Fr. Chad Hatfield on Baptism and the Great Commission

Fr. Chad Hatfield of Saint Vladimir's Seminary has published a booklet entitled Holy Saturday: Baptism and The Great Commission.

The booklet was included in a mailing seeking financial donations to the seminary. Archpriest Chad Hatfield is the seminary's Chancellor.

Here are some excerpts from this fine booklet:

"The Orthodox Church is in the business of making converts. The Great Commission, given by our Lord in the closing words of Matthew's Gospel, is not an option. Archbishop Anastasios of Albania has stated 'A Church without mission is a contradiction in terms' and 'Indifference to mission is a negation of Orthodoxy.'

I would expand this by saying: 'a Christian not engaged in mission is simply not a Christian.'

For too many in Orthodoxy, words like 'evangelism' and 'outreach' are not claimed as our own and are given over to others. This sad fact keeps 'The Pearl of Great Price' hidden in ghetto worlds where cultural preservation and so-called 'ethnic pride' is substituted for the Gospel Truth. All too easily our faith communities have created a surrogate gospel supported by surrogate ministries that betray our baptismal identities as Orthodox Christians.

If Orthodox Christians are once again to proclaim the glad tidings with boldness, we will need to restore the centrality of The Great Commission. We will need to bring ourselves to a fresh response to the New Testament teaching that we did not choose God but he chose us (John 15:16).

We have many positive signs that a recovery of the centrality of The Great Commission is underway."

I am an Adult Sunday School teacher at the parish I attend. For the next unit of study, we will be looking at The Way course as well as examples and tools available for fulfilling The Great Commission.

I will say it again. If we don't fulfill The Great Commission, others will, to our loss and discredit.

We have a stiff challenge to meet. We only have to look at the example of the Anglican Church of North America and / or the Anglican Mission in the Americas to see christians with a healthy regard for The Great Commission. My challenge to my fellow Eastern Orthodox Christians is to rise to the level and zeal that our Anglican brothers and sisters are demonstrating.

We have a faith free from Anglican errors such as Calvinistic "Predestination" and the denial of a full Sacramental Christianity (I'm thinking here about our freedom to ask the Saints to pray for us and the freedom to believe in their relics as effective helps to our spiritual life in Christ).

With a "fuller gospel" we need to Preach The Gospel.

Fr. Hatfield has issued us a proper challenge as the Chancellor of one of our seminaries. Let's meet his challenge.

Blessings in the Holy Trinity,

Columba Simon

Once Again, Great Lent is Here. This means . . .

That delightful time of spiritual refreshment and rejuvenation known as Great Lent is upon us.

One of our Deacons or our Priest recently advised us to make Lent a time of retreating from the hassles of the world in order to focus on Christ.

I'm totally on board with this advice.

Just like last year, I'm staying off of my Facebook page until Great Lent is over.

If anyone really needs to get in touch with me, my e-mail address is chcate@juno.com.

My Lenten Rule for 2011 is as follows:

First, I'm giving up on the drinking of the purified water I love from Vitamin Cottage.

Second, I'm going to amend my ways regarding my constant and sometimes peace-robbing interest in the Holy Diaconate and Priesthood.

I wish to really try and develop a mindset of praying about this interest only, and resolutely refuse to actively seek these offices of Holy Mother Church.

If the Priesthood is in my future, God Himself will have to elevate me. Any possibility of this must be from His initiative and choosing. Lord willing, I will continue to work hard for my local parish and in my local community for the advancement of Holy Orthodoxy and let the chips fall where they may.

I'm going to cease worrying about my goals for 2011. During Great Lent I'm simply going to live my life and focus on my relationship with God (or lack thereof) for the next 40 days.

I'm going to try and make at least one Stations of the Cross service.

I'm going to talk about myself less on the way home from church and at other times and ask the children more questions about themselves.

I'm going to try less "rote" prayers before meals and bedtime in an attempt to get my children to learn to speak to God in a more personal way.

Groan. Here's a really tough one! I'm going to cut out Sports talk and Sports Radio listening for 40 days and instead listen to the local classical music station and K-Love.

I'm going to try and cut down on my swearing at work.

