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What do we need to do to encourage a mission spirit in Byzantine parishes? Choose the top 3 as you see them. Feel free to add other concerns or ideas in posts in this thread.

Byzantine Evangelization & Missions multiple choice, up to 3 choices
	Evangelization is for the Protestants and Roman Catholics to do.
	Entire Liturgy should be in the language of the people we are trying to reach.
	Abundant literature should be available in the narthex for inquirers & visitors.
	Social groups (men's, women's, youth, Bible studies); should be encouraged & regular.
	Established parishes should select an area where they'd like to see a new mission established.
	Community outreach (soup kitchen, volunteer work, etc.); should be encouraged.
Votes accepted starting: 12/31/69 08:00 PM You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.

You forgot to add:

"Hold an annual food festival as the sole form of outreach to the surrounding community."

I fear this is too often how our parishes approach evangelization.

Well, they do say that the way to a man's soul is through his stomach!

Incognitus

Dear Friends,

My in-laws' parish established an annual pilgrimage to the Mother of God of Zhirovits and this has had a great impact on the way the parish views itself in relation to its surrounding environment.

The icon is the one in my avatar to the left here.

The Mother of God is her own best missionary and we've already had one event that is being called "miraculous" where a woman was drawn to our parish through a dream she had.

She told her husband that it was in a church "on a hill nearby and that there was a beautiful icon of the Mother of God on the wall."

When she entered the church, and I was there when it happened, she cried out, "That's it! That's the icon I saw in my dream!"

This has been, as I understand, submitted to the proper authorities.

Alex

Perhaps an 'entire Liturgy' in the language of the peope is too much, but certainly a portion would be effective. What lnguage are we referrrig to here? Spanish?
Latino Americans can be a very spiritual people, and since this seems to be the up and coming new majority, I think it would be wise to begin to attract them in. Pentecostals are taking many Latino Roman Catholics. Many don't have $$ in the cities, but neither did we. Hopefully their financial status is not what is deterring us from reaching out. We need to think about the next generation, and the next for our own survival.

We need to meet the need in our individual communiites. If day care or an after school program is what is needed- reach out and provide. If it happens to be a soup kitchen, then start one.
soup kitchens attract not just the hungry, but also can attract volunteers with a genuine interest in improving the local environment.

The hardest thing to do is part with our $$ IMHO. As I see it, we tend to continue to try and build bigger barns (reserves for anticipated future problems) rather than stepping out in Faith and giving. This to me is a church that is on the way out, not on the way in. The parable of the widow's mite could apply to us too.

I received an email from a post on another Eastern Catholic site that rang so true- the one about beating a dead horse. Has anyone seen that? I'll have to look for it again and post it here..

Sam

here it is:

Dakota Indian tribal wisdom says:
When you discover you are riding a dead horse,
the best strategy is to dismount.

However, in modern organizations,
We often try other strategies with colloquial dead horses.

Some I�ve seen tried recently, how about your group?

* Buying a stronger whip.
* Changing riders.
* Saying things like �This is the way we always have ridden horses.�*

*Accuse those who got off the dead horse of abandonment.
* Appointing a committee to study the horse.
* Arranging to visit other sites to see how they ride dead horses.
* Increasing the standards to ride dead horses.
* Creating a retreat to increase our ability at riding dead horses.
* Blaming the horses� ancestry.
* Harnessing several dead horses for increased speed.
* Declaring that �No horse is too dead to beat.�
* Provide additional funding to increase the horse�s performance.
* Declare that �Horses are better, faster and cheaper when dead.�
* Form a committee to find uses for dead horses.
* Revisit the performance requirements for horses to include dead horses.
*Accept the dead horse as the norm.

I've always wondered why having the entire service in the language of the people we are trying to reach is problematic for some people.

Is our goal only to reach people with our ethnic background? The family down the street with no Slavic or Middle Eastern roots is not really interested in bilingual services.

In our zeal to preserve some of our heritage by maintaining part of the Liturgy in a traditional language are we discouraging people who do not share our roots from joining us?

I thought the list was rather insipid, sorry. I doubt that all of these together would bear much fruit. I'll offer some ideas later. I did vote for a couple, the last two, but none really made much of an impression.

Dan L

Dan,

Do you approach all interaction - including evangelization - with such a warm and collegial outlook? Or, do you save your energies for those here?

Many years,

Neil

The list was thrown together quickly and no doubt could be improved. Please feel free to add any ideas for improving evangelization and missions in Byzantine Churches.

