The Next Forty Years

The Orthodox Church in Great Britain and Ireland: The Next Forty Years

A talk given

at the Summer Conference

of the Orthodox Fellowship of St John the Baptist
"Forty things you didn't know about Orthodoxy!"

20th July 2019

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.

Setting the scene

When we journeyed among the Bulgars, we beheld how they worship in their temple, called a mosque, while they stand ungirt. The Bulgar bows, sits down, looks hither and thither like one possessed, and there is no happiness among them, but instead only sorrow and a dreadful stench. Their religion is not good. Then we went among the Germans, and saw them performing many ceremonies in their temples; but we beheld no glory there. Then we went to Greece, and the Greeks (including the Emperor himself) led us to the edifices where they worship their God, and we knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on earth there is no such splendor or such beauty, and we are at a loss how to describe it. We only know that God dwells there among men, and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of other nations. For we cannot forget that beauty.[1]

This familiar text I offer as a source for what will follow.  Less familiar, perhaps, though still expressing the beauty of Orthodox worship, is this text from St Nikolaï (Velimirović) of Ochrid.

We waited, and at last our expectations were fulfilled.  When the Patriarch sang “Christ is risen,” a heavy burden fell from our souls.  We felt as if we also had been raised from the dead.  All at once, from all around, the same cry resounded like the noise of many waters.  “Christ is risen” sang the Greeks, the Russians, the Arabs, the Serbs, the Copts, the Armenians, the Ethiopians – one after another, each in his own tongue, in his own melody. … Coming out from the service at dawn, we began to regard everything in the light of the glory of Christ’s Resurrection, and all appeared different from what it had yesterday; everything seemed better, more expressive, more glorious.  Only in the light of the Resurrection does life receive meaning.[2]

Introduction

I have been asked to speak on the next forty years, given the present commemoration and celebration of our Fellowship: but to speak of the future it is necessary to assess the present, along with the past from which it emerged.  I do so hesitantly, these are delicate matters yet I hope that my words can form a point from where we may progress.

The two quotations I have offered, from the emissaries of Prince Vladimir of Kiev and from St Nikolaï, speak of the attraction of our worship, the beauty which expresses the divine, and its transformative action in our lives.  St Nikolaï speaks as one coming out from Church in Jerusalem yet, I believe, each of us experiences something of the same on Pascha night.  And I want to focus, for a moment, on Pascha night.  For when we come out into the light of the Resurrection, how many of our fellow celebrants have already run home and hidden themselves?  Yes, “Let God arise,”[3] yet too many of “our people” – a problematic term, perhaps to be filed alongside “diaspora” – remain in the grave or paralysed with the soldiers, their own arising left stalled: sitting up in the grave and then returning to death.

I would like you, as you imagine yourself coming out from the Paschal banquet, think too of the houses which you can see.  Are they lit up, with family and friends receiving the Paschal light into their homes or are they dark, oblivious to the great joy which has occurred?  Or even perhaps they are up, but complaining about the noise created by all these foreigners going around at night?

As we are imagining, imagine too an ordinary Sunday and look who is around you in Church.  For one moment, and only one moment, do not include the children who may well have had little choice in being present.  Of the adults, how many have come to belief in Christ through the Orthodox Church in this country?  How many believe in Christ because of us?

Analysis

My instinct – unfortunately we do not know as accurate data about the Orthodox Church is absent in Britain and Ireland[4] – is that the Orthodox Church in these islands is actually quite numerous: large numbers will turn up at our churches for Pascha who will mostly describe themselves as Orthodox, though perhaps as “Greek Orthodox,” “Russian Orthodox,” etc.  We are large, yet we do not provide pastoral care for these people.  They may live their lives largely away from Church and away from Christ.  We may say that the Church is here for them when they come – and this is true – but it feels a shallow and half-hearted response.  Zacchaeus the tax-collector[5] lived a life apart from God, had even to climb a tree to see Christ, yet the Lord did not say “I am here for him if he needs me,” but saw – was looking out for – even the slightest move towards him and went to meet Zacchaeus at his tree and in his home.  Simply being there for “our people” is not enough: we are not doing what we should for them.

