Tag: evangelism

Changing the Mindset of our Churches

Changing the Mindset of our Churches

By Fr Abraham Fam

Originally seen at goCoptic blog (October 30, 2019)

Have you ever heard that change is good? Change is not something we should shrink away from. Change is progress. 

It is important to note that we are not changing the Faith, but progressing towards Mission as a way of life. We would actually change back to the original mindset. The Mind of Christ. The Mind of the Early Church was Mission and Evangelism. It is the Orthodox Way.

The goal is to have the Mind of Christ and the Mind of the Early Apostolic Church so the Mind of Evangelism can flourish in our Churches today.

We are not used to it because our mindset over the years, due to persecution, was more preserving the Faith. Or trying to adjust to immigration in a new county.

We are in a different stage now and it is time to go back to our original mindset. It will take great patience and humility for the Church to get back again.

Below are points on how we can reach the original mindset again:

  1. We need the Mind of Christ.

Fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus 

Philippians 2:2-5

It is our aim and goal to have the Mind of Christ. The way He thought and the way He served and moved. This is the way we should go towards. 

The Mind of Christ is not merely having programs but loving others better than myself. Loving the unlovable, unbeliever and the lost sheep.

Sometimes in this movement towards Bold Evangelism and Preserving Faith and Adapting to Culture, we have a stubborn mind that is not Christ’s mind. 

We need to be students again of the Mind of Christ and the way He wants it. 

What are some of the characteristics of the Mind of Christ so that we can attain it?

Spiritually Minded

I must care about spiritually minded things and not have a carnal mind. (Romans 8:5-6). A carnal or earthly mind filled with selfish desires is death to evangelism and reaching out to all people. The spiritual mind cares about the salvation of others.

The problem is not having evangelism programs in my Church but not having a spiritual mind.

Humble Mind not Double Mind

Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

Romans 12:16

Today we hear a lot of opinions and we are set in our own ways. Are we open to listen and discuss? There are so many visions and opinions and not much humility.

Early on in my priesthood, I was very stubborn and shut down other ideas. I have since learned a valuable lesson in humility.

Like-minded

There are many verses in the Bible and the Early Apostolic Church that shows a focus for being like-minded and one minded (Romans 15:5, 1 Corinthians 1:10, 2 Corinthians 3:11, Philippians 1:27).

Like-minded means that there are no divisions among us. Yes, we will have disagreements and we will be different than each other but we have to work towards being one in our Churches. 

It is ok to meet and pray and discuss ideas of how to make the Church grow and for the church to have the Mindset of Christ and Mindset for Evangelism.

We can’t look down at someone who didn’t experience what I experienced. For example, I have been in Africa for over 12 years and have some mission and evangelism experiences. I can’t come back to the States and judge everyone for not having the same focus.

No matter where we are in the Church and what we believe, never lose the unity and being of ONE mind. It is a process and we will get there as a Church. Let’s be patient during the process but let’s move one step.

Pray to Renew your Mind

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Romans 12:2

This should be our prayer to get to the Mind of Christ. God renew my mind. Let Your will be done in my life and in our Church.

Don’t let us be like the world and conform to it, but help be part of saving it. 

Before you are set in stone with something, let’s pray for God to renew our mind and soften it.

2. Mind of the Early Church continued to have the Mind of Christ

If you read the Book of Acts, you will see the great love and unity the Early Church had for each other. Because of that, many were being saved daily (Acts 2:42-47).

The Faith was not just statement in the Creed that was recited. It was the way they lived because of what they believed. 

I think that is the biggest change we need to ask God to renew in our mind and our heart.

May we have the Mind of the First Church. We need to return to it.

3. Mind of Evangelism Today

Here is the hard part that I have seen in the Church today. We all have so many different ideas, cultures, beliefs, personalities, and baggage. All of it comes together at once and we become hard-headed on what we think should be done.

It is hard to find 7 people to agree together on any given topic. If we can’t be like-minded and have one mind, how are we going to reach out to even more different ideas, cultures, beliefs, races, personalities, and baggage? 

We have to prepare ourselves and our churches for what God is getting ready to do. The harvest is ready (John 4:35) so GO!

As Orthodox Christians, however, many of us fall into a stubborn way of protecting the faith. Some would say that you should be like St. Athanasius and St. Basil so the faith doesn’t get watered down.

But don’t stop having the Mind of Christ while you do that. Let us be firm to protect our faith in a godly, humble way.

Let us listen and discuss and keep the forum open so we can grow our Churches in the mission area God has given us. 

Main goal of this talk is to have the Mindset of Evangelism we will need for all to reach towards the Mind of Christ and the Apostles. 