I'll share an experience I had last week shopping for Christmas gifts at Costco. I always check out the book/video/dvd section and I saw this elderly couple looking at a stack of large Bibles. This edition has a Renaissance type of painting of Jesus on the cover. I heard the man say something about it being a different type of "icon." I usually don't take such an initiative but I spoke up and said that actually it was a Western painting and true "icons" are different. I found out this gentleman was in agreement with me as he is Greek Orthodox.

He shared a little about his life journey. He hardly ever went to Liturgy in his youth though he'd attend a Roman Catholic parish once in awhile in Southern California with his buddies when they went. He didn't receive Communion. Nor did he want to. Later in life after his father's death he experienced a spiritual longing. He went to one Greek Orthodox parish and afterwards talking to the priest was told: "Go to St XXXXXX parish. They do everything in English." He did just that and immediately got involved with a parish that was on fire for the Lord. It was very interesting hearing this man's story. He is one of the most spiritual persons I've met in recent months.

I think we need to focus on making missions a priority. What if every parish selected an area to plant a mission? Once a month (perhaps on a Sunday evening?) a Liturgy could be served in that area. There probably is a family or two in that area that could be of help. Parishioners of the home parish might also be interested in this sort of endeavor. Taking care of the resulting interest would be a challenge. A risk worth taking, however.

I'm the same everywhere I go. That is why our church is growing.

Dan L

Dan L,

Please share your thoughts on what we Byzantines can do to increase evangelization and missions.

Nec

Nec Aliter,

I'd be glad to offer what I can.

First, I guess if a congregation is doing nothing the ideas you share would get them started doing something.

Second, Make sure the temple is as Byzantine and beautiful as possible. Nothing leaves the impression of not caring about anything like a poorly maintained property. If you have any Bingo signs on the property destroy them. If the people aren't trained to greet visitors then train them. If you have more pews than are absolutely necessary for the elderly and infirm eliminate them. If your greeting area (narhex) is cluttered make it neat. etc.

Third, find out who is in your neighborhood. Canvass the neighborhood and invite the people to come and see. Have some open houses. Give tours of the Church. Offer light foods and or have a piroghi sale.

Fourth, Invite people to worship with you. Offer to pick them up and bring them. Go door to door and meet the people and invite them to worship. Establish booths at Chamber of Commerce Events, Fairs, and other community gatherings. Sponsor a radio program. Encourage your people to invite their family, neighbors, friends, co workers to Church and bring them with you.

Fifth, Most of all be the best version of an Eastern Christian Church that you possibly can be.

BTW I did like your last two choices. Get involved with the people and their needs.

Dan L

Dan L,

I like your ideas. I think we need to overcome two problems:

1) that we exist as some sort of hybrid church which is neither Eastern and not Western but a mixture of both.

Instead, we are called to be faithful to our authentic patrimony in communion with other Catholic Churches.

2) that we exist as a haven strictly for people with our particular ethnic background.

Instead, we are called to "be all things for all people" to win them to Christ (1 Cor. 9:20).

We need not only to break out of our shells to reach those around us, we also need to provide them a sense of community. Here is where the faithful can be of assistance in organizing social groups (men's & women's groups, Bible Study groups, outreach groups, etc.).

The Gospel is not just celebrating the Liturgy. It's living it. Taking Christ to our neighbors and friends who don't know Him and being a family of faith which shares joys and sorrows.

Nec,

I see now that you are very serious and committed to spreading the Good News of Christ and salvation. Neil was right to respond as he did. I am rather straightforward when it comes to this subject because I've seen the problems you bring up over and over again.

I should be more patient after all Father Loya is overcoming them with a committed group of laity. I'm glad you stuck with it even though I came on rather strong.

I believe you are correct. We must overcome our inferiority complex. We are the Church. We are what the Church was before 1054 and we will be what the Church is at the end. If we aren't true to what God has made us the world will never know.

I've never been so excited about the possibilities of what can be done in evangelism as I am in the Byzantine Catholic Church. While it is true that most people seem not to care about integrity, just try cheating them. They will react. The other side of that coin is also true. Offer people the real and do so consistently and people will come.

Offer solid liturgy. Everyone study our patrimony from Scripture, the Fathers, esp. St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil, St. Gregory Palamas, St. Nicholas, etc. Write the icons inside and out. Rebuild the domes. Get rid of our reliance upon bingo and gambling. Rebuild the iconostases. Get rid of the kneelers and many of the pews. When we know who we are and love who we are telling our story will be easy. I've seen it. Techniques and strategy will always follow reality. Reality will never follow techniques.

Dan L