Evangelization Department chair speaks in NY-NJ Diocese, St. Tikhon’s Seminary
At the invitation of His Grace, Bishop Michael, Priest John Parker, Chair of the Department of Evangelization of the Orthodox Church in America, visited the Diocese of New York and New Jersey during the week of November 10, 2014. After a day spent with the Rector, Priest David Cowan and Matushka Tamara of historic Holy Trinity Church, Yonkers, NY, Father John traveled with Bishop Michael to the Diocesan Assembly in Endicott, NY.
At the Assembly Divine Liturgy, Father John preached on the importance of gratitude for the tireless work of our forebears in the faith, who established and built most of the northeastern US parishes 50 to 100 years ago. He noted their ability to live and move in the spirit of the North American missionary saints, some of whom served in these very parishes and consecrated their very altars.
Following the Divine Liturgy, Father John gave an hour-long presentation, “Evangelism Outside The Boat”, taking direction from “out of the box” thinking. He began soliciting participants’ examples of how God is working in their lives and in their parishes. After hearing some 10 examples, Father John noted that this form of “telling” is exactly the missionary “witnessing” to which our Lord called the Gerasene demoniac in the Gospel lesson several weeks ago. “Go home and tell all the good that God has done for you.” He emphasized the importance of personal and corporate grounding in the Gospel—Christ crucified and raised from the dead—noting that to all who start from this point, Orthodox Christianity is but a natural outflowing.
Father John added that “wait and welcome” is not a Gospel command of our Lord. Rather, “Go and make disciples” is what each Christian is called to do. “We must indeed start and practice with a warm welcome, a smile, and a genuine gladness to receive those who are seeking the fullness of the Christian faith, in the narthex. But we must ourselves step out of the door of the narthex to seek out those whom the Lord is preparing to come and see.”
On Wednesday evening, Father John spoke to the Evangelism Task Force at Saint John the Baptist Church, Rochester, NY. The inspired group of two dozen strong has set evangelistic and parish growth goals which are both noteworthy and inspirational. Desiring to see their parish grow 20% by the coming Pascha, they have put into place many different forms of outreach to their local community, all grounded in a missionary mindset that sees the whole of Rochester as their parish, rather than simply those who are already formally members.
Father John went on to address students, their families and the faculty at Saint Tikhon’s Seminary, at which time he emphasized how each seminarian and his family must keep in mind that regardless of which parish they may go to serve—established or newly planted—a missionary mindset is vital. To prepare in seminary to be an “evangelical entrepreneur and apologist” is central in finding ways to proclaim the Gospel to neighbors and neighborhoods.
Finally, on Thursday evening, Father John visited Saint Vladimir Church, Trenton, NJ, where he addressed faithful from three New Jersey parishes. He offered words similar to those he shared in Rochester, stressing that no amount of programs or resources will turn churches around, grow them, or make them vibrant. Rather, he said, “we must begin with firm personal conviction that God changes lives, starting with mine, and a parish-wide attitude that desires to keep the commandments of Jesus Christ—in this case, “Go and make disciples.”