Let us work together without bullying each other or judging each other or hurting each other.

Imagine what the Church would look like in 5o years in North America and the rest of the world if we have the Mind of Christ, Mind of Apostles, and the Mind of Evangelism. 

Will our children and their children still be in the Church?

We need to pray to change the mindset. 

We are on the same team. Let us work together in to reach out. Let us look back to go forward. 

See more at the BOLD Evangelism Conference

Fr Abraham and Dalia Fam (2019). goCoptic. Changing the Mindset of our Churches by Fr Abraham Fam. Original post- https://gocoptic.org/changing-the-mindset-of-our-churches/

Preaching

Preaching

By Mina Tadros

Christ has trampled death by His death, but what now? “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” – Mark 16:5

Whether it seems fitting or not, when you have a love so great, you can’t help but share it! We share it in preaching. This is no daunting task but one that can only be executed with love that can only come from above.

Fr Tadros Malaty helps by explaining that “God really is the initiator of the reconciliation. So it’s befitting for us then to plead with others to accept this reconciliation to God. We as “ministers” are ambassadors for the Lord Christ and we represent Him. We proclaim God’s will in our reconciliation to the Father. As representatives of Christ, we pray for sinners and plead to them to accept His atoning work, in order to enjoy His divine bosoms which carry them to the bosom of the Father.“

As representatives of God, our role as preachers is to take personal responsibility for proclaiming God’s love for all, His reconciliation and acceptance of His entire creation through His sacrifice, taking the love God shows us and spreading that to His children.

In order to truly represent Christ, we put the genuineness of our relationship with Christ to the test. How can someone truly represent another, unless they know exactly what they stand for?

On Christ’s meeting with His disciples in Galilee after His resurrection (Matt 28), Fr Tadros contemplates: “it is not possible for the servant to preach or make disciples to the Lord, or baptize unless the Lord declares himself in him inwardly. He would then taste and experience, and he offers nothing of himself, but what is declared to him by the Lord.”

However, the responsibility of preaching is not to be taken lightly. In Matt 10, Christ talks very plainly about how to approach preaching, what to expect, and gives encouragement to not be afraid. Let’s look at the main tips from our Lord.

Christ’s selection of disciples to preach Christianity throughout the world. Fr Tadros points out two things:

1) The disciples weren’t particularly talented, or prominent figures in society. They were ordinary people, most of them were from a poor class. This was to assure us that the source of power came from God and not from their own.

2) All the disciples were vastly different in personality. From tax collectors, to religious figures, fisherman. They all gathered in Jesus Christ to be sanctified together as members one to the other. They worked in one Spirit for the preaching of the one gospel.

St John Chrysostom explains that Christ, “wanted to train them in perfection, he asked them not to think about what concerns tomorrow. He was sending them as teachers to the entire world.” We can think of perhaps replacing these material necessities with Christ’s garment of virtues. Instead of gold, silver, copper and money belts, as we preach, we can take with us the heavenly virtuous life, the Holy Word of God, the power of the Cross, continuous repentance.

St Ambosios reminds us of St Peter’s miracle when he said “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6). The power of God in our life is more powerful than anything material. The work of God is spiritual and no physical possession is necessary to do God’s work, instead our own virtue and spirituality is what can prepare us for His work.

Attitude during preaching. “If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you” (Matt 10: 13). Fr Tadros explains that practically, “God didn’t want them disturbed by the service. They had to teach the word as it is, and not to get disturbed if it is refused by anyone! They are preachers for sure, but it is God who works in them and through them.”

The world’s rejection. “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matt 10: 16).  St John Chrysostom warns us that there is a risk of us being the wolves if we stand against our enemies contrary to Christ’s message to His disciples of spirituality and having inward peace. Instead as sheep, we are protected by our true Shepherd. As our Shepherd, the Lord is committed to protecting us and working through us.

St Augustine beautifully reflects, “when the serpent feels its getting too old, and the long years it has lived, it shrinks, and makes it a point to enter through a small hole, so its old skin would be stripped off. It is then that he starts a new life. You have to follow this example, as you are a Christian.” In this way we should be wise as serpents, and “put on the new man”. As doves, we should remain cheerful, and rejoice together in unity. Doves never quarrel but live peacefully together.

Facing trouble during preaching. The Lord offers us an important principle amidst external trouble. That we do not throw ourselves in the middle of these tempests and provoke those who annoy us. We should escape trouble and not give the opportunity for those that bother us to increase their rebellion. Pope Athanasius says that, “our Saviour commanded we run away when we are persecuted, and hide from those who search for us.”

