July 26, 2011

Changes in Christian Religious Behavior

There is mission work needed in America. Here are some statistics from a non-Orthodox source.
The Barna Group, in its newest report (07-25-11),  describes changes in Religious Behavior (Christian):

An examination of six religious behaviors tracked over the past 20 years among American adults shows that five of the six experienced statistically significant changes during that time frame.

  • Bible reading undertaken during the course of a typical week, other than passages read while attending church events, has declined by five percentage points. Currently an estimated 40% of adults read the Bible during a typical week.
  • Church volunteerism has dropped by eight percentage points since 1991. Presently, slightly less than one out of every five adults (19%) donates some of their time in a typical week to serving at a church.
  • Adult Sunday school attendance has also diminished by eight percentage points over the past two decades. On any given Sunday, about 15% of adults can be expected to show up in a Sunday school class.
  • The most carefully watched church-related statistic is adult attendance. Since 1991, attendance has receded by nine percentage points, dropping from 49% in 1991 to 40% in 2011.
  • The most prolific change in religious behavior among those measured has been the increase in the percentage of adults categorized as unchurched. The Barna Group definition includes all adults who have not attended any religious events at a church, other than special ceremonies such as a wedding or funeral, during the prior six month period. In 1991, just one-quarter of adults (24%) were unchurched. That figure has ballooned by more than 50%, to 37% today.
The only behavior that did not experience any real change was the percentage of adults who attend a church of 600 or more people.
[from http://www.barna.org/faith-spirituality/504-barna-examines-trends-in-14-religious-factors-over-20-years-1991-to-2011 ]

July 14, 2011

Spiritual Principles of Mission

Spiritual Principles of Mission

Ten years have passed since Fr John Brian and few others have been tilling and planting seeds. On July 10, 2001, at the Family Conference in Toronto, Holy Transfiguration Mission officially joined the Mission Society of St Gregorios of India and began the mission work given to us in Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

This week's Gospel (Luke chapter 10) focuses on the seventy disciples sent forth; the beginning of the ministry of Christian mission. The reading from Acts is about the Seven Deacons. St Paul's Epistle also speaks to the legacy of mission work - the continuing blessing to send forth dsciples to bring the message of Christ to a fallen world.

During this time of the Holy Apostles after Pentecost, Fr John Brian speaks about the basic spiritual principles and priorities of Orthodox Christian mission work in America. He stresses the importance for each of us in our continued spiritual development to participate in mission with the gifts and talents God has given us.

Fr John Brian uses the admonitions of Jesus Christ to those He sent ahead of Him to instruct us in s spiritual posture for this modern society and culture that does not understand Holy Orthodoxy.

This is an important teaching for every Orthodox Christian who lives in a non-Orthodox country, but also for those in countries and regions that are becoming increasingly secular.

It is clear that God's will is for everyone to know Him. As Jesus Christ admonishes in Luke 10:

"Tell them the kingdom of heaven is near to them."

This sermon lesson uses the readings and services appointed from the Malankara Syrian lectionary and was given on Sunday, July 10, 2011 by Fr. John Brian Paprock at Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Mission
Chapel, Madison, Wisconsin.

"We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency may be of the power of God and not of us." 2 Corinthians 4:7.

PODCAST OR DOWNLOAD: http://feeds.feedburner.com/frjohnbrian or
http://frjohnbrian.hipcast.com/rss/spiritual_reflections_or_fr_john_brian.xml
Listen on-line here:

American Orthodox Missionary Work

Martyred Priest Daniel Sysoev & American Orthodox Missionary Work
By Fr. Gregory Jensen
Oct 6, 2010, 10:00
        

Pravmir.com is continuing to publish reflections on parishes' missionary work in response to Fr. Daniel Sysoev's article.

Missionary work by contemporary American Orthodox Christians is similar in many ways to that undertaken in Russia by the recently martyred Fr. Daniel Sysoev.  Some of Fr Daniel's practices--for example people gathering after Divine Liturgy to "drink tea or coffee together"--are the norm in American Orthodox parishes.  Other things, like the daily recitation of the Psalms and the regular reading of Holy Scripture during the priest's communion at Liturgy, are practices worth introducing here in America.  

On the other hand Fr Daniel's strong emphasis on religious education, especially catechesis and Bible study are rather unevenly practiced in America.  Some of our parish have well developed religious education programs for children and adults, while other do nothing at all.  The majority of our parish however limit religious education to catechetical classes for children.  Unfortunately even these are often only poorly attended.

This is not to say that he situation in the States is bleak, it isn't.  But as Archpriest Andrew Phillips  mentioned in his own essay (On Orthodox Pastoral Work in the Western World and its Differences with Contemporary Russia), the Church in America is small and poor.  This is especially the case when we compare ourselves to the Roman Catholic Church or the various Protestant denominations.  Many of our priests need secular employment to feed their families and so the life of the parish is largely limited to Saturday and Sunday (and sometimes only Sunday).  Unfortunately because of this not only the pastoral life but also the missionary work of the Church suffers. 

