www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Starting an Eastern Christian Mission

It's good that Bishop Ioan Mihai Botean is doing a great job and wants his people to return to the Eastern tradition, as well as the Exarch for Romanian Greek Catholics in Canada, because in Romania the hierarchy is very latinized.

Once I heard that a lot of Romanian greek catholics that emigrate to the USA join the Romanian Episcopate of the OCA and leave the Greek Catholic Church, because there are no missions for them and they feel accepted in the OCA, as they see it is not part of the BOR, that colaborated with the Communists that supressed the Greek Catholic Church in Romania.

What do we have to do to attract people? I wish I knew! We are trying everything that we can think of: prayer; newspaper and radio ads, special event hosting etc. etc. without much success. I belong to a Romanian Byzantine parish that underwent a rebellion over control of funds etc.(it is a long story) The parish was not large to begin with, and now that the rebels left we are just a handful. We have the support of Bishop John Michael and the efforts of a good and Orthodox-Catholic parish priest with his wife and children. I am happy the mission in New England is doing well, and I assume it is because of recent immigration. Dr. John, as I child, I grew up in the Boston area (Norwood). We belonged to the "Irish" church, but usually went to the Lithuanian. There was also a Polish and Syrian Orthodox, but alas no Italian church. I think that the Italians were too jealous of each other. If anyone can offer any ideas for us it would be appreciated. We are so frustrated. Vito

Vito,

prayer; newspaper and radio ads, special event hosting

All of this is nice but sociological studies show that only about 5-6% of all people who come to a Church and become part of God's kingdom come by way of the methods you outlined. Is it any wonder that Churches that limit themselves to these things get little or no results?

The one thing missing from your list is the one thing our Lord told us to do. "Go out into the world and...teach...and baptize."

Would you make a major investment in something you never saw or never had explained to you? I wouldn't.

You seem to have a great love for God. Go out and invite people door to door, business associate by business associate, friend to friend, neighbor to neighbor and become a friend. Then invite them to come with you to worship.

75-90% of all converts come by way of face to face invitations from people they've come to know.

We live in a lonely society which has many markings of an anti-culture. Most of us are initially suspicious of each other. But given kindness and encouragement people will respond.

It has little or nothing to do with cultural differences or similarities. One should not be worried about how people will react to our Eastern ways. Don't assume that anyone's reaction will be negative. Just let yourself be an instrument of the Holy Spirit to love people into the kingdom. That's all. Don't worry about calculating results, just be a supple instrument in the hands of our gracious God. After all, "He is gracious and He loves mankind." Let it shine through you.

Dan Lauffer

Vito,

Email me. I have prepared a simple evangelization guide that may be of great help to you. I have gathered the best, proven methods of evangelization and molded them to fit a Byzantine parish.

Anthony

Dear Dan, Thanks for your advice. I do try to spread the word through my encounters with people. However, I have not done the knocking on doors. For me to do this would be very difficult because of my personality and cultural upbringing, but I will pray for the help and strength from the Holy Spirit. Vito