I'm going to make it a point to go to a Lenten Confession to Fr. Falconi or Fr. Lou.

As far as the dietary requirements are concerned, I plan to eat less and keep my normal practice of meatless and dairy-less Wednesdays and Fridays. With a pre-existing medical condition, I'm unable to strictly practice the dietary standards of Great Lent as much as I would like to do.

This is my Lenten Rule for 2011.

Columba Silouan

A Question Posed to An Anglican Priest I Know

I've just Facebooked an Anglican Priest friend of mine I know with the following question:

Can 20 new churches happen if you and your people only stay "within the brand name?"

Of course, what I meant by my question is "Can the goal of 20 new churches happen if those churches HAVE to be AMIA?"

I would like to recruit some Anglican friends to take a dare.

I dare those AMIA and CANA Anglicans in the greater Denver area who have strong Anglo-Catholic leanings to consider the following ideas:

Help me plant an Eastern Orthodox Parish in Parker Colorado with the following Attributes:

Instead of using the Popular ALPHA course, we use THE WAY.

We take a page out of the Wellspring Anglican Church playbook and seek to meet the needs of the people of the surrounding area of Parker, most notably in the following manner:

There are many apartment dwellers in Parker and other people who have had to move out of homes due to foreclosures. Parker isn't solely composed of the super rich, although there are some neighborhoods in Parker with GIANT houses in them.

We have some older neighborhoods in Parker. One of these is the Cottonwood neighborhood.

We also have many townhomes, condos, and apartment dwellers around here.

Some if not all of the things Wellspring has done in the community that surrounds them could also be very effective here in Parker.

Help me plant an Eastern Orthodox and Western Rite parish in Parker that runs a Christian Coffee Shop where ministry can take place and Contemporary Christian Music can be performed and used as a ministry tool to the areas youth while at the same time not compromising the worship standards of the Holy Eucharist / Divine Liturgy that Eastern Orthodoxy is famous for.

Help me plant an EO parish with a strong Sunday School program steeped in the study of Holy Scripture as understood by the EO Church.

Help me plant an EO parish with a vibrant and effective Healing Ministry as practiced in a regular "Service of Holy Unction" at the parish that takes place during the Sunday School Hour when it is held.

By regular, I mean every other month, or even every month.

Again, at such a service, reverent praise and worship music that is compatible with the doctrines of Holy Orthodoxy can be used.

We've seen this very thing done at our own parish in Denver.

And the healing ministry can be expanded to include the types of healing that Wellspring has offered through their church.

Such an expansion would occur in addition to the Service of Holy Unction, and not in place of it. Such an add on would happen at another time during the week besides Sunday and some of this could take place at the Coffee House.

Help me plant a church with the best aspects of an AMIA parish while holding firmly to the beliefs found in Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Help me plant a church with a vibrant small groups ministry that meets during the week like the "Life Groups" concept practiced at Wellspring.

I'm now 45 years old and I can't see all of these things happen by myself.

This is my dream, and has been for more than two years now.

I challenge AMIA folks to consider helping with this project and I challenge them to consider becoming Orthodox while doing the same good things they've been doing all along.

Such a joining of efforts would be VERY powerful in my opinion.

My answer to my own question above is that 20 churches by 2020 can much better be accomplished by thinking outside of the boxes we are accustomed to.

The goal of 20 Churches by 2020 should transcend the AMIA brand name. Let the 20 new churches share some of the DNA of being Liturgical, Sacramental and Charismatic (in the best sense of that word) but let them also be placed in multiple Christian jurisdictions and Communions.

Help me plant a church that can be one of the 20. This is my plea as an Orthodox Christian to my Anglican brothers and sisters.

Thanks be to God.

Columba Silouan

The Way Course Has Arrived

The Orthodox Evangelism course known as The Way has arrived in the mail. The Way is a boxed set of five CDs that the faithful can use to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ as understood in and through Holy Orthodoxy.

This course is similar to the Alpha Course that Anglicans in England put together to win the unchurched to Christ and to bring nominal Christians back into the fold.

I plan to review this course and present it to our Adult Sunday School class in the near future. It takes a dedicated team to run this course, so I'll be on the hunt for such a team.

