Our Identity and Eternal Purpose for Being
We are a Communion of churches, assemblies of believers in
Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, through whom, by the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we have been reconciled to the
God and Father of us all. As reconciled people, members of
the Body of Christ and successors of Apostolic Faith, our eternal
purpose of being is to love God, to share in and proclaim His
glory, and to live in free and joyful communion with Him and
each other; to enjoy His bountiful gifts and offer them and
ourselves back to Him in thanksgiving; and to participate in
His loving and peaceful care and reign over all creation, manifesting
His perfect image and likeness as revealed in Jesus Christ.
Our General Mission – The
Ministry of Reconciliation
(Based on the model of Jesus as Prophet, Priest,
and King)
Toward the realization of our eternal calling, we will
strive to be transformed through cooperation with the grace
of God, by repentance, and by embracing the sacramental ministry
of the Church, so that each person, each local parish, and
the communion of churches as a whole may grow toward full
maturity in Christ and participate with increasing fullness
in the reconciliation with God that has been granted us in
Jesus Christ. Furthermore, we will labor to share in the
ministry of reconciliation in the following ways:
First, as a prophetic voice in the midst of the Church and
the world, we will labor to live and speak the Word of God
to each other and to those around us, in love and mercy, yet
without compromise. (Prophet)
Second, we will regularly lift up our own lives, the lives
of those around us, and all creation to God in intercession,
thanksgiving, and adoration through the liturgical action
of our local parishes and our common gatherings, endeavoring
to redeem and bless everything that He has made and called
good. In return we will ask Him to send down upon us the
grace of His Holy Spirit to renew us and make us whole. (Priest)
Third, we will strive to manifest the peaceful order,
care, and reign of the Kingdom of God to all creation, thus
seeking in love to extend the ministry of reconciliation
and healing to all that all might be restored to Him and
in Him. (King)
Our Distinctive Mission
As a major aspect of this ministry of reconciliation,
we will strive to restore to unity all the treasures of God
that have been torn apart due to sin, holding in proper balance
and tension the paradoxes of the Church and the world – order
and creativity, rule and freedom, unity and diversity, tradition
and renewal, etc. In that pursuit of balance, we will endeavor
to be true to our name: “evangelical” – living and proclaiming
the good news of the gospel through strong biblical preaching,
teaching, and evangelism, and encouraging people to a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ; and “orthodox” - authentically
centered in Christ as He has been and continues to be revealed
through apostolic Faith and Tradition. This will involve:
In the Church
- Intentionally devoting ourselves
to apostolic teaching, frequent fellowship, regular sharing
in the Body and Blood of Christ, and fervent intercession.
- Living a community life in which
we bear each other's practical, physical, mental, spiritual
and emotional burdens, share each other's joys, and encourage
one another to faith and godly living, continually anticipating,
discerning, and affirming the voice of God in our midst
for our common and personal edification and direction.
- Striving for the restoration of
visible unity among Christians by affirming the common
Faith of other traditions, by expressing our communion with
all who keep that Faith in sincerity, by reflecting evangelical,
catholic, and orthodox practices in our life and worship,
embracing a prophetic role among churches if God so wills
it.
In the World
- Engaging the culture we live in
by worshipping God and articulating the ancient Faith and
Tradition in a living way and in a language and style indigenous
to each local community.
- Preaching in word and deed the
gospel of repentance, forgiveness, and new life in Jesus
Christ and His Kingdom, teaching the commandments of Christ
to all who believe and baptizing them in the name of the
Trinity.
- Caring for the poor, afflicted,
abandoned, and neglected of our community and offering
them a haven of healing, hope, and dignity.
Summary Mission Statement
The mission of the Evangelical Orthodox Church
is to proclaim and live out, in the Church and in the world,
the reconciliation with God that is ours in Jesus Christ, to
the end that God might be all in all and glorified above all.
(Colossians
1:15-20, 1 Corinthians 15:27-28)
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