Wappingers Falls, New York, August 18, 2022
Photo: oca.org
The Orthodox Church in America’s Diocese of New York and New Jersey held the inaugural edition of its Evangelism School last week, offering discussions on a number of topics connected to spreading the Orthodox faith.
The school was held at St. Gregory the Theologian Church in Wappingers Falls, New York, from August 8 to 10, the diocese reports.
The school was open to 10 participants from among the clergy and laity. The number was intentionally kept small “so as to foster greater interaction and discussion among the participants while ensuring that the information could be effectively discussed,” explains Archpriest Eric Tosi, chairman of the Diocesan Commission on Missions and Evangelism and organizer of the school.
Topics included the theology and application of evangelism; leadership and management principles; communications; catechism; and education in the parish, with presentations from Fr. Tosi, Archpriest David Garretson of Sts. Peter and Paul Church in South River, New Jersey, and Archpriest Timothy Hojnicki of Holy Apostles Church in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
His Eminence Archbishop Michael was also present throughout the school, offering insight from personal experience and archpastoral guidance. He shared with the participants how the school “enables parishes and missions to examine what they are doing in their parish life and how that is reflected in the surrounding community, in order to draw people into a deeper relationship with Christ.”
“I left the three-day School feeling refreshed and reinvigorated! I came away with a whole bunch of ideas to bring back to my parish,” reflected Fr. Theodore Gregory, rector of Holy Trinity Church in Rahway, New Jersey.
The Evangelism School is to be an annual event, fully funded by the Diocese of New York and New Jersey.
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