutiny (1938–1950) -- By: Caroline Weerstra

Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 76:1 (Spring 2014)
Article: The Early History Of Peniel Bible Conference Part 2: A Theological Mutiny (1938–1950)
Author: Caroline Weerstra


The Early History Of Peniel Bible Conference
Part 2: A Theological Mutiny (1938–1950)

Caroline Weerstra

Caroline Weerstra is a member of Calvary Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Schenectady, N.Y., and the author of the Westminster Shorter Catechism for Kids series and other Sunday school curriculum. Part 1 of her historical examination of the relationship between Peniel Bible Conference and the OPC appeared in WTJ 75 (2013): 297–315.

In the early 1930s, Peniel Bible Conference was composed of a small band of young Methodists with big dreams. Their church of origin—First Methodist Church in Schenectady, New York—probably expected that the entire enterprise would die out within a couple of years. The foolhardy purchase of the Wayside Inn had exposed the group’s inexperience and shortsightedness. Now that the inn had burned down and the Penielists were once more pitching tents on a hillside, Peniel seemed to have lost what small gains it had made.

Failure would have been a virtual certainty if Peniel had remained in the shadow of its reluctant Methodist mother church. In the aftermath of the disastrous fire at the Wayside Inn, the rebellious youth group finally split away from the main church body. Under the leadership of Westminster Seminary graduate Raymond Meiners, Peniel applied to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church under the evasive name “Calvary Presbyterian Church.” The unwitting Presbytery of New York and New England cheerfully accepted the new congregation and installed Ray Meiners as its first pastor.1 The Presbytery would soon regret its hasty decision, but for Peniel Bible Conference, the founding of Calvary OPC turned out to be highly fortuitous. Until June of 1938, Peniel had no plans to start a church, and even as they applied to the OPC in September of that year, no one except Meiners knew anything about Reformed doctrine and Presbyterian government. It was a random decision forced upon them by necessity—a hasty measure to fill the void left by the departing Methodists.2

Yet Peniel thrived. By sheer dumb luck, the Penielists had stumbled upon the perfect formula to expand their influence. The church in Schenectady and the camp in Lake Luzerne acted as a reinforcing loop funneling new members in both directions. A vibrant group of young people in Schenectady under the leadership of an energetic seminary-trained pastor quickly attracted local college students and employees of the nearby GE plant. In the summer, the church closed most of its programs down, and the pastor and nearly all congregants relocated to Camp Peniel. The camp was close enough fo...

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