An interesting article. I observe that in my country, Germany, the effort to become a priest is much too high to take advantage of the potential that arises from the fact that trust in the national churches is low. People, disillusioned with the churches but spiritually hungry, are actually open to sound Christian teaching. Instead, churches are being closed, and Orthodox Christians remain hidden, so that I often call them Christian ninjas—churches without email addresses, without websites in our language, and often not even information about when they are open. Evangelization does not take place at all.
I understand this, considering that the churches are funded by foreign groups to support their spiritual needs. However, it seems to me that we are not yet in a time where Western Europe is the target of Orthodox evangelization. Instead, it is "a foreign territory where we build fortresses to support those who already believe." Through all my conversion, I never met an Orthodox nearby who went out of their way to talk to me, or anyone in that matter. I think it is time to go beyond that.
An interesting article. I observe that in my country, Germany, the effort to become a priest is much too high to take advantage of the potential that arises from the fact that trust in the national churches is low. People, disillusioned with the churches but spiritually hungry, are actually open to sound Christian teaching. Instead, churches are being closed, and Orthodox Christians remain hidden, so that I often call them Christian ninjas—churches without email addresses, without websites in our language, and often not even information about when they are open. Evangelization does not take place at all.
I understand this, considering that the churches are funded by foreign groups to support their spiritual needs. However, it seems to me that we are not yet in a time where Western Europe is the target of Orthodox evangelization. Instead, it is "a foreign territory where we build fortresses to support those who already believe." Through all my conversion, I never met an Orthodox nearby who went out of their way to talk to me, or anyone in that matter. I think it is time to go beyond that.
I completely agree!