Fulfilling the Great Commision

[HandmaidenOfGod]

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..." Matthew 28:19 (New King James Version)

As we seem to have a recent influx of converts, catachumens, and inquirors here on TAW, I have a few questions for you:

a) What drew you to the Orthodox Church?
b) What made you decide on the particular parish you are attending? (Geography, friendliness of parishoners, number of ministries available, etc.)
c) What should/could parishes do to attract more people to the faith?

The reason I ask this is because as the above verse states, we are called to go out and make disciples of all nations. So as a "cradle" Orthodox Christian I am asking those of you who were not born into the faith what led you to the faith, and how can we lead others to the faith?

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!

In XC,

Maureen

[Dewi Sant]

Interesting topic.

a) What drew you to the Orthodox Church?
I didn't like the dodgy doctrine of the other churches in my area. A lot of them had gone very evangelical and happy clappy which to me is almost an insult. I wasn't getting anything more out of church, I had hit a spiritual wall. All I got out of the services was a headache (with the rock music) and the regurgetated message that "Jesus Loves You". It seems that those types of churches can state something but can't really back it up.
I left all churches and declared myself non denominational (not belonging to any church). I sought for the best, the true church.
The church of England boldly said in their Christmas service that God came to Earth as Jesus to know what it feels like to be human......that is so off putting and theologically incorrect.
The Free Methodist church teaches that we are inheritally sinful because of the fall of Adam and Eve. This is not true, sin is not in the genes.

I found the Orthodox church through research and talking to a fellow brother in Christ. He led me to it and I can't wait till this Sunday when I can go to my second divine Liturgy :) .

b) What made you decide on the particular parish you are attending? (Geography, friendliness of parishoners, number of ministries available, etc.)
There isn't much choice in England, there are so few Orthodox churches. Fortunatly for me though there is a community that rent a community hall every Sunday and make it really feel like an Orthodox church.
Not many places in England apart from the major cities (LIverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, London) have purpose build buildings).
The parishoners are very nice and a large amount of them are immigrants and so speak in foreign languages, it is very interesting.

c) What should/could parishes do to attract more people to the faith?
I don't really know how to answer this question.
To be honest I would leave the evangelising to the happy clappy churches but once you are Christian you search for a deeper spirituality and that is where the Orthodox church came in for me.
Before I became what I am now I was angered by the gold and traditions in church, and I still am by some churches. But the Orthodox church has meaning behind its traditions.
I see becomming a Christian similar to growing up.
You start on the simple stuff, like Jesus Loves you and learning key verses and reading the gospel.
Then you study the bible and become integrated within a christian society.
Then you find that you need to go deeper and deeper.

[kamikat]

a) What drew you to the Orthodox Church?
b) What made you decide on the particular parish you are attending? (Geography, friendliness of parishoners, number of ministries available, etc.)
c) What should/could parishes do to attract more people to the faith?


What drew me to the Orthodox Church was history, as well as the concept of a hospital for the sick, rather than a shrine for the perfect.

This particular parish has lots of social things going on for kids, a women's bible study, a men's group, charity orginizations, ect, all the good community type things that help the parish feel like a family.

c)inquirers' classes, ads in the local paper's religion section

kamikat

[HandmaidenOfGod]

Thanks for your responses! Keep 'em coming! :thumbsup:

[Mary of Bethany]

a) What drew you to the Orthodox Church?
b) What made you decide on the particular parish you are attending? (Geography, friendliness of parishoners, number of ministries available, etc.)
c) What should/could parishes do to attract more people to the faith?

1) After I left the Baptist church, and became part of a sacramental/liturgical church, I realized that Christ had founded a Church, and I wanted to be part of it. I continued to read, mostly about the Catholic Church and the history of the English church, but I was also becoming exposed to the Orthodox Church in various ways for the first time, and that opened up a whole new road for me. I finally realized that the Orthodox Church was the Church of Christ, and that I needed to be a part of it. I also absolutely loved everything about its worship and theology (what little of it I grasped).

2) Geography, friendliness, language, it was very open to "white-bread" converts like me.

3) BE THE CHURCH! That is all.

Mary

[choirfiend]

3) BE THE CHURCH! That is all.


This is very wise, if we do all that being the Church entails. Thanks!