Inward war. The church fathers explain that having now considered these external wars, to be conscious of the inward war that takes place. “It is an excessively ferocious war because it takes place in the inward soul. The enemy wages it so man would be divided against itself.” So it is wise to be diligent in our spiritual life so that we are armoured against anything that tries to divide us, and weaken us in our endeavour to do God’s work.

May we remember that when we live as children of God and embody Christ’s virtues we become beacons of light. As God did with the disciples, we become His ambassadors in the world; every interaction and every word we say, Christ will use as an opportunity for His Word to spread through us. Christ reminds us that when we fear Him and live in His light, that nothing in this world can harm us, for they can kill the body, but can never touch our soul.

?Matthew 28, Acts 1, 2 Corinthians 5, Matthew 10, 2 Corinthians 11, Mark 10, Isaiah 19 ?

Why are you here?

Why are you here?

by Bethany Kaldas

 ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.’

~ Matthew 5:16

Before you start reading this, I want you to look around. Take note of where you are, who you are with, and how you got there. Keeping all that in mind, I want you to ask yourself, ‘Why am I here?’

People spend a lot of time contemplating the meaning of life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m one of them—and if you’re claiming not to be then I suspect you need your humanity revoked. But asking that huge, impersonal question of ‘Why are we (as in, all things that exist) here?’ has often proven to be a case of biting off a bit more than we can chew. Just a bit. And this has generated a lot of existential angst in those who find themselves pondering the meaning of all that is.

When faced with questions too big to swallow, it can help to ask smaller questions first. When I urged you to ask yourself why you are here, I did not want you to contemplate the meaning of your personal existence. Even this is a question possibly too big to be grappled with at the moment. I meant quite literally, why are you right here, right now?

I’m sure you can generate a wealth of obvious answers to those questions. If you’re reading this on the train, for instance, you’re here because you have somewhere to go. You’re surrounded by the people around you because they too have somewhere to go, but otherwise have no connection to you. I think I can safely say that (unless something extremely strange is happening in your life), you are fairly confident in the reason for why you are literally here, be it by choice or by chance. It is not a question we tend to give much thought to.

But is it possible that the key to that big, ultimate question of why we are here is rooted in the simple, mundane question of why you are here, in the most basic sense? Is it possible that there’s more to why you are where you are, with the people you are with (or alone, for that matter), than mere coincidence?

Let’s talk about a Biblical story we should all be familiar with: the Samaritan woman (John 4:1-40). This is a seemingly random encounter with enormous consequences. And it does seem quite random. The Samaritan woman had been gathering water (specifically at an hour when she assumed she would meet no-one) and Jesus had been on His way to Judea and was only passing through Samaria.

If you had asked the woman at the well, ‘Why are you here?’, I can imagine she probably would have said something about needing water before telling you to leave her alone. She had no idea the true purpose God was working through her apparently ordinary daily chore. In that one seemingly insignificant moment, everything changed. She saw the Saviour. She helped countless others to see Him too. And even to this day, her story aids us in meeting Him in our lives.

…But that’s different to your life, right? After all, the whole reason that moment held such magnitude was because she had met Christand not just anyoneat that well. If you’re wondering what this really has to do with you, I think Fr Alexander Schmemann expresses it perfectly in his book, Great Lent: Journey to Pascha:

‘Christian love is the “possible impossibility” to see Christ in another man, whoever he is, and whom God, in His eternal and mysterious plan, has decided to introduce into my life, be it only for a few moments, not as an occasion for a “good deed” or an exercise in philanthropy, but as the beginning of an eternal companionship in God Himself.’

When you consider this, can you ever believe that any encounter you have is truly random? That any moment you experience is merely a transition from one more important event to another? That anyone or anything in your life, anything that the world has told you is insignificant and unworthy of attention, is really without purpose

C. S. Lewis addresses this also when he speaks of friendship in The Four Loves:

‘But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking no chances. A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,” can truly say to every group of Christian friends, “Ye have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another.” The friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each of us the beauties of others.’

There is nobody and nothing in your life who is there purely by chance, not in God’s eyes. Christ does not encounter people by accident—He always does so with purpose. And when you encounter someone in your life—anyone, whether they’re a total stranger or someone you’ve known your whole life—you are meeting Christ. And they are meeting Him too—in you.

So I want you to take a moment. Look around you again. Consider where you are, who you are with, and how you got there.

Why are you here? You are here to show Christ to the world. And maybe the answer to that simple, basic question holds the key to that massive, ultimate question. If you are here to show Christ to the world, maybe the world is here to show Christ to you.

‘Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’’

~ Matthew 25:37-40