Preaching & Evangelism

The Church as Mission

The Church has a responsibility towards every single person in the world - not only toward the believers. Three groups of people in the world. Active Believers, Lost Sheep (who are believers but are lost) and the Non-believers. The Church service can be classified into three ministries:

1. Ministry of Spiritual Care (Active Members)
   • Preventative: How to prevent them from being lost
   • Nurturing: How to nurture them to grow into spiritual maturity
2. Ministry of the Lost Sheep
   • Outreach: Searching for the Lost Sheep
   • Healing: The Lost Sheep who returns will be full of wounds - how to accept him and prepare a godly and therapeutic atmosphere to promote his healing
3. Ministry of Evangelism (Non-Believers)
   • Preaching
   • Grafting (Catechism)

Preaching

"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." (Matthew 28:19-20)

"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.” (Acts 1:8)

St John Chrysostom - "There is nothing colder than a Christian who does not try to save others."

History of Evangelism in the Orthodox Church

Apostolic Tradition

Spread the Word - Michael Keiser

Historical Eras of Evangelism

Coptic Church Dilemma

Western World & Coptic Diaspora

Current State of Orthodoxy in the West

Influx

 

Resources

• Fr Tadros Yacoub Malaty
  • Evangelism and the School of Alexandria
  • Preaching in the Post-Apostolic Era
  • Evangelism: 1 Corinthians
  • Evangelism: 2 Corinthians
• Michael Keiser
  • Spread the Word