Vision 2010 – Mar Thoma Diocese of North America & Europe
VISION 2010 – MAR THOMA DIOCESE OF NORTH AMERICA & EUROPE
Greetings to all of you in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
“How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.” Psalms 116:12, 13 January 1, 2010 marked the first anniversary of my service as the Episcopa of the Diocese of North America and Europe. I thank God for His mercy and grace that strengthens me to serve in this Diocese, which offers tremendous strengths to tackle the gigantic challenges. As I enter into the second year of my ministry as the Diocesan Episcopa, I attempt to review our state of affairs and present my vision for the future of our Diocese. Our strengths are remarkable. I have observed the following: The Diocese has a team of loyal and hard working Clergy who are committed to serving God through the Mar Thoma Church. Their commitment to serve the pastoral needs of the people has been exemplary. Despite the potential for encountering long delays in obtaining the visas for Achens assigned to serve in the USA, Canada, and Europe, we were able to handle the transfers for all our Achens in a timely manner and I credit this achievement to God’s grace and our commitment to abide by the immigration rules of the USA, Canada, and Europe.
2. Our Church and this Diocese is made up of a large body of loyal and committed members, some of whom migrated around the 60’s, and in the subsequent decades. Irrespective of when they migrated, most of our loyal members continue to contribute their time, talent and resources to the growth of our church. They have taken pains and made many sacrifices to establish our parishes, congregations and the diocese in North America and Europe. Their continued voluntary support for the growth of our church is admirable. The growth of the Church is indeed a reflection of the spiritual growth, Christian witness and mission of its members.
3. Many of the young families and youths in our diocese are career employees holding high positions in their place of work. They are educated, skilled, and resourceful and have innovative ideas.
4. We currently have 62 Parishes and 20 Congregations spread across two continents and in six (6) Countries, supporting the mission and the ministry of the Mar Thoma Church on the local, diocesan, and global levels.
Our challenges are many. Some of the challenges we face together in the Diocese are:
As we are spread across two (2) continents and in six (6) countries, we have to be mindful of the need to adhere to all the local regulations and requirements of the individual countries, especially in matters pertaining to the administration of the parishes and in matters pertaining to getting visas for Achens.
2. A large majority of our Achens are from India. Some of them encounter challenges posed by the culture shock, and some of them lack adequate technical, language, and communication skills.
3. While our people continue to be the asset of our church, at times some of our people are reluctant to consider making the necessary changes, even though they live in a world that continues to embrace changes at a rapid pace.
4. Although our church operates in a democratic manner, it is imperative for the church to find ways to reach a consensus in pertinent matters. When consensus appears impractical, our members have no choice but to respect the democratic process and allow it to operate freely. We must develop a culture of respect and tolerance for opposing views and agree to disagree without breaking relationships.
5. While God has blessed many of our members to become affluent citizens, we should not even consider using our money as a means to buy public opinion or stakes. People are more important and our approaches for dealing with everyone should be people friendly.
6. God-given differences among people are gifts from the Almighty to the community. Therefore, we must celebrate diversity while maintaining unity. Formation of new parishes should be encouraged to account for the growth of our Diocese, but the formation of new parishes and congregations should not be due to any ill feeling to our very own brothers and sisters. Instead, we should form new parishes when we have surpassed numerical thresholds that would violate local occupancy laws and regulations, or when sufficient numbers of people with interest to form a new parish are separated by reliable and understandable geographical distances.
7. The ministry of the church is a servant ministry. Those aspiring to take, or who have already taken, positions of responsibility in our churches should do so because of a genuine spirit to serve and not because of greed for power and/or authority.
8. God has created humans to discern right from wrong. Our teenagers and youth need to gain a better understanding of the risks and benefits of the freedoms in society. They should use their freedom to mature themselves in their thinking, working, and acquiring responsibilities. They should be encouraged to build their core values of human living and assume responsibilities in life. They must be made aware that they are stewards of God and His handiwork.
9. The call of the church is “to deny oneself, take up the cross, and follow Christ.” Our approach to spirituality should become deeper rather than staying superficial. We should be able to see the spirit of God at work in all of His creation in the universe. Redemption in Christ is meant for the whole of creation.
10. The Word of God is the book that guides us. We should take conscious efforts to educate our members through regular Bible studies, and to teach them about the heritage of the church. Creative and innovative approaches to study the Bible and preach should be encouraged, aside from the lecture or “convention-preaching” model. We need a teaching style where questions are raised respectfully and answers are freely discussed. This interactive method of teaching is needed for all our church organizations, especially in the Sunday school. Such education may help our people to develop a clearer vision and deeper commitment and loyalty to the church, in addition to a willingness to serve and contribute towards the Church’s mission and ministry. Our entire life in the world is life-in-mission. The Church in the world is only a true Church insofar as she has a genuine missionary dimension and involvement.
