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Parish Pulse
 A Newsletter for Parish Leaders
Archdiocese of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania
Orthodox Church in America
August, 2014 - Vol 2, Issue 2
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Upcoming Events
Webinar
Communicating Your Parish
8PM EDT Sept 16
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2014 Archdiocesan Leader's Day
Parish Council: Roles & Responsibilities
Oct 18 10AM - 3PM
Canonsburg PA
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Archdiocesan Assembly
November 1
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In Christ,
Joseph Kormos
Parish Development Ministry Leader Archdiocese of Western Pennsylvania 513-518-5878 joekormos1@gmail.com |
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Leaders Day to Focus on Ministry of Parish Council
Saturday October 18 10AM - 3PM
|  On Saturday October 18 at St. John the Baptist Church in Canonsburg PA the Archdiocese of Western PA will hold its 2015 Leaders Day event.
Theme for this year's session will be "The Ministry of the Parish Council: Roles, Responsibilities and Expectations. The session will begin at 10:00 AM sharp and conclude at or before 3:00 PM. Participation is open to all parish leaders. Current and future Parish Council members are strongly urged to attend.
Registration
Cost to register will be $10 per person and will cover lunch and participant materials. Registration materials and session agenda will be available shortly.
More info on agenda content will follow soon.
While His Eminence, Archbishop Melchisedek has not made participation mandatory at this time, strong, mature parish leadership is a critical task for the Archdiocese. The goal is to offer Parish Council Training on annual basis and with required attendance by parish leaders.
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Small Parish Forum Delivers Hope and Help
|  Co-hosted by the Archdiocese of W. PA and the Diocese of the Midwest, the Small Parish Forum attracted over 50 attendees from as far away as Saskatchewan (25 hour drive!) New Jersey and Connecticut to the tiny berg of Byesville OH and Christ the Savior Church.
Attendees participated in a variety of types of sessions including presentations, workshops, case studies, clergy and lay breakout sessions, and time for networking.
The "Small Parish Working Group" planning team is exploring dates and content for future events and support for small parishes.
Read more about the Forum on oca.org >>>
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| Positive Qualities of Small Parishes
| Small Parish Forum sessions emphasized that small parishes are not mini versions of large parishes. And they are not failures for being small. They are a valuable form of Living a Life in Christ. (To paraphrase Lincoln... 'God must love small churches he made so many of them.')
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A subset of the almost 50 attendees at the 2014 Small Parish Forum in Byesville OH
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The Forum opened by asking attendees to identify advantages small churches can offer that larger churches cannot. We've supplemented the attendees' list with insights from other sources.The resultant composite list: - More face time with pastor
- People more likely to feel welcome and needed
Read more >>> |
| Key Challenge: A Sense of Identity |
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Building a positive sense of identity is key for small parishes
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In his book "The Small Church is Different", author Lyle Shaller notes, "If there is something close to a universal beginning point for small churches wanting to plan for the future it is strengthening their self image." Per their answers to a pre- forum survey, Forum attendees agreed. To take action... Read more>>>
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| Open Letter -- Clergy/Laity
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 In one session of the Small Parish Forum attendees divided into separate groups of clergy and laity. Laity were asked to respectfully offer suggestions and insights to clergy about 'things' they should "stop", "start" and "continue". Clergy undertook a mirror image of the same assignment.
After about 60 minutes the groups reconvened and, with some trepidation, shared their suggestions with the other "side".
The laity group created a reasonable set of thoughts for clergy consideration -- but in actuality it seemed to be a rehash of common issues.
The clergy group, on the other hand, created what all agreed was a thoughtful, helpful, insightful letter.
To view the laity to clergy inputs -- click here
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Aligning Size, Relationships & Leadership in Your Parish
Feature Article
|  Fr. John Reeves, pastor of Holy Trinity Church, State College PA and former head of the OCA's Office of Church Growth & Evangelization, engaged the Small Parish Forum with insights about size transitions in parishes. His talk drew from his 35 years as an Orthodox priest and parish planter, family experiences with small Protestant churches in Texas, and published sociological theory on congregational size.
