My Great-Great-Birth-Grandfather

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A Christian Heritage: an interview with G.I. Williamson

          Last week, I emailed retired pastor G.I. Williamson for the second time in my life.  The first time was to thank him for writing his study of the Westminster Confession of Faith, which the Lord used mightily in my life.  This time it was to ask him some questions.  He graciously replied, and here is my interview with Mr. Williamson, Reformed Presbyterian pastor for over 50 years, author, and one of my heroes:

What was your church like, growing up?

"My parents and grand-parents were originally members of the old United Presbyterian Church of North America (UPCNA). This was a strong church at one time. But it was rapidly declining in its commitment to its Reformation Confessional standards. So I was never even made ware of the existence of the Westminster Shorter Catechism.  I never even knew that my Mother had once memorized it until I discovered that during my last visit with her when she was 95 years old.

What led you to read the Westminster Confession?

"While I was studying for the ministry at the Pittsburgh-Xenia Theological Seminary, I was allowed to serve as a student pastor of the UPCNA church in New Bedford, PA.  It was while serving in that capacity that I first discovered the Westminster Standards.  One Saturday, when some of the members were cleaning the church, the treasurer came to tell me that they had found some old books in a dusty closet and were about to throw them away.  If I wanted any of those books, I was free to take them.  So I went to have a look, and one that caught my eye was an edition of the 1858 Subordinate Standards of the United Presbyterian Church of North America.  That was the first time that I had ever laid eyes on the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms. From that moment on, my life was radically changed.  I began to study the Confession and Catechisms, paying close attention to the proof texts printed out below the text of these documents to support their statements.  Next to the Bible itself, no other book even comes close to the importance of this one in my life as a Christian and a pastor."

 

What led you to write a study on the Confession?

"When I began my labor as a home missionary of the OPC in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1955, I determined that my people (however few or many there might be under my ministry) were not going to be deprived (as I had been) of their confessional and catechetical heritage.  So I began writing lessons on the Westminster Confession that were handed out weekly to be studied and discussed at the midweek prayer meeting.  As I wrote those lessons, I never had any notion that I was writing a book!  Dr. William Young, who was then teaching philosophy at the University of Rhode Island, often came to worship with us on Sunday evenings.  When he saw a few of those lessons, he began to urge me to send them in to Mr. Charles Craig of the Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company to see if he would publish them.  He said he was pretty sure he would, because I quoted Westminster Seminary Professors Van Til and Murray! And to my amazement, he was right."

 

Your greatest contribution to the world, in your opinion, is...?

"I find this to be a difficult question.  I can't think of anything that I would consider a 'great' contribution to the world, much less the "greatest."  So let me just say I believe God's truth is unchanging, something 'once for all delivered to the saints' (Jude 3).  And because this is true I believe the Westminster Standards (as well as the Heidelberg Catechism) are one of "the greatest contributions to the world" that the true church has ever made. I only see my work as an attempt to help people see this."

Is there anything you regret in your life as a Christian leader?

"I regret that I did not remain longer in one place.  It is now my opinion that this pattern of ministers moving on every few years is not as fruitful as longer pastorates.  There are, of course, exceptions.  But to young ministers I would say, 'the grass over there is not really greener.'"

Do you have hope for the next generation?

"I certainly do.  I've been a pastor for more than sixty years, and I find the young people today to be more willing to think, to examine ,and to investigate than those I encountered in previous decades.  I think this is partly because the bad fruits of liberalism/modernism are no longer hidden under the surface of what J. Gresham Machen called 'the moral momentum' inherited from our ancestors.  That was still very strong when I was a young person.  Not any more."

 What advice would you give the next generation of Christians?

"'Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered' (Prov. 28:26). That is why the Apostle Paul said we must 'not be conformed to this world, but. . .transformed by the renewal of [our] mind[s]' (Rom. 12:2). To get wisdom we must have a desire to get hold of 'the truth.'   We can only get that from God himself, through His word. But one of the greatest instruments to help us in this quest is found in the historic Reformed Confessions.   This is not to even suggest for a moment that they are infallible teachers.   They are not, and they say that very thing themselves, but they are a wonderful means of helping us to find our way in the Scriptures."

What do you see as the future for the next generation?

"God is sifting his people.  There has already been a big loss in numbers as once great Presbyterian and Reformed Churches leave their own heritage.  But the result will be a more vibrant remnant.  If you are part of this remnant you ought to be overwhelmed with gratitude to God for your preservation.  You ought to be filled with a holy joy that others will see in every aspect of your existence.  We are not what is left of a lost cause. Perilous times will come (1 Tim. 4:1, and 2 Tim. 3:1).  We have a future.  And, as Mary Adams — a retired missionary used to say to me — 'the best is yet to be.'"




Thanks, Mom, for telling me to read the Confession, and for proof-reading this post.

Thank you, Mr. Williamson, for all your emails!