My instinct, too, tells me that we are not bringing new people to faith in Jesus Christ.  When, a few moments ago, I asked you to imagine only the adults I did this because I fear that many of the past generations of children have left the Church behind them once they themselves have reached adulthood.  Some, I know, are coming to Christ because of the Orthodox Church in our countries, some too are staying: but are we really preaching the Faith to our world, to our society?

If I may pause for a moment, it may be you do not recognise in your life, or your parish, your church, what I say: if this is the case then glory to God!  I hope, for you, in the remainder of this presentation you are able to draw away some ideas and practices which may still be of benefit.  I ask your prayers for me and I look to you for guidance.

Yet, continuing with the assumption that what I propose as the current situation is true, or at least part of the truth, let us examine why that may be, that we may correct it in our lives and so proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom more effectively to “our people” as well as to the society around us.

Start with why: The Golden Circle

To my knowledge, Simon Sinek is not a religious man.  His Wikipedia entry lists him as an “author, motivational speaker and organisational consultant.”[6]  His organisation is committed to fostering a better work environment for everyone where each manager can become a true leader and enable every employee to reach his potential.  In Sinek’s book,[7] and talk,[8] he uses examples of businesses which do more than sell products or services: they sell ideas and create communities.  To explain his concept, he uses what he terms the Golden Circle: three concentric circles with the words, from the centre outwards, WHY, HOW and WHAT.

And to explain the concept, he states:

WHAT: Every single company and organization on the planet knows WHAT they do.  This is true no matter how big or small, no matter what the industry.  Everyone is easily able to describe the products or services a company sells or the job function they have within that system.  WHATs are easy to identify.

HOW: Some companies and people know HOW they do WHAT they do.  …  Not as obvious as WHATs, many think these are the differentiating or motivating factors in a decision.  It would be false to assume that’s all that is required.  There is one missing detail:

WHY: Very few people or companies can clearly articulate WHY they do WHAT they do.  When I say WHY, I don’t mean to make money – that’s a result.  By WHY I mean what is your purpose, cause or belief?  WHY does your company exist?  WHY do you get out of bed in the morning?  And WHY should anyone care?

When most organizations or people think, act or communicate they do so from the outside in, from WHAT to WHY.  And for good reason – they go from the clearest to the fuzziest thing.  We say WHAT we do, we sometimes say HOW we do it, but we rarely say WHY we do WHAT we do.[9]

The Golden Circle is particularly useful since it relates to our biology.  The outer part of our brain, the neocortex, is responsible for our rational and analytical thought and language, the inner part, the limbic brain, is responsible for all our feelings.[10]  This is why we often have difficulties describing our feelings since they are contained within our limbic brain which has no capacity for language: we instead must use our neocortex, responsible for rational thought, to describe our inner feelings which can be a challenging process.

Sinek’s argument is that the companies which are the most successful, which develop deep loyalty from their employees and customers alike, which define their industry, also are ones which have a clear WHY and always start with their WHY.  Though the following example is from the world of consumer products, through it we can gain an interesting insight: one of Sinek’s examples is the company Apple, makers of personal computers, the iPhones and various other technologies.  In all they do they start from the centre of the Golden Circle and work outwards.  Were Apple like many other companies, a marketing campaign from them might go:

We make great computers.
They’re beautifully designed, simple to use and user-friendly.
Wanna buy one?[11]

This is how many companies act.  “We make great cars,” “We have the best network coverage,” “We have the cheapest clothes:” “come, be our customers.”  But not Apple.  Apple start with their WHY, their purpose, their – if you will pardon the pun – core.  Their advertising runs along different lines.

Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo.  We believe in thinking differently.

The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly.

And we happen to make great computers.

Wanna buy one?[12]

Apple have been able to communicate their WHY, because they started with their WHY, and consumers have followed.  Not all consumers, Apple have rarely had the majority position in a field – more computers are sold with Microsoft’s Windows, more phones are sold by Samsung with the Android operating system – but Apple excites its industry and leads it.  Other companies seem to want to make their products more like Apple’s.

Their employees and their customers buy into this: customers have been known to queue for hours outside the Apple Stores to get their new product on the day of launch.  WHY would they do that?  They could simply turn up a week later and walk straight in.  Customers may not be able to articulate their own WHY, the reason they are willing to sacrifice so much of their own time and money to an Apple product – remember that the WHY is associated with the limbic, inner, brain which has no capacity for language – but they know that Apple’s WHY somehow resonates with their own WHY so that they belong, they are part of a bigger structure, they have found a culture in which they fit.  They are welcomed in and, because they have found a home, they contribute what they have to make their Apple family successful.  Because the WHY is clearly articulated by Apple, the WHY of the community they have built is attractive and binding for its members.