This session reminded us of similar, important insights we had gleaned in a collection of essays from various authors titled Size Transitions in Congregations. Parts of the following descriptions are from articles in that book as well notes from Fr. Reeves SPF presentation.
Parish Types
Fr. Reeves focused primarily on the two "types" of congregations of relevance to small parishes - the Family Church and, one step larger, the Pastoral Church. Neither is better. Neither is right or wrong. The key point is that understanding the characteristic leadership and relationship styles in each can help parishes adjust and make the most of their situation.
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| Parish Size Affects Attendance Regularity, Parish Life
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Theories on church size, as described in the (full) previous size transitions article are often discounted by Orthodox audiences. ("That stuff doesn't apply to us. We're different.") Yet the work of Orthodox researcher and demographer Alexei Krindtach shows similar size related phenomena.
In his work Five Interesting Facts About Orthodox Demography and Geography in America Krindatch notes:
"...When the total parish population reaches around 150, Sunday attendance drops significantly. This may be explained by something known as "Dunbar's number," which is a theoretical cognitive limit of the number of people with whom one can maintain stable and close social relationships. These are the type of relationships in which an individual knows who each person is, and how each person relates to every other person. When Dunbar's number is reached, the parish may transform in the perception of the laity from a small family-like community to a more amorphous group of not really well known people. The data suggests that the sense of the close-knit community has obvious effect on proportion of parishioners involved regularly in the life of a parish."
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| Ruttedness Relief - Is It Still the Best Way?
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In a rut? Perhaps its time to do it differently.
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"Leading Ideas", the newsletter of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership suggests that when parish leaders are confronted with the statement "We've always done it this way", continue the conversation by asking "Is this still the best way to do it?"
The Center offers a three volume set of Right Questions for Church Leaders" for $11.99.
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View Webinar Archive: Profiles of Small Parish Revitalization
| A June 20 14 webinar, one of the most popular and best attended ever, explored the stories of revitalized, small OCA parishes in McKees Rocks PA, St Paul MN and Willimantic CT.
View Archive and Slides
The webinar, which was a preview of themes of the Small Parish Forum played to a large audience.If you missed it you can watch the entire webinar here. Slides can be downloaded here. |
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View Webinar Archive: Profiles of Small Parish Revitalization
| A June 2014 webinar, one of the most popular and best attended ever, explored the stories of revitalized, small OCA parishes in McKees Rocks PA, St Paul MN and Willimantic CT.
View Archive and Slides
The webinar, which was a preview of themes of the Small Parish Forum played to a large audience.If you missed it you can watch the entire webinar here. Slides can be downloaded here. |
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Next Webinar: "Communicating Your Parish"
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Tuesday September 16, 8PM Eastern time
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Good websites display a clear structure, an understanding of objectives and empathy with well defined audiences.
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One common quality for most vibrant parishes is an attractive, up to date website.
Good websites inform people looking for an Orthodox Church and those who are in the early stages of inquiring into Orthodox Christianity.They provide an understanding of what the parish is about and what it offers to current and future Orthodox Christians.
Joseph Kormos offered a Forum session dedicated to 'communicating your parish'. That session will be repeated via webinar on September 16 at 8:00 PM.
Open to everyone regardless of diocese or jurisdiction, this webinar will be useful for clergy, parish webmasters, parish council and ministry leaders, and even parish bulletin contributors -- anyone interested in positively presenting their parish to a wider audience in their community.
As always webinars are free but you must register to attend. Click here to register.
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Good Website Examples
| We're often asked about examples of good parish websites. By answering the question we risk alienating many parishes with effective websites who may not be on this list. Nonetheless if you are developing a new site or updating an old one it won't hurt to see what you can learn from the following websites.
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White space, easy access to directions and services times, and clear paths for new users are all important attributes of good parish websites.
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Include Video Greetings on Parish Websites
| When it comes to communicating your parish, good words and photos are necessary. Sometimes video can be even better.
We've shared parish welcome video's a number of times before. They help bring a human side that may deliver more punch than words. They can be short or a bit longer. Some emphasize the parish --others the Orthodox faith. Some are formal --others folksy and friendly. Some are quite professional while others exhibit production challenges.