[eoe]

a) What drew you to the Orthodox Church?
The grace of God. I was blind and stumbling about in the dark banging my shins on hard pointy things until I found Orthodoxy.

b) What made you decide on the particular parish you are attending? (Geography, friendliness of parishoners, number of ministries available, etc.)
Location. If there were an OCA (or Antiochian or whatever) parish closer I would have attended there.

c) What should/could parishes do to attract more people to the faith?
Have inquiry classes - be more involved with public service in hospitals etc.

[SumTinWong]

a) What drew you to the Orthodox Church?
I guess when it all boils down it seems to me that Christ and the love of the truth led me here. It is not all that comfortable to sit where you are when you know you need to be somewheres else.

b) What made you decide on the particular parish you are attending? (Geography, friendliness of parishoners, number of ministries available, etc.)
I guess i tend to favor small communities, and this parish being a mission parish is pretty small. But what kept me here was being able to tell father Philip anything, and being able to trust him.

c) What should/could parishes do to attract more people to the faith?
This will sound like a DUH answer, but in reality they need to know about it before they can decide. Most of the protestants i know are so anti-Catholic (out of ignorance mostly) that they look at Orthodoxy as more of that. Boy are they wrong. So if I were you I woul dhave talks, and do it weekly and advertise these talks until people understand what is the faith and work of Orthodoxy.

[OrthoCanuck]

a) What drew you to the Orthodox Church?



It makes sense (in the view of scripture, history and theology). It made far more sense than the Roman Catholic church (which I was a member of) does.



b) What made you decide on the particular parish you are attending? (Geography, friendliness of parishoners, number of ministries available, etc.)

Mostly because of the fact it offers English liturgy. Also the priest is awesome.



c) What should/could parishes do to attract more people to the faith?

Tough question. Offer services in the local language would be a start. Spanish liturgies could attract Latinos, French liturgies could attract Francophones, etc. As a newbie, I'm not sure. I'd say draw people by our example. Plus our parish has had two new catechumens since I entered the catechumenate in November. That puts us at 4 (it will be 7 when my three kids enter at the beginning of Lent). So there will be 7 chrismations and/or baptisms on Pascha at our parish. That may push our membership up close to 50.


Peace.

[HandmaidenOfGod]

What should/could parishes do to attract more people to the faith?

c)inquirers' classes, ads in the local paper's religion section

Have inquiry classes

I woul dhave talks, and do it weekly and advertise these talks

So you're saying we should have classes eh? ;)

[eoe]

So you're saying we should have classes eh?

Yeah. It is still tempting to go to the ROCOR church for classes.

[Dewi Sant]

Classes are good, the only problem being that the new person has to go to church to sign up.

I think there should be a tiered system in the church.

Slowly introducing someone to the church rather than throwing them in at the deep end.

Yes by setting good examples ourselves we draw others towards Christ but there are also many "good" people who are entirely atheist.


I know that in Europe festivals are accompianied by firework displays and teachings through megaophones as well as being broadcasted on television it would be nice to see some of that in England.

It all seems to be very quiet in England, being a Christian is almost like belonging to a secret society for many. They dissapear for a few hours on Sunday morning and nothing is said until the next week.
We should be out there in the world.

Ask people about what they believe in, share with them what you believe in.

Don't lecture them, don't call them sinners, they will discover that themselves. Also it isn't the best evangelical move to condemn others of their sin, it gives the impression of heirarchy. :(

[Llauralin]

a) What drew you to the Orthodox Church?
b) What made you decide on the particular parish you are attending? (Geography, friendliness of parishoners, number of ministries available, etc.)
c) What should/could parishes do to attract more people to the faith?
A) It's changelessness - it didn't make sense that worship of an eternal and changeless God would be so interested in the newest and most "relevent" theology and worship that I saw in so many American churches.

Also - not always pampering the whims of the congregation in order to lure people to come to church.

B) It's the only one in town.

C) Use current languages more; English in the US. In the case of the church I was going to in Tucson, it would have helped immensly if they had simply had a website or sign saying when and what services they had - it is completely necessary to have gone there with the last week to have any idea what's going on.

Bible studies during the week is also good.

[Dust and Ashes]

a) What drew you to the Orthodox Church?

The hats. ;)

Seriously, I had become very disillusioned with the relativism and doctrinal confusion I was experiencing in all the Protestant churches I had attended. I knew Christ was real but I just wasn't experiencing Him in the worship of these churches.