The Golden Circle for the Church

It was Steve Christoforou, director of the Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (Y²AM) for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America,[13] who brought my attention to applying Simon Sinek’s work to the Church.[14]  Christoforou contends that – in America at least, though I find his words applicable to Britain and Ireland – we have focused on the WHATs of ministry when we have worked with the youngest members of the Church:  I propose a new model for how I believe the Church should operate in the light of the Golden Circle, not only in our ministries to the young but to all.

WHY	To preach the saving death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and invite all to come to greater knowledge of the Father through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
HOW	The Orthodox Church, the pillar and ground of the truth, which preaches the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
WHAT	Divine services Service to others Community building Education for all[15]

I present this not as a completed model but, I hope, one on which we can build.

How much of our efforts are connected with our WHATs?  “Our liturgy is the most beautiful,” “we need to make a better choir,” “there’s a dance class on Wednesday evening,” “this is what happened at the Fourth Ecumenical Council.”  How much of our efforts are based on our HOW?  “The Orthodox Church is the true Church,” “only we preach the true Christ.”  All of these are important – it was the WHAT which converted the hearts of Prince Vladimir’s emissaries, which gave a fresh outlook to St Nikolaï after the Vigil, which many of us have as the reason for being Orthodox – we do not dismiss the WHATs and the HOWs of our Faith.  But if it is good for us to apply the Golden Circle to the Church in these countries then we must think about the WHY of our Faith, the WHY of our Church: not only think about it but place it first in all we do.  Start with Christ through his Church in her Services.

We do not serve the Liturgy because it is beautiful – though of course it is! – but because the Liturgy expresses completely the saving death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and offers knowledge of God through participation in him.  We do not have classes so “our people” know the difference between us and the Catholics but so that their knowledge of God can deepen and they can move closer to him.  We start with Christ through his Church in her Services.

When we place the WHY of the Gospel first we do not change the Faith, “which was once for all delivered to the saints,”[16] but change how we think about it and present it to others.  I contend we need to transform our presentation of the unchanging Faith in order to reach out and change the lives of our children and our society.  The Orthodox Church is not an option, an available route through our modern times, but is the Truth because she is the bride of the slain and risen Lamb.

Description of the WHATs

In this model the WHATs are important, they are what we do, but we must have a WHY for our WHAT – or rather, our WHY determines our WHATs – and our WHY is Christ.  Let us then refocus on our WHY but we express our WHY through our HOW, the Church, in our WHATs: namely the divine services, particularly though not exclusively the Divine Liturgy, our ministries to the wider community, our ministries to others within the Orthodox community – we could term this pastoral care or “inward mission”[17] – and catechism for children and adults alike.

It is beyond the scope of this talk to go into too much detail about these WHATs but I offer a few broad comments which I hope might stimulate some thoughts and reactions.  I hope Divine Services are self-explanatory though often we need more in our parishes: it is in coming to conferences such as this one, where we can experience a fuller programme, we realise how far we need to go in our parishes.  Within the remaining three WHATs, I wonder if these are less developed in Britain and Ireland than they could be.  Service to others, our philanthropic work within the society in which we live, is vital yet I wonder how many of the towns and cities in which we exist would notice if we ceased to exist?  Or if our neighbours find themselves in need, how many would turn to their Orthodox Church for help?  Are we better at charitable work for foreign causes than for the poor, homeless, destitute, lonely or hungry near us?

The need for Community building is urgent for the Church throughout the world.  Whether because of overwhelming numbers or communities spread over vast geographical areas – the latter being the more common here – yet, “the main difficulty arises,” according to Archbishop Anastasios of Albania, perhaps the preeminent missionary of our times,

from the pace of life, from our great mobility, from the possibility of forming relationships irrespective of one’s place of residence.  The parishioners remain strangers to one another, and unknown to the priest.  The character of the Eucharistic community has been radically altered and only a few symbolic rituals remind them of family life and communion in Christ.[18]

Our Church needs to address this: do we rely solely on “our people” being able to talk to each other after the Sunday Liturgy?  Do we actively encourage and support more events.  It seems to me that many of our “ethnic parishes” do a better job at bringing together their community than many of our other communities; “ethnic parishes” is itself another unfortunate term, I will mention more on them later.