I've obtained permission from our Arch Priest to use this course, although the course recommends obtaining permission from a bishop. As I understand things, some of these decisions and permissions have been delegated to our Arch Priest, so his permission is probably sufficient.

This winter has been a bit difficult, and I've been unproductive in church matters as a direct result. My colleague and friend at work came down with a severe respiratory infection which sidelined him for seven work days. Afterwards I caught it and I've lost a total of three work days. This has prevented projects like blogging and writing.

Now that I'm on the mend, such projects can resume, Lord Willing of course.

Blessings in the Holy Trinity, One God

Columba Sillouan

Pictures (Continued from Previous Post)

Inspiration from a Past Trip

I've been sorting through some photos from our trip to Washington D.C. this past summer. Of special interest to me are the photos of The National Cathedral and the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Many of these photos were taken by my sister-in-law, and some were taken by me.

Great Christian Architecture and Artwork inspires me. Never mind the fact that one building was built by the Episcopal Church and one building by the Roman Catholic Church. These buildings are nevertheless edifying for all Christians.

Enjoy the posting of these wonderful photos and let them inspire you as well.

Belated New Year's Resolutions (er, goals)

As the New Year picks up steam, it's a good thing to take a look back and then a look forward.

During the past year on the church front, I continued my duties as an Orthodox Reader and Server (Acolyte). I co-taught the Adult Sunday School Class at our parish church, trading off months with our Assistant Priest. I helped to initiate a monthly healing service at our parish (Service of Holy Unction) and I set up a regular time of Intercessory Prayer once every other month during the Adult Sunday School hour.

I also obtained permission to have a Youth For Christ representative (who plans to embark on a missionary trip to Cyprus) visit our Sunday School class in an attempt to raise support for this effort and better partner with the Orthodox Church. Brandon spoke to our class and at least one person signed on as a supporter. There may have been others as well. Our own family also pledged a monthly dollar amount to help Brandon reach his goal.

Finally, early in the year, I was able to re-obtain a Stations of the Cross set I originally put together for Wellspring Anglican Church. These were donated to the Saint Laurence Retreat Center where these can bless guests for years to come.

Looking back, this was one of my most productive years in volunteer church work.

My goals for next year are to preview and run at least one The Way course in an attempt to do Orthodox Evangelism. Permission was granted from my Arch-Priest to do this.

I will probably preview the course at Saint Mark's during the Adult Sunday School hour, and I may run the course in my local area at a Christian coffee shop up the street.

One of my desires for next year is the possibility of legally changing my first and middle name. If I go through with this, my name will be changed to my Orthodox name, Columba Silouan. My last name will stay the same.

My original middle name will continue to be carried proudly by my daughter. My son has a middle name inspired by his maternal grandfather.

I am hoping to go through with my dream of laying the groundwork for a Western Rite parish in my immediate area. My hopes include pulling together all of the things I've learned over the past few years.

I believe an Eastern Orthodox church with uncompromising standards for worship during the Divine Liturgy paired with an innovative outlook in other aspects of parish life is a workable and sustainable model to pursue and follow in planting a new parish.

I have been inspired by a local AMIA priest and his goal to plant 20 churches by 2020. I believe his approach and the approach of his parent church in reaching a community has merit and can be integrated with an Eastern Orthodox approach in spreading the good news of Jesus Christ.

I plan to continue the writing of my issues-oriented autobiographical book with hopes of wrapping the book up this year and finding a publisher. When I get the manuscript to a point where I'm satisfied with it, I plan to run excerpts past a couple of friends to get some feedback.

I also have a goal to start advertising Quiet Minds vitamins as an additional source of income and to help others address Central Nervous System Disorders.

Of course, I plan to take in a few Rockies games this year, and my new co-worker has vowed to teach me the art of Fly Fishing.

I also plan to continue my practice of being a family man, husband and father. The highlight of our year on the family front last year was our vacation to Washington D.C. and Maryland (Ocean City) to see Dianna's sister and brother-in-law and our two nieces.

All in all, these are some detailed resolutions (er, goals) for the coming year. Please pray for me the sinner and for God's will to be done.

Columba Silouan