The first thing that drew me was the signatures of a couple of people here on CF. "Orthodoxy, proclaiming the truth since 33 A.D." and "Orthodoxy, pure, unadulterated Christianity since 33 A.D." I found these statements rather intriguing so I came to TAW to investigate...


b) What made you decide on the particular parish you are attending?

It was the first one that I came across in a search for the closest Orthodox Church and it was also recommended as being very inquirer-friendly. It ended up being a great fit since it is large enough that I can kind of blend in with the crowd.


c) What should/could parishes do to attract more people to the faith?

Oh, goodness, I have no idea beyond encouraging members to live their faith daily and "...sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:" 1Pe 3:15

[EricTheRed]

c)inquirers' classes, ads in the local paper's religion section



I know archbishop Dimitri has written some articles in the dallas morning news. I am not sure how well they worked. Ill ask when I get the chance.

[EricTheRed]

a) The history and the Truth

b) It was one of the closest and I had read about archbishop Dimitri and wanted to go to his parish

c)no earthly idea without being "door knockers" but I think that would turn people away

[HandmaidenOfGod]

Thanks guys! Keep the responses coming!

You're a great help!

[HandmaidenOfGod]

c)no earthly idea without being "door knockers" but I think that would turn people away

Yes...then people might think we're JW instead of EO! :o :eek:

[Happy Orthodox]

I think the more convert, the more America is exposed to Orthodoxy, the more people hear about it (the more brave souls go over to GT). So, if God calls you, what can you do? How can you resist the call deep in your heart? You go, and overcome any stumbling block on your way. As soon as we have the Holy Spirit with us, we will have new comers (and our Lord promiced that He shall abide with us forever).

[Torah613]

1. I was drawn to the church by her mystical traditions. Also, I too liked the idea of being a hospital for the sick instead of a shrine for the perfect. It was this that kept me away from church for far too long, till a certain mod here changed my views and pointed out the above.

2. Well I don't have much to choose from, but I have a lot to choose from. In one direction I have an Antiochian Cathedral, in another I have ROCOR, in another I have an Old Calander OCA Parish, and in another I have a OCA-Bulgarian parish. At slightly further distances there are parishes of other traditions (serbian, OCA-MW, greek, and at a 300 mile trek a Ukranian parish). I chose teh one I am in now cuz I have known Fr. John for years, have read his books even when I was in the RCC, and they have a nice mix of ethnics and converts.

3. Inquiry classes are good, and they should be advertised in the paper and made open for the public. You never know when your curious baptist trying to find something wrong so he can "witness" to his Orthodox friend will become your next catechumen. Services should be made public. But I think above and beyond that, what is really important is four things:

a. Establish more missions. Don't split parishes, but be more open towards establishing missions in more remote areas.

b. More, and bigger Monastic communities. Monastaries serve as shining beacons of the truth and spirituality of the Orthodox Church.

c. Establish more American traditions. Yeah Koolich is good, but pecan pie is just as festive for Pascha. If it is an American Orthodoxy that we are seeking, we can't just randomly co-opt traditions from other cultures, but rather transform our own into an Orthodox culture with its own traditions.

d. Come together as one jurisdiction. One of the things that really put me off about Orthodoxy is that there are so many different groups. We need one, united Orthodox Church. Yes I know we are one Church, but to outsiders our continued ethnic divisions look like we are just a bunch of different churches.

Joe Zollars

[HandmaidenOfGod]

But I think above and beyond that, what is really important is four things:

a. Establish more missions. Don't split parishes, but be more open towards establishing missions in more remote areas.

b. More, and bigger Monastic communities. Monastaries serve as shining beacons of the truth and spirituality of the Orthodox Church.

c. Establish more American traditions. Yeah Koolich is good, but pecan pie is just as festive for Pascha. If it is an American Orthodoxy that we are seeking, we can't just randomly co-opt traditions from other cultures, but rather transform our own into an Orthodox culture with its own traditions.

d. Come together as one jurisdiction. One of the things that really put me off about Orthodoxy is that there are so many different groups. We need one, united Orthodox Church. Yes I know we are one Church, but to outsiders our continued ethnic divisions look like we are just a bunch of different churches.

Joe Zollars

These are excellent points! I had never thought about the food thing before. :doh:

The jurisdiction thing is in the works. Currently ROCOR is in talks with the OCA as are the Antiochians. While I love them, the Greeks and the Ukrainians are a bit more stubborn to deal with. (Love you guys! :kiss: )

Thank you, thank you, thank you for these points!

In XC,

Maureen