Olga Oleinik
According to Ecclesiastes 1:9, “There is nothing new under the sun.” In contrast, in Revelation 1:5 we read, “Behold, I make all things new.” So in this brief outline about the activities of the Orthodox Mission Network, the point should not be to strive for newness in itself when we plan or do mission work, but to be prepared should God choose to have His followers undertake a new approach to outreach for His purposes. In the Parable of the Talents the Lord warns us against neglecting our gifts. Therefore, we have a call to always be alert to the changing world around us and to remain alert for new, emerging opportunities for joining in God’s work of salvation and revelation of the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Albanian Archbishop Anastasios (Yannoulatos), in his book, Mission in Christ’s Way (Holy Cross Orthodox Press and the World Council of Churches), speaks of the past and present mission activity of the Orthodox Church as “a work still limited,” because Orthodox mission in non-Orthodox lands and cultures is still a rare phenomenon. If we look at world witness in light of the mission affirmation of the World Council of Churches (WCC),“Together towards Life: Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes,” we understand that a great preparatory work needs to be done in all WCC member churches and at all levels of ecclesial life, not only mission boards. We also need to remember that today the context changes rapidly, requiring mission work to undertake new approaches. The Lord said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, so pray.” In addition to praying, we also need to learn to rely more on God and what He has to offer and less on financial resources and our plans and programs, especially if we are to serve the most vulnerable and the most marginal of unreached peoples.
Orthodox Mission Network Beginnings
The work of God in this world and in the communities of the faithful never ceases. Therefore, as cultures change the need arises for new ways of fulfilling our evangelistic calling. Under the umbrella of the Orthodox Mission Network (OMN) I will survey several forms of ministry present in various Orthodox Churches worldwide.
In 2010 thousands of Christians around the world remembered the centenary of the 1910 Edinburgh Mission Conference. In addition, in February 2010 Orthodox missiologists and mission workers gathered in Minsk, Belarus, to address various challenges faced in Orthodox ministry today. One of the highlights of this meeting, which took place in a post-Communist country, was the recognition of the need for the church to be free to evangelize—free on the basis of law, but also free from the vestiges of a debilitating totalitarian spirit. The common desire was to organize Orthodox missionary consultations on a regular basis.
OMN Goals Since 2010 the Orthodox Mission Network has held meetings in Bulgaria, Finland, Romania, Greece, and Albania. These gatherings have identified a set of goals for the common work of the Network: to provide a platform for meetings and the sharing of resources and best mission practices; to organize the monitoring of mission ministries; to encourage mission work; to advocate for world evangelism within the Orthodox Church; to work for more visibility of mission ministries, including mass media; to create programs for missionary reflection and training; and to promote the creation of an Orthodox missionary training center.
Other Orthodox Mission Efforts
The Orthodox Mission Network maintains ties with and encourages collaboration with other Orthodox mission efforts.
- The Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC), www.ocmc.org, based in St. Augustine, Florida, U.S., is mandated by the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas to undertake mission work worldwide. It recruits, prepares, sends, and supports Orthodox missionaries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Southern and Eastern Europe
- “Filantropia” of the Orthodox Church in Finland (http://kirkkotoimii.fi/ortaid/pages/in-english. php) is a merger of several mission and social aid organizations acting together since 2013. It runs mission, education, and aid programs in Africa and Eastern Europe.
- The Russian Orthodox Mission Society of St. Serapion Kozheozersky (www.serapion.org) is working in the mission field in various regions of the world, including Asia and Africa, under the leadership of Dean Georgi Maximov.
- The Russian Orthodox Church and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church support synodal departments devoted to mission.
Other Christian Partners
The Network also invites to its meetings observers from other Christian confessions, including the Church Mission Society of the United Kingdom, Faith2Share, the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, and Protestant theological institutions in Budapest, Hungary, and Muenster, Germany. The Orthodox Mission Network also benefits from the participation of spiritual movements and communities which engage in evangelism as part of the life vocation of their members. For example, the Lord’s Army, founded in the beginning of the 20th century by Fr. Iosif Trifa, has branches all over Romania that focus on common worship, study, and the living out of the Gospel. A second example is Russia’s Transfiguration Union of Brotherhoods founded in the 1970s in Moscow by Fr. Georgi Kotchetkov. This fellowship’s primary activity is evangelism among non-Christians and catechism of newly baptized Orthodox who had no previous connection with the Church. These brotherhoods currently work in Russia, Belarus, and Moldova.
OMN Promotion of Training
Last but not least, the Orthodox Mission Network works with missiologists, teachers, and students of theological schools in Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Greece, and Germany to strengthen their focus on missions. This connection is important because it gives the Network access to contemporary missiological research and stimulates exchanges between mission practitioners and researchers. One of the goals of the Orthodox Mission Network is to help organize training opportunities that bring missionaries with experience together with those just beginning missionary service (http://www.patriarchia. ru/db/text/2970230.html). The Orthodox Mission Network organized its first international training for missionaries in Albania in 2014. Another such training event is in the planning stages for Kenya.
In Closing
In closing, it is important to stress that Orthodox churches now have a networking agency that connects a great variety of Orthodox evangelistic and missionary efforts together for the benefit of Orthodoxy’s worldwide witness. The Orthodox Mission Network’s goal is to find ways to work together to contribute to the mission ministry of the Orthodox Church worldwide. The Network’s hope and prayer is that God will bless and assist its efforts to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. ♦
Olga Oleinik, Minsk, Belarus, is the facilitator for the Orthodox Mission Network and was East European consultant for the Church Mission Society, Great Britain, from 2007 to 2016.