According to a recent survey, only about one third (34%) of Orthodox Christians in America attend church at least weekly.  Sadly this is less than the national average of all religions (39%) and dramatically less than for Evangelical Christians  (58%), members of historic black churches (59%), Catholics (42%),  Jehovah Witnesses (82%) and Mormons (75%).  At least in terms of weekly  church attendance Orthodox Christians look more like mainline  Protestants (also 34%).  The only people less active on  a weekly basis in their religious tradition are Jews (16%), Buddhist (17%), Hindus (24%), and  the religious unaffiliated (5%).

Compare this to the fact that, according to the same survey that vast majority of Orthodox Christians say that religion  (and here I am assuming this means the Orthodox faith) is very important (56%) or somewhat important  (31%) in their lives.  There first thing that should be apparent is the  huge gap between the percentage of Orthodox Christians who say that  their faith is important to them (87%) and the number of Orthodox  Christians who attend Liturgy on at least a weekly basis (34%).   Whatever else their faith might mean to them, it does not necessarily mean  the regular participation in the liturgical life of the Church.  

"Well what about converts?" you might ask, "Certainly, their dedicated,  right?" Well, not really, or at least not as much as we might imagine.

For example, a slight majority of those who join the Orthodox Church as adults will leave.   Calling these men and women "converts" seems to me to be a bit of a misnomer since those who join as adults are almost twice as likely to leave the  Church as those baptized as infants- 54% of all adult "converts" members  vs. 35% of all adult "cradle" members. For every 10 converts who leave,  6 cradle adults also leave, or if you prefer, for every one Greek or  Russian Orthodox baptized as an infant who will leave the Church, 1.6  adult converts will also leave. Converts leave at a 60% greater number  than cradle Orthodox adults.

Fr Daniel's ministry offers us in American a solution.  What is needed is clear, solid catechesis and effective spiritual formation for  all, laity and clergy alike are essential. Catechesis, in sermons and  religious education classes for children and adults, tells us what we  believe. Spiritual formation tells us, or better yet, helps us, answer  personally questions such as "Who am I in Christ?" and "What is Christ asking of  me?" Spiritual formation is concerned with answer questions of personal  identity and vocation. In other words, formation is about discipleship,  about a personal, life-long commitment to Christ. While the tradition of  the Orthodox Church is almost unbelievably rich, it seems to me that we  seriously neglect the formation of our laity (and as a result, our  clergy).

"But, Father," you might ask, does this evangelism doesn't matter? Shouldn’t we  simply work to fill the Church with new, committed, Orthodox  Christians?"

Given the ease with which Americans change religious affiliations making new members is not a challenge. The real challenge is retention;  of actually keeping the members that we have by helping them become  disciples of Christ.  To borrow from St Ignatius of Antioch, it is not enough to be called a Christian, one must actually be a Christian.  When many Orthodox Christians are Christian in name only, the Church’s witness to the Gospel is undermined.   Whether we are looking at the experience of "cradle" or "convert," this  commitment is absent for many American Orthodox Christians. A credible witness is  possible; we have the promise of Christ of this. But it requires from  all of us a personal commitment to Christ.  Again as Fr Daniel demonstrates, this means regular participation in the  sacramental life of the Church (especially Holy Communion and  Confession) and a willing eagerness of each of us to conform the whole  of our life to Christ and the Gospel.  

At a missions and evangelism conference in 2009,  the primate of the Orthodox Church in America, His Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah said that "becoming Orthodox is not something that you can do  just after 6 months of catechesis and a little bit of chrism on your  forehead. It's a life-long process, because it's being transformed into  Christ."  He continued by reminding his listeners that "coming into the Orthodox  Church is not about joining a new organization; it's not joining 'the  right church'; it's not 'joining the historical church or the apostolic  church'; or it's not 'joining the right church instead the wrong church  that I was in.'"  Rather, and I think Fr Daniel would agree with this, becoming Orthodox is about  entering ever "deeper into the mystery of  Christ."  If we are not interested in becoming more like Christ we simply remain trapped "in our passions" and so "we  might as well have not converted anyway, because we still haven't left  the world behind."

Looking back at what I've written, I realize that much of it seems negative.  My intent was not to criticize the Church in America but to reflect soberly on the challenges that we face and even the areas in which we have failed.  Thinking about the life and death of Priest Daniel Sysoev this seems to me to be appropriate.  The lesson I draw from Fr Daniel is that while the challenges are many, God's grace abounds and it is only necessary for us, for me, to respond obediently to His will.