11. Everything comes from God. What we have received is only God’s gift. We have to inculcate a habit of giving from a very young age. About 25% of our earning members do not practice giving; the younger generation takes it for granted that the support of the elderly is enough for running the matters of the Church. This has to change.
12. Many trends in our society also affect the life within our church. For example,
a. In general, our people have a desire to acquire more and more in an age of consumerism and market culture. The greed for money may affect their commitment to the church and its ministry.
b. In most homes, both spouses are working and hence they may not have time to care for each other and care for their loved ones.
c. Some people are separated by their job locations, or may have to engage in frequent official or work-related travel, thereby exposing themselves and their loved ones to a feeling of loneliness and a need for adopting unacceptable means for comfort.
d. The individualistic culture, where every man is on his own, is also destroying the fabric of interdependence and fellowship that the church promotes. There appears to be a growing trend amongst some of our youths to discontinue attending Mar Thoma Church Services after they relocate to different places for college studies even though they were active in the Church during their High School studies.
e. Our young people in the universities and work situations are challenged with many post-modern questions about the legitimacy of our faith and practices and it is incumbent upon us to equip them with scholarly apologetics to face these new challenges so that they can give solid support for building our faith community.
Vision for the future:
Despite and amidst all the challenges that surround us, let us rely on God who is in control. He is the Master of the universe and His plan will prevail. Our efforts should be to empower each individual in all sections of our community to experience God’s grace and to understand His will. We must especially empower our youth and women to use their talents to the fullest potential for glorifying God. Hence, we must invest in our people and empower them to realize the God-given potentials of their life and mission.
In the short-term, I wish to see more services offered in the language that our people understand. This means that in all parishes there should be an effort to increase the number of English services, while at the same time being mindful and respecting the needs of those who may only understand Malayalam. More women and youths should be encouraged to participate in the decision-making bodies of the church. We could engage the retired adults and senior citizens to pray and collaborate with the church to help its growth. We should identify more youths from within our diocese to serve both as ordained and un-ordained ministers. We should also challenge our members to serve the needy and marginalized in their neighborhoods. The local or neighborhood mission has special relevance to youth, but must be extended to all age groups, and should be the focus of each parish.
The duration of our worship service is an issue for many families particularly for those parents who have to drop off their children to the University campus after the service or to those who have to go to work in the afternoon. The children also find the worship services too long. The Diocese is very limited in finding a solution to this issue, but the parishes and congregations have to begin somewhere, perhaps by cutting short the time taken for reading announcements etc. Vicars should use their discretion for the dissemination of announcements, perhaps with the News Letter and other medium of communication.
In the long-term, we should start to recognize the needs of our aging members and plan for retirement communities or assisted living facilities. Our diocese should also consider better ways to advance financial assistance to the needy by offering micro financing and expanding the outreach mission and ministry activities to the entire world. Three important elements of Church’s witness are kergyma (proclamation), koinonia (fellowship, relationship, Community) and diakonia (service). Relationship is the glue that binds all aspects of our Church life and hence we should pay much attention to this by developing more dialogue, formal and informal, at all levels to bring out the very best in each one of us for the glory of God. This would help us to create good partnership between clergy and the laity for providing the pastoral needs of the community.
Our resource persons should be engaged in ‘recorded- interviews’ and the Messenger articles and other documentation should be reviewed to collect the historical data regarding the growth of our diocese, thereby charting the progress of our diocese and identifying its future needs. This would help us to develop and build a theology of our history. The focal point of God’s involvement in genuine history is mission and it is indeed the history of a mission-centered Church. We must also archive such historical information at the Diocesan Center along with the back copies of the Mar Thoma Messenger. In the next 30 to 40 years, when majority of the first generation Marthomites have long gone from the scene, Mar Thoma parishes will have our 4th and 5th generation members. In order to maintain our cultural and religious heritage, they should be aware of their roots. We have to teach our children and their children the history of the Mar Thoma Church, and explain how it was established in North America and Europe and what the salient aspects of our culture, faith and heritage are.
Conclusion:
In summary, we must begin the year 2010 with a renewed knowledge of our strengths and a renewed zeal to overcome our challenges. Our members must take up the work of the church’s ministry and mission. The Mar Thoma church has a great role to play in North America & Europe by sharing its rich Eastern heritage and traditions, while emphasizing that our core value is for all humankind to experience the redeeming love and salvation offered through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that assures eternal life. To do so we must equip our people, and strengthen the mission dimension of the Diocese, and each parish should take its neighborhood mission seriously. Once again, I thank God for His abundant grace to serve in this Diocese. Let us join hands to become instruments of His peace and His kingdom.
May God bless you all
Yours in His Service
Geevarghese Mar Theodosius
SINAI MAR THOMA CENTER, NY
January 4, 2010