Finally, we must offer continuing Education for all.  Without a robust understanding of our Faith, it would be easy for a person of any age to fall away.  How many of our communities are able to offer a regular Bible study, or other such enterprises, with a significant proportion of the community attending?  We come back to the issue of parishes covering large areas but that can be an excuse simply to do nothing.  We do cover a wide area: can we make use of technology, or a different use of time on Sunday mornings, or some other solution, to give “our people” a firm and secure understanding of their Faith?  Do we share best practices?  Do we provide and pay for expert support for our clergy and catechists so they can develop their abilities?

Our current situation – SWOT

I believe we have spent too long in Britain and Ireland focusing on the WHATs and the HOWs of our Faith.  We have been established through immigration and small numbers of converts have been attracted to the Faith – mostly either through marriage or through a search by existing Christians to find a more authentic Church than they experienced in their formative tradition.  Of course, while speaking in these general terms, I do allow for exceptions: I hope these exceptions are numerous.

In order to assess our situation, it could be useful to perform a SWOT analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.  Could you do one for your own life of Faith?  As a community could your parish do one?  Strengths and Weaknesses refer to our internal life, things we do well and things which we do badly; Opportunities and Threats are external to our lives.  Helpfully, the Metropolis of Atlanta in America went through its own Strategic Plan in 2015 which included a SWOT analysis accessible online,[19] below I offer my own for the Church in Britain and Ireland.

Strengths The True Faith The Divine Liturgy An experience of beauty Large network of parishes Committed clergy Monastery of St John the Baptist and other monastic communities Orthodox Fellowship of St John the Baptist Good chanters & choirs Low administration costs Many lay people willing to volunteer time and expertise IOCS

Weaknesses Not starting with WHY Underfunded Young people not seeing need for Church Ageing clergy and not enough clergy Unclear purpose – to preserve cultural associations? Parishes covering large geographical areas and isolation of communities Lack of worship apart from Sunday mornings Expertise at parish level variable Little coordination between jurisdictions No organised local way of training clergy and others (Seminary)

Opportunities A population in need of Christ Evangelism Use technology to better communicate Current laity have many of the needed skills A desire among some of the Faithful to deepen their Faith

Threats Spread of secularism Other Faiths/Churches more welcoming Faithful have various time constraints

These are not exhaustive lists, you may be able to identify additional items to be added to each section.  The point of doing a SWOT analysis, though, is not simply to make lists but to act on them: build on our Strengths, address our Weaknesses, take advantage of our Opportunities and mitigate against our Threats.  In all this we should hold onto our WHY-HOW-WHAT method, the Golden Circle: start with Christ through his Church in her Services – liturgical, philanthropic, communal and educational.

The future – a vision

In the Parable of the Last Judgement,[20] it is our actions towards the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick and imprisoned which mark us as Christians: towards those who hunger for the Word of God, thirst for his love, are estranged from his Church, need to be clothed in him, are sick through sin and imprisoned by fear of death.

I believe all in Britain and Ireland, more than seventy million persons, have a desire for love, a desire for hope.  I believe all want truth and want a relationship with Truth.  I believe all deserve to be loved, deserve to know they are loved and deserve to love.  I believe all have a right to hear the Gospel.  I believe all can come to a deeper knowledge of God through the Orthodox Church.  I believe all belong in the Orthodox Church.

Further, I believe it is our responsibility to make this happen.  I believe we must work to enable the Church to fulfil her mission.  I believe the Lord has given us talents and we must be like the first two servants and not the third.[21]

The mission of the Church is clear,

Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.[22]

“[B]ut some doubted.”  Seeing the Lord preach, teach, heal the sick, raise the dead, be crucified, buried, rise again: even in this situation, “some doubted.”  It is not wrong to doubt.  But in that doubt we should allow ourselves to be inspired by the Spirit to take up our crosses[23] and go.  The Lord did not ask the Apostles, those sent out, to wait until their doubts were gone nor that they should linger in Jerusalem until they had overcome all their challenges.  Go, says the Lord, make disciples of all, teach them to observe all things and, behold, he makes a promise: if we accept he has all authority, if we go, if we make disciples of all, if we baptise in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, if we teach all he has commanded, then he will be with us always.  What a great promise he has made to us!

