An Orthodox podcast publisher recently commented that much of their feedback from listeners could be summarized as, “Thank you for your work! We love the Orthodox Church, but can’t really become Orthodox because there isn’t a parish we can actually reach on a regular basis.” Additional common feedback – there is a parish but:
- Uses little to no English
- Is not welcoming
- Has only a few services a month, because the priest is part-time / commutes in occasionally
- Is very far and hard to reach
- Has no catechism or other classes
- Has no children or young people
- Is dilapidated, financially insolvent, and obviously dying
You can’t be a real Orthodox Christian through the Internet only, or only through occasional visits to a parish. Orthodoxy is a way of life, and active participation in an Orthodox parish is at the center of it. America is in dire need of more Orthodox parishes with a commitment to Christian evangelism. While some jurisdictions and dioceses are working to address the problem, way more needs to be done. Which is what Share the Faith is all about. Share the Faith is a pan-Orthodox ministry that does necessary work such as funding mission priests, helping parish priests launch additional missions / outreaches, teaching Orthodox Christians how to evangelize their fellow Americans, and providing funds to keep at-risk parishes open.
Share the Faith recently announced that it is accepting applications for priests to receive funding for 2023. We have copied the official notification below. We strongly recommend forwarding this information to any priests you know whose ministry might benefit from financial support. Further, we strongly recommend giving a donation, of any amount, to this worthy ministry.
Whether we want to or not, American Orthodox need to confront some unpleasant facts. Far too many Orthodox priests with families are so impoverished (despite working full-time, secular jobs) that they qualify for government assistance programs. Far too many people experience visiting an Orthodox parish, only to walk out without having been spoken to by a single person. Far too many Orthodox parishes are situated within urban neighborhoods, near universities, or other population centers and never make any effort to reach anyone locally.
We highly recommend some Share the Faith resources. In this video, Fr. Timothy Cremeens discusses our “Orthodox priorities” in the United States. In this video, Fr. Timothy explains why you should support Share the Faith. This is a great guide on how to greet visitors to your parish. This video has some great ideas from Fr. Mark Hodges on witnessing to Baptists / Evangelicals.
To make a good account of ourselves before the Judgement Seat of Christ, we need to do a much better job of fulfilling the Great Commission.
Official announcement from Share the Faith below.
Greetings in Christ!
Share the Faith Director Fr. Evangelos Pepps, on behalf of the Board of Directors, is pleased to announce that applications are open for canonical Orthodox clergy in need of financial help for their ministries. Share the Faith is a pan Orthodox ministry dedicated to providing assistance to priests who are:
- Serving mission parishes with limited financial means
- Serving smaller parishes with growth opportunities, but which are unable to fully support a full-time priest
- Serving parishes at risk of closing due to economic and demographic shifts, but with potential to evangelize their local areas
- Serving part-time mission parishes, Orthodox outreaches, and other ministries. Frequently at their own expense.
- Priests forced to work full time in secular jobs, for any combination of the above or other circumstances, whose ministries could benefit from more availability
- Working with parishes that could use assistance in learning effective evangelization techniques
The above are examples. The Share the Faith board would be willing to consider other situations as well for support.
Over the course of 2022, Share the Faith supported three priests from the Antiochian, OCA, and ROCOR jurisdictions. You can see our supported missions here. The results have been nothing short of amazing, thanks be to God and the generosity of our donors. Dozens of new catechumens have been baptized and chrismated. One supported parish has doubled attendance at Divine Liturgy. With God, truly all things are possible.
For 2023, Share the Faith would like to increase the number of supported priests to at least 20. Do you know of a priest whose ministry would qualify for Share the Faith support? If so, please direct him to our online application page or please download and send him a copy of our informational flyer.
If you would like to support Share the Faith, click here to become a donor to support the transformation of America!
To send a donation via check, please click here for our mailing address
We need everyone’s help if we are to live up to the Great Commission of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
Fr. Evangelos Pepps with the Board of Share the Faith
This is good news. Preaching the Gospel has two elements. First, the casting of the net, that is just getting them in the door and connected enough to come into a paradigm reset. Most folk with experience in other Traditions, can’t process the Faith because everything they see is filtered through a Protestant paradigm .
Additionally, with the huge increase in cult practices, we’ll have to relearn the art of exorcisms. It’s just the world we live in.
As a Protestant my mother had an odd ministry. She performed deliverance on people who were mentally ill. Over thirty years, it’s hard to tell how many people she helped and how many demons she put out. For whatever reason, her church was not interested in helping people like this so she just got to work.
After my mother’s Orthodox funeral—yes, she converted—,one of her long time patients—for lack of a better term— shared with me a story about herself and how my mother had helped. This woman had been sexually, ritually abused at a young age and was plagued by demons until she met my mother who went to work clearing the soul. While I think my mother’s understanding of the spirit dimension was inferior to what has always been understood in Orthodoxy, folks were actually helped out of their prisons of torment.
Of course, the key is to get the vessel refilled after the evil spirits leave. The heart must be filled with joy, faith, love–this comes through constant worship elevating the soul to God–or else the demons return with others to make the latter worse than the former.
What happens when people are sexually/ritually abused is a splintering of the personality. Sometimes the trauma is physical pain of extreme measure. Bottom line: extreme trauma fractures the personality, and when done ritually, it all becomes highly demonically charged. Without Divine intervention, none recover.
Most diagnosed with schizophrenia were sometime sexually/ritually abused causing this fragmenting of the soul. This is happening wholesale with missing children, they are ending up on occult altars everywhere.
When you meet somebody like this, they are not themselves, but due to trauma can only hide behind repressed thoughts, anger, and humiliation. In essence, they lose control of their lives, forget who they really are and do things nowhere fitting to their former life—if an adult. Many children never make it out alive, but “Ruth” –my mother’s patient—was one of the rare ones to survived long enough to grow up and get help.
If the Church is the hospital we say it is, then, get ready, God will send those traumatized to get help.