Mission and Evangelism

Educating on the Orthodox understanding of the Great Commission and how it is not a responsibility but an expression of our joy to share the Gospel to those within and those outside the Church.

Describe the various styles of evangelism and their efficacy in modern day society. Incarnational mission vs Colonialism. The Mission of the MOSC outside of India.. Opening the doors to all and inviting others in to experience the joy of the true worship and the glory of the Kingdom.

Teacher Training and Resources

Reference Materials

A reference is a referral to another's text or information and can refer to written sources (books, reports, articles), videos, Internet sites, images, etc. It can also refer to personal communication in the form of letters, e-mails or interviews. A reference is synonymous with a literary citation or citing a source.

The following materials are offered as sources for information and ideas but please remember to properly give credit if material is used in your writing! If you forget to use references, or your references are incomplete, your work can seem like an empty postulation or create suspicions of plagiarism.

Articles

  1. The Orthodox Parish in North America, Fr. Thomas Hopko [Hopko, F. T. H. (2002, July 21). The Orthodox Parish in North America. Orthodox Church in America]
  2. Rediscovering our Apostolic Identity in the 21st Century, Archbishop Anastasios (Yannoulatos) [Copyright American Theological Library Association, use as reference only]
  3. The Mission of the Malankara Orthodox Church in North America, His Grace Alexios Mar Eusebius (DSWA website)

Videos

Podcasts

Book Excerpts

  1. Eucharistic Renewal (from "The Eucharist: Sacrament of the Kingdom Paperback" by Alexander Schmemann)

Scripture

In order to help our children grow in the Orthodox Faith in North America, a decision was made to standardize all materials to the Orthodox Study Bible (DSWA Kalpana DSWA/C/016/2010, October 28, 2010). Please continue to pray and support the development of a fully approved translation based on the Peshitta, and our textbooks will educate on the various translations and historic development of Scripture.

  • Matthew 28:18-20

    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, baptizing 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.

  • Acts 1:8

    But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Liturgical Resources

The Ministry of Liturgical Resource Development (LRD) was created in July of 2015 (DSWA Kalpana DSWA/C/10/2015, July 24,2015) to promote the translation, versification, and publication of vital English liturgical resources. Today most of our Sacramental offices are available and the "Service Book of the Holy Qurbono" and "Shehimo: Book of Common Prayer" are available in print. Wherever possible references will be made using LRD resources given the easy access to these materials to the faithful in North America.

Holy Qurbono


Other Hymns


Other Prayers


Promion and Sedro


Quotes

Patristic Quotes

  • [St. Basil the Great] "As it is impossible to verbally describe the sweetness of honey to one who has never tasted honey, so the goodness of God cannot be clearly communicated by way of teaching if we ourselves are not able to penetrate into the goodness of the Lord by our own experience."
  • [St. John Chrysostom] "There would be no need for sermons if our lives were shining; there would be no need for words if we bore witness with our deeds; there would be no more pagans if we were true Christians."

Other Quotes

  • [HG Pathrose Mar Osthathios] "We ought to thank God that the church established by the Apostle St. Thomas hasn't perished and it still survives today. However, we need to admit, and it is a matter of shame, that we haven't shown the requisite loyalty to the message (of the Gospel) which our ancestors received from the Apostle. The one who established the Malankara Church would have wanted this Church to be a vehicle wherein the whole of India could be won for Christ. Instead of being witness to a true Christian life, a perpetual internal strife owing to the intrusion of foreign churches was witnessed. We are reluctant to include the outcasts in the church and even if they embrace the faith, we show no enthusiasm in welcoming them to the parishes. Such attitude is detrimental to the health of the Church, and some even address it as a 'dead Church'.”
  • [Fr. Thomas Hopko] "An Orthodox parish has only one God-given reason for being. It exists to be the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ. Whatever the original reasons and conditions for its founding, whatever other services and activities it may provide, whatever other desires and needs it may fulfill for its members, a community of Orthodox Christians must be Christ’s one holy Church. If it is not, then it is neither Christian nor Orthodox, whatever else it may be and do."
  • [His Eminence Metropolitan Philip] "Mission begins with oneself, and self-evangelization means bringing the Gospel of Jesus to yourself first. If you are not converted on a personal basis, how can we convert others to Christ?...Self-evangelization is not an easy task. It takes a great deal of discipline, soul searching, restlessness, inner-struggle, and pain. It is easier to invade outer space than to invade our inner being."
  • [Bishop Kallistos Ware] "The traveler on the Spiritual Way, the further he advances, becomes increasingly conscious of two contrasting facts - of the otherness and yet the nearness of the Eternal. In the first place, he realizes more and more that God is mystery. ... Yet, in the second place, this God of mystery is at the same time uniquely close to us, filling all things, present everywhere and within us."
  • [Father Alexander Schmemann] "There is no point in converting people to Christ if they do not convert their vision of the world and of life, since Christ then becomes merely a symbol for all that we love and want already - without God. This kind of Christianity is more terrifying than agnosticism or hedonism.”
  • [Christopher C Knight] "Science, I shall emphasize is limited to answering what we might call 'how' questions.It attempts to explain the mechanisms by which our cosmos operates and has developed. Theology, I shall suggest , is very different. It focuses on what we might call 'why' questions and our attempt to answer these 'why' questions can lead us, in combination with faith, to understanding the cosmos's purpose."

Syriac and Greek Words

Icons

These icons are either approved for publication or the Curriculum Committee is in the process of gaining approval. If you do not see the icon you'd like to use for your writing, please submit the image to the Committee so that we can do the necessary follow-up.

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