Various examples:
No doubt there other examples. Let us know.
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Sharing Our Faith - Your Personal Narrative
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Another important session in the Small Parish Forum dealt with sharing your faith. Fr. Stephen Frase led attendees through a discussion of Fundamentals of Sharing Our Faith in the 21st Century: without sounding like a used car salesman.
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Limitations in sharing our faith with others keeps Orthodoxy a 'best kept secret'.
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One important exercise was learning to write a personal narrative. It was a difficult effort for many. (Try it for yourself.) Without falling back on terms like "always done it"; "feels good", "habit" and "heritage" answer the questions: - What do I believe about God?
- Why do I believe what I believe?
- Why do I choose to go to church?
- Why do I choose to go to an Orthodox church?
- Why is _____ my home parish?
Let us know how you do.
People often ask us how they can get their church to grow. There is of course no simple answer.Yet a good step is to develop a natural ability to invite people to church. But first you must learn your answers to the above questions.
You cannot give away what you do not already have.
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Prerequisites to Sharing Our Faith
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Speaking of sharing our faith, i n a past OCA.org interview Fr. John Parker, head of the OCA's Evangelization Ministry, noted the basic prerequisites to witnessing to Jesus Christ. They are:
- To have encountered God.
- To be conforming one's life to God's.
- To reflect on God's work in one's life.
- To thank God for this regularly, formally, and informally.
- To share this story, using words when necessary, with those God sends to us or to whom God sends us.
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Attractive Signs
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 | | Attractive sign at Nativity of St John the Baptist, Philipsburg PA |
Since we're on the topic of things that help get inquirers in the door, we need to mention again the overlooked importance of an attractive sign. Good signs are doubly important for heritage parishes that have been around awhile we think. Its the fastest and easiest way to brighten up the church exterior. People notice new signs.
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One priest put it well, "Our new sign tells people, 'Something good is going on inside!'" --------------------------------------
We snapped a pic of a very attractive sign at Nativity of St John the Baptist Church in Philipsburg PA recently.
Another recently noticed example of a fine sign was found on the website of St. Michael the Archangel parish in Wilmington DE.
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St Michael, Wilmington DE
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| Quotations
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 "If you really want to do something, you will find a way. If you don't, you will find an excuse."
--Anonymous
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"We would all like a reputation for generosity and we'd all like to buy it cheap."
-- Mignon McLaughlin
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"The second half of a man's life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half."
-- Fyodor Dostoevsky
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"Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living." Jaroslav Pelikan
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"Whatever difficulties confront Orthodox Christianity in North America today, there is no good reason why an Orthodox Christian parish in North America cannot be Christ's Holy Church. All that is required is that its members, beginning with its leaders, be firmly resolved to have it so. Their afflictions will be great, as Christ has promised, but their successes are assured by His victory. 'In the world you have tribulation,' Jesus says to his apostles, 'but take courage, I have overcome the world.' "
Father Thomas Hopko in Papers of 13th All American Council
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"Death comes when memories of the past exceed the vision for the future."
Unknown
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"Is generosity a core value of Christians? ... Is it possible to lead miserly lives, or lives of great indulgence, while giving little to the church or other charitable organizations yet attending and considering oneself to be a person of faith?"
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| Article Found in an Old Report | |
Finally, we happened to thumb through an old report from an Education Department in an OCA Diocese. An article, which talked about self esteem and Discipline, provided an interesting, readable contrast of items with which we may all struggle at some point.
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Our Culture Would Emphasize >>>>
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Our Lord Emphasized
| Self esteem >>>>
| Self respect
| Self fulfillment >>>>
| Self abasement; self denial
| Self expression >>>>
| Self sacrifice
| Self realization >>>>
| Self control and self restraint
| Self autonomy >>>>
| Self discipline
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As always we appreciate the opportunity to land on your desktop. We hope you can take some encouragement and fresh ideas from the topics presented.
Please let us know of other topics that would be relevant to you.
In Christ,
Joseph Kormos Archdiocese of Western Pennsylvania, OCA
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