tell the world how great is our God

mabsoota

this is a great coptic conference happening next saturday that u can watch online if u are not there.
http://evangelismcopticorthodox.org/images/flyer_evangelism_28_July_2010_revised.pdf
u can find out more here:
http://evangelismcopticorthodox.org/
which is the main website.

tell yr friends and churches to watch it or parts of it too.
it is on eastern time (usa) which is 5 hours behind uk time.

maybe we can also post here about ideas for things our churches can do to show people that we know and worship the living God who calls all people to come to Him.

peterfarrington

This is a fantastic and important ministry and I hope that all of the US Churches will organise to watch the conference online together if they cannot make it to the event.

A Church that is not engaged in evangelism is not an Orthodox Church!

Father Peter

mabsoota

streaming half an hour from now here:
http://www.webcast-tv.com/StMaryOrlandoChurch/

mabsoota

wow,
i just watched a brilliant presentation with lots of questions and answers, from abouna pishoy salama from ontario, canada.
he and 5 of the church servants described their experiences of church and what they found helpful.
only 1 of the church servants there was egyptian! the others were different ethnic groups as is a lot of their church.
here are some brief notes from their talk; these are things they found helpful in building the church:

1. most importantly (acts 2) meeting in simplicity of heart, giving thanks to God.
church members having a mission mindset
2. the priest telling people after the service (eg during the announcements) to greet someone new. one lady, describing her first visit to the church, she felt she was no longer shy to speak to people in church because she knew it was ok to do that.
3. having a detailed catechism for new people to learn about God and about the orthodox church
4. having church social gatherings for special occasions like chinese new year
5. having a gathering for worship, prayers, teaching and discussion on sundays after the liturgy. this is an introduction to the church for people from different backgrounds.
6. having small groups for Bible study during the week; these include both new people and church members (no segregation).
7. having social ministries eg to the homeless, groups for parents and groups doing outreach through sports.

in their church there is a good mix of egyptian people and others, mostly new converts and everyone learns together and supports each other.
may God lead us in building His church.

mabsoota

summary of the talk by bishop youssef of the southern usa:

Have a positive mindset to the challenges.
Praise God for the spiritual riches of our church.
Don’t think that things like baptism or the long liturgy will be a barrier. Jesus said ‘You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free’. First explain to people the truth. Then, after they believe the truth, they will naturally ask for baptism.
The most important language to speak is the language of love. The Son of man did not come to condemn the world but to save it.
1 Corinthians 2:1 Saint Paul did not come with clever speech, but he preached Christ crucified, and it was this that people responded to.
We must go out in the demonstration and the power of the Holy Spirit.
The disciples went out preaching without bags or purses, but at the end of the trip, they were not in need of anything.
Like the apostles in the book of Acts, we must wait until we are clothed with power from on high.
For this, we need a life of prayer. Go often into your ‘inner room’ and get on your knees in prayer.
In Acts 2, it was not the words of Saint Peter’s sermon that convinced 3000 people to believe and be baptised, but the power of the Holy Spirit.

may God have mercy on us as we cry out for the salvation of His world in the places we live.