 

A psychologist by profession, Fr Gregory Jensen received his doctorate at Duquesne University’s Institute of Formative Spirituality in 1995, and was ordained to priesthood in 1996. Together with his wife Mary he served for 7 years as missionary in rural northern California where he also taught psychology and served as a consultant and trainer for area social service agencies. From 2003-2007, he was the Orthodox chaplain for the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.  He currently lives in Madison, WI where he is the Orthodox chaplain at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

 

 
 

Report finds strong growth in US Orthodox churches

Ecumenical News International News Highlights - 13 October 2010

Report finds strong growth in US Orthodox churches

Washington DC (ENI/RNS). America's Eastern Orthodox parishes have grown 16 percent in the past decade, in part because of a settled immigrant community, according to new research. Alexei Krindatch, research consultant for the Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas, said the 16 percent growth in the number of Orthodox parishes is "a fairly high ratio for religious groups in the United States", Religion News Service reports. [337 words. ENI-10-0691]
ENI Online - http://www.eni.ch/

Bishop Kallistos Ware: Evangelizing the Unchurched

EXCERPTS FROM:
Q & A: Bishop Kallistos Ware on the Fullness and the Center

Interview by David Neff posted 7/06/2011 10:18AM
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/article_print.html?id=92826


Neff: In open countries where Orthodoxy has never been an established religion, how does Orthodoxy reach out to unchurched people?


Ware: In Britain, we have until very recently been concerned simply to be able to minister to our own people, to the children of Orthodox immigrants, who have lost a living link with their own church. Building our parishes from nothing—no church building, no accommodation for the priest—is not easy, and many of our priests in Britain still have to earn their living with secular work, because the community wouldn't be able to support them full-time. We need to have a much more effective home mission before we reach out to others.

We Orthodox would certainly be against proselytism, by which I mean negative propaganda aimed at practicing members of other churches, criticizing what they already believe. That is not the way of Christ. But evangelism is something different.

We Orthodox are still certainly too inward looking; we should realize that we have a message that many people will listen to gladly. I see our mission not primarily to practicing members of other churches, but to the unchurched who are very numerous in Britain, less so in the United States.

To me, the most important missionary witness that we have is the Divine Liturgy, the Eucharistic worship of the Orthodox Church. This is the life-giving source from which everything else proceeds. And therefore, to those who show an interest in Orthodoxy, I say, "Come and see. Come to the liturgy." The first thing is that they should have an experience of Orthodoxy—or for that matter, of Christianity—as a worshiping community. We start from prayer, not from an abstract ideology, not from moral rules, but from a living link with Christ expressed through prayer.



Neff: To draw in the unchurched, evangelical churches often strip away things that might be mysterious or strange. But when you invite someone into an Orthodox liturgy, you hit them full-on with strange symbolism and unfamiliar words.

Ware: Yes, and let them understand what God gives them to understand. Throw them in at the deep end of the swimming pool and see what happens. That is very much our Orthodox approach. I would not want to offer a watered-down version of Orthodoxy.

The basic rules of Christianity, our relation to Christ, are very simple. Because they are simple they are also often difficult to understand.

On the other hand, we should not be content with a bare minimum. We should offer people the fullness of the faith in all its diversity and depth. I would wish people, when they come to the Orthodox liturgy, not to think that they understand everything the first time. I hope, rather, that they have an experience of mystery, a sense of awe and wonder. If we lose that from our worship, we have lost something very precious.

There's a bad expression of mystery, which is just mystification. But there's a good sense of mystery—to realize that in our worship we are in contact with the transcendent, with that which far surpasses our reasoning brains. I hope that this sense of living mystery, which is entirely bound up with a personal experience of Christ, is conveyed through our worship.


Neff: We've talked about evangelizing the unchurched. That's one area where Orthodoxy hasn't done a whole lot. Why is that?

Ware: You are not entirely fair to the Orthodox. From the ninth century on, the Orthodox undertook an immense missionary outreach to Slavic peoples—Bulgaria, Serbia, Russia. In that period they were every bit as dynamic in their missionary outreach as the Western church.

You have to take into account the effect of being under Muslim rule, when any form of missionary outreach was forbidden. Christians survived under Islam as self-contained communities, but to attempt to convert a Muslim to the Christian faith would have led immediately to a death sentence. So, naturally, under Islam the Orthodox could not undertake notable missionary work. In the 19th century, there were Russian missions in China, Japan, Korea, and among the Muslim tribes within the Russian Empire. Then came Communism, and it made outward missionary work more or less impossible.

We Orthodox ought to be doing much more than we are doing in this field, but you have to allow for the historical circumstances. The West in the last five centuries has been dominant, rich, influential, colonial, imperial, expansionist. That made missionary work much easier. The East had none of these privileges except for a limited extent in Russia.



Neff: Jaroslav Pelikan, an important historical theologian who became Orthodox late in life, once told me, "You evangelicals talk too much about Jesus and don't spend enough time thinking about the Holy Trinity." Can one talk too much about Jesus?

Ware: I would not want to contrast faith in Jesus with faith in the Holy Trinity. My faith in Jesus is precisely that I believe him to be not only truly human, but also to be the eternal Son of God. I cannot think of a faith in Jesus that does not also involve faith in God the Father.

How is Jesus present to us personally at this moment? How is it that he is not merely a figure from the distant past, but that he also lives in my own life? That is through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I cannot understand a faith in Jesus Christ that would not also involve faith in the Holy Spirit.

I don't think we can have too much faith in Jesus. But faith in Jesus, if it is to be truly such, is necessarily Trinitarian. If you look at the lives of the Orthodox saints, you will find a very vivid faith in Jesus. Their affirmation of the Trinity did not in any way diminish their sense of Jesus as their personal Savior.