Your social media feed (and email inbox) is probably full of appeals for Giving Tuesday.
In fact, I’m all but certain it is…
If you’ll allow, I’d like to share two special Orthodox Christian ministries that deserve your support on Giving Tuesday.
(And not just today, frankly. I’m a monthly supporter of each and, along with my parish, these organizations that make up the bulk of my monthly giving.)
Those ministries are:
We’ll start with FOCUS…
What is FOCUS?
FOCUS is the Fellowship of Orthodox Christians United to Serve. Yet the acronym also stands for the five basic areas of need we work to address across the country:
food,
occupation,
clothing,
understanding, and
shelter.
In short, FOCUS helps Orthodox Christians see and serve Christ in our neighbor. We bring people together for day-long service retreats, and we mobilize the faithful across a particular city to create pan-Orthodox FOCUS Centers that address the ongoing needs of a community.
And these Centers do a variety of lifesaving work across the country: from our homeless shelter in Cleveland to daily lunches in Minneapolis-Saint Paul to support for expectant moms in Houston.
As a ministry affiliated with the Assembly of Bishops, we’re called by the united hierarchs of the Church to do this critical work.
Because first, and most obviously, Christ commands this work. In Matthew 25, for example we read about the Last Judgment. When we come face-to-face with Christ He will judge us, not according to our private piety, but based on whether we fed the hungry and clothed the naked.
We say that every person is an icon of Christ. But that teaching is meaningless unless we can see, serve, and love Christ in every person we encounter.
Only then will the Lord place us at His right hand and say:
Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me. (Matthew 25:34-36)
And now is the perfect time to support FOCUS. We started the year with five Centers, and developed two new ones this summer (a pregnancy support center in Houston, and a feeding ministry in Cincinnati). And we’re poised to start FIVE new Centers in 2024.
And, God willing, that’s all just the beginning.
If you want to help the Church live into its call to see, serve, and love Christ in every person, then I hope you’ll support FOCUS.
Next we’ll turn to OCF…
What is OCF?
OCF is the official campus ministry of the Assembly of Bishops.
OCF transforms the lives of college students by guiding them along the path to Jesus Christ through His Church, cultivating a campus community of worship, witness, service, fellowship, and education.
College is a critical time in a young person’s life, and OCF is there to help form faithful Orthodox Christians who have a lifelong relationship with Christ in His Church.
From retreