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ABOUT EOC

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 is threefold: (1) To love God, sharing in and proclaim His glory and living in free and joyful communion with Him and each other. (2) To enjoy God's bountiful gifts and offer them and ourselves back to Him in thanksgiving. (3) To participate in God's loving and peaceful care and reign over all creation, manifesting His perfect image and likeness as revealed in Jesus Christ.

 

"The mission of the Evangelical Orthodox Church is to proclaim and to 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

 

 

OUR IDENTITY AND ETERNAL PURPOSE FOR BEING

 OUR GENERALMISSION: RECONCILIATION

We 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.

 

  • as a prophetic voice in the midst of the Church and the world. We desire to live and speak the Word of God to each other and to those around us, in love and mercy, yet without compromise.

 

  • as priests. We 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 ask Him to send down upon us the grace of His Holy Spirit to renew us and make us whole.

 

  • as representatives of the King. We 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.

 

 

 

 

 

As a major aspect of the 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 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; and by 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.

 OUR DISTINCTIVE MISSION

HISTORY

 ROOTS

The Evangelical Orthodox Church (EOC) is a movement for classical Christianity within the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church with its temporal origins in Evangelical Protestantism, particularly in the Campus Crusade for Christ student missionary organization. This movement came to embrace an Orthodox theology while nurturing the treasures of evangelical expression. In a living expression of the faith, the EOC came to discover her roots and heritage. From the beginning the EOC sought to live out the Way in everyday life in fellowship and community. As the understanding of classical Christianity matured, the EOC started to hold and incorporate treasures from both the East and the West in its liturgical expression, recommending the value of each to the other. After some 10 - 12 years of living with this tension, a large part of the EOC membership chose to enter the Antiochian Orthodox Church in 1987. Many members remained as the EOC, faithfully laying hold of and pursuing the original call & vision.

IN THE MOMENT

Today, the EOC has about 120 churches spread across USA (4), Canada(1), Sweden(1), Rwanda(4), Burundi(100), Kenya(4), Uganda(4) and D.R Congo(3). She has kept her vision to be an authentic expression of the historic Christian faith that does not shy away from engaging the world, without becoming a part of it, in order to call it back to its original purpose. It is the EOC's wish and prayer to be a living testimony within the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church as to how the various traditions within the Body of Christ may come together and function as One, as was and is the prayer of the Son of God Himself.

FUTURE

We look forward to the return of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the fullness of the Kingdom of God. We have reason to hope and pray for the reconciliation of all things to God. Until then we strive to share the gospel of Gods love to the world by being His gospel in the world.

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