We need to live up to this vision.  We are not all bishops, nor all clergy, but we are baptised into Christ[24] and are responsible for what we do.  Can we effect change in our homes and parishes so that they witness the mission of the Church?  Can we encourage our hierarchs and give them cause to effect such change in their dioceses?

The question of language

I do not claim to have all the answers nor even to have all the questions: so far I have identified what I perceive to be a major challenge within the Church in these isles – we are not communicating Christ to a large enough proportion of our youth nor to potential converts around us – along with a reason for this – we are not starting with WHY, with Christ’s saving death and resurrection.  I have given a SWOT analysis for the Church here and a vision for what the Church can be, or rather what she is.  If I may, before continuing I will go off for a few moments on a tangent: the question of language.  I have heard often from Orthodox, whether born within an Orthodox family or one who has joined the Orthodox Church in adult life, that our major problem is the “ethnics:” those who refuse to assimilate, who are unwelcoming to converts, who have pushed away second and third generations of children from the Church because they cannot understand the services in Greek, Slavonic, Romanian or any other foreign language.  In the past I too have made such comments: I regret that I have done so.

In this perceived problem, an objection will be made along the lines of “if Greek (or any other) churches would worship in English then our children would stay in Church and we would be better able to reach converts.”  I find this unconvincing.  Its attraction is that it makes sense to someone who has chosen to join, or remain within, the Orthodox Church in our western society: people like you and me.  We have found Orthodoxy and found the beauty within it, we listen to the beautiful music, the poetic theology of the hymns, we hear about the symbolism of the vestments, the reason for icons and the conversion of the Slavs and we are entranced.  We go to Church, read books, go to conferences, and – to use a contemporary phrase – “buy into” it all.  It is easy, therefore, for us to believe that making this available to others will mean they “buy into” it as well.  “It is logical, it makes sense,” we convince ourselves.

There is some anecdotal evidence of this but I am unaware of any quantitative research being carried out.  I mentioned towards the beginning of this address that one difficulty we face is a lack of evidence and statistical data.  Are communities which use exclusively, or predominantly, English in their services any better at enabling children raised in Orthodox families or converts to remain in the Faith?  I pose this as an open question.  My instinct, though I hope research could be conducted to clarify, is that there is some difference, some improvement, in rates of retention where English is used but not a great deal.  We do have the example of America, with the obvious huge caveat that Britain and Ireland are quite different from our neighbours across the Atlantic especially with regards to matters of religion and faith, where the Orthodox Church in America, the OCA, has lost large numbers of her faithful over the last decades despite using much English whereas the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, GOARCH, has been able to hold onto her numbers while retaining a strong Greek identity.[25]  Reasons for this are varied, may be specific to America, and there is much concern about the next generation in GOARCH, but I hope this one example serves as an instance where it is not so simple to say all we need to do is use English in our Churches.  There is a more fundamental reason: we all must “start with WHY.”

How do we get there?  SMART goals.

Having taken a slight detour, let us return to what we can do to bring about our vision of the Church.  The previously mentioned Strategic Plan of the Metropolis of Atlanta highlighted the verse from Proverbs, “Where there is no vision, the people will perish,” along with the instruction of St Paul, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.”[26]  To make such plans, to bring about the vision and “be witnesses to [Christ] in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth,”[27] is good and biblical but we must do so effectively.  To call to mind again the Parable of the Talents, we are, perhaps, the third servant given very little, but we are still expected to make a return on the investment Christ has made in us and we can ill afford to make vague assertions: “we want to grow the Church,” “we want to increase our ministries,” “we want to have more priests and buildings.”  All these are good and to be commended but they do not make best use of our meagre resources and have the vagueness of a goal which none expects to achieve except by surprise; rather, we must make sure our goals are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound.  Were one, or more, of these attributes missing from a goal it may be a good target but it does not provide a route to get there.  I give here some goals which are SMART goals, perhaps your Church could use them?  Or adapt them?

Underfunded.  I hope we all know how underfunded our Churches are: few are able to support a priest even a measure of a wage, he is often expected to subsidise the Church out of his own resources.

SMART Goal 1: (a) Each person to commit to pray and ask what proportion (percentage) of total income every week or month God is calling each to give to the local Church.  Implement this before the end of September.

