Category: Mission

Those Who Harm the Church

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
People's faith can get shaken when they learn that Church leaders are weak and sinful, possibly especially because the weakness and sin that so often manifest among Church leaders seem to be so spectacularly bad.... But perhaps even more faith-shaking is when one discovers that some Church leaders are actually Machiavellian manipulators.

Why Orthodox Christians Can Love Tolkien and Other Imaginative Fiction

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
I am a lifelong Tolkien fan, but now that I have a Tolkien podcast, I've found more time to explore how my love for Tolkien fits into my spiritual life as an Orthodox Christian. And it turns out that there is actually a specifically Orthodox Christian reason to love Tolkien and other works of imaginative fiction.

Why People Leave Church When Leaders Fail

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Back in August, (formerly) Roman Catholic political columnist Damon Linker announced that he’d left the Roman Catholic Church, and this past week, he explained why, noting along the way some of the reaction against his announcement: It’s hardly surprising that writers deeply devoted to the Catholic Church would reject the reasons for my decision to leave the church. The former editor of Commonweal Paul…

The Three Ways Christians Approach the World

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
There are generally three approaches that Christians have taken when it comes to their surrounding cultures: 1) Rejection, resistance, and hostility: This approach sharply distinguishes the Church from the world, emphasizing that the Church is so much “not of this world” that the world must be fled and an alternate community established. It is a posture that is fully closed to the world —…

Whose Vineyard is This, Anyway?

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost / Thirteenth Sunday of Matthew, September 3, 2017 I Corinthians 16:13-24; Matthew 21:33-42 Very Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. If you have something truly wonderful to share with people, how do you get it to them? How do you get this wonderful…

Are All Orthodox Christians Supposed to Evangelize? (UPDATED)

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
The following is culled from comments I made on a Facebook thread in a private group in which it was being alleged that most Orthodox Christians aren’t meant to function as missionaries. The argument was mentioned that the Lord’s command to go into all the earth and preach the Gospel was given only (or mainly) to the apostles. Allowance was made for certain rare…