(b) Speak to two other members of the parish about what you are doing before December and encourage them to do the same.

This is a SMART goal.  It is specific – not a vague “give more” but a call to pray and follow up the prayer with a commitment to giving a certain proportion each week or month along with being evangelical about it within a community.  It is measurable: each of you would be able to say whether you have accomplished it or not.  It is attainable: each person can choose what proportion of his income to give after careful prayer to the Lord.  It is both realistic and time-bound.  Is this a goal you could take up?

Not starting with WHY.  It would be amiss of me to not address this in a goal: it has been the main purpose of my talk.  I wanted to start with giving generously from our wealth as it is something which we can all do.  Our reluctance to start with the WHY of our Faith needs to be addressed among the leadership, clergy and laity, and it is, therefore, necessary to step tentatively.

SMART Goal 2: By December, each new publication from each parish to include the phrase, “We preach the saving death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and invite all to come to greater knowledge of the Father through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Again, I hope we can all agree this is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound.  This would be a tiny step towards addressing the weakness I have identified within the Church in Britain and Ireland: yet it would be a symbolic[28] step and one on which we can build.

Paying Clergy.  I have already stated the problem many of our communities have with money, yet they can all start paying their clergy.  This will have many effects, prime among which recognising the efforts the clergy put in as well as start to build the resilience of the community so they can pay more in the future.  It will demonstrate to potential new clergy, of whom we are in desperate need, that to be ordained is a path where he can support himself and his family and not be expected to be a volunteer; he will be freed to allow the Church to fulfil her mission.  This SMART Goal is for any community which either does not pay her clergy or does not do so as an employer.

SMART Goal 3: Each community to register with HMRC, or Irish Tax and Customs, as an employer before December and, by the end of December, start paying all clergy through payroll at least £10 or €10 a week.  The rate of pay is to be reviewed at least every six months with a presumption that the amount will be increased at each review towards a full salary.

This goal says nothing of whether the clergyman wants to be paid or not: it is not his choice because it is for the future of the Church that it is being done.  Were Goals 1 and 3 to be combined, I believe we could have a starting point greater than £10 or €10: but we must start somewhere and we must be realistic.

Witness to guests.  Guests may come to any service.  They may see your website says “Orthros at 9.30,” have no idea what that means but come anyway.  They may be amazed at the beauty of the Kathismata hymns, the theology of the Evlogitaria.  Hearing so much about the Resurrection, especially the proclamation of the Gospel, they may be impressed with how much we stress its centrality in our worship.  They stay longer, they hear the priest proclaim “Blessed is the Kingdom … now and forever,” and are astounded by how profound the blessing is, in a way we take for granted.  Throughout this time no one has welcomed them and only a trickle of supposedly faithful have walked in.  They leave later on and no one acknowledges their presence.  Is this the Christian way?  Are they likely to return?

SMART Goal 4: (a) By September, each Christian to review Sunday morning routines in order to arrive at Church before the service starts.

(b) By December, each parish to create or review its policy on how to welcome guests into the worshipping community.

Could you commit to being at Church before the service?  As well as being a witness to guests it would be a practical way of demonstrating to your priest, with deeds as well as words, that you value his ministry and the sacrifices to his time he is making by yourself making the same sacrifices.  It will also witness to our children and members of our communities on the periphery our commitment and would be a silent invitation to them to draw nearer the Lord.

Could you take charge of your parishes’ welcoming ministry?  Could you help design and make an attractive brochure?  Could you take down the name, address, email, phone number, etc., of guests and commit to phone them in the week to say how grateful you are that they joined us for worship?  Could you invite them back for another event, not necessarily a service?  Could you coordinate a team so that every service – Vespers, Parakleses, weekday Liturgies, etc. – has a welcome ministry?  You do not need to start from scratch, there are solutions available,[29] but someone other than the clergy needs to take charge.[30]

What can you do?

Be proactive!  The time for us sitting back and waiting for the Orthodox Church to grow in Great Britain and Ireland, if it ever existed, is gone.  If we want there to be an Orthodox Church in these Islands in forty years’ time then we must be a part of her now.  We need to build on the progress which has been made so that our existing network of parishes do not atrophy and die: God makes a promise that the gates of Hades will not prevail against his Church[31] but makes no such promises to local churches in particular places: a hundred years ago Christian communities which had existed from the first century were lost in the aftermath of the First World War and we cannot presume that ours will not share the same fate.

God is calling you, each one of you, to be the Church, to be the presence of Christ in our society which is suffering.  To do so, I have proposed that we should stop directing our talk to the WHATs, whether within our communities or to our wider society, and focus on the WHY first: let all our communication be centred on the crucified and risen Christ that we may come to know the Father through him and the Holy Spirit.  It is the responsibility of all, clergy and laity, to achieve this and I hope my words can act as a call to action.

Conclusion

I have spoken here in general terms, but also as a reflection of my own experiences rather than a systematic review of our contemporary Church.  Exceptions can abound and I hope they do.  I offer these words not to criticise others but because I love the Church and I desire that she has a future during the next forty years and beyond in Great Britain and Ireland.

I started with two quotations from our past: I hope and pray that these past glories can be not only replicated but developed so that we may each hear from Christ at the last day, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.”[32]

Forgive me.

Presbyter Alexander Haig

  

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[1] Russian Primary Chronicle, cited at <https://oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/church-history/tenth-century/saint-vladimir-of-kiev > Accessed 9/7/19.

[2] St Nikolaï (Velimirović), cited in Mother Mary & Kallistos Ware, ‘The Lenten Triodion’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1978), p. 13.

[3] Ps. 67 (68).

[4] Statistics remain difficult though Met. Kallistos has made some estimates: perhaps half a million Orthodox or those with Orthodox ancestry.  See Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, ‘Not Ethnic but Global: Orthodoxy in the Western World’ <https://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/1662121> Accessed 9/7/19.

[5] Luke 19:1-10.

[6] Wikipedia, ‘Simon Sinek’, < https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Simon_Sinek&oldid=901845615> Accessed 9/7/19.

[7] Simon Sinek, ‘Start With Why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action’ (London: Portfolio Penguin, 2011).

[8] TED Talks, ‘Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action’ <https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action> Accessed 9/7/19.

[9] Simon Sinek, ‘Start With Why’, p. 39.

[10] See ibid., pp. 55-6.

[11] Ibid., p. 40.

[12] Ibid., p. 41.

[13] See the Y²AM website for more details and resources < https://www.y2am.org> Accessed 9/7/19.

[14] In particular, his keynote address to the ‘Orthodox Family in a Changing World at the Center for Family Care's second Family Ministry Conference on September 21, 2017.’ <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcTujX3lO5s> Accessed 9/7/19.

[15] Antioch Alexander, ‘Orthodox Christianity’ <https://antiochalexander.blogspot.com/2018/09/orthodox-christianity.html> Accessed 9/7/19.

[16] Jude 3.

[17] See Archbishop Anastasios of Albania, ‘Theology, Mission and Pastoral Care,’ in ‘Mission in Christ’s Way’ (Brookline MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2010), pp. 65-93.

[18] Ibid., p. 81.

[19] Metropolis of Atlanta, ‘Strategic Plan’ < http://atlstrategicplan.org> Accessed 9/7/19.  The completed document can be downloaded from that site or directly from <https://atlstrategicplan.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/FINAL-STRATEGIC-PLAN-6-6-15.pdf> Accessed 15/7/19.

[20] Matt. 25:31-46.

[21] See Matt. 25:14-30.

[22] Matt. 28:16-20.

[23] See Matt. 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23. Luke’s account says “take up [our] cross daily.”

[24] See Gal. 3:27.

[25] See Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, ‘Not Ethnic but Global: Orthodoxy in the Western World.’

[26] Prov. 29:18; 2 Cor. 13:5.

[27] Acts 1:8.

[28] I use ‘symbolic’ not as meaning ‘mere symbol but little else’ but as an outward sign of an inward change.

[29] For example, see the ‘Missions and Evangelism Ministry’ of the Metropolis of San Francisco, <http://groworthodoxy.org> Accessed 9/7/19.

[30] Many other ways of evangelising were discussed at the conference, ‘Bringing Orthodoxy to America’ in October 2016, which have some interesting suggestions.  The talks are can be watched or listened to at <https://www.ancientfaith.com/specials/bringing_orthodoxy_to_america> Accessed 9/7/19.

[31] Matt. 16:18.

[32] Matt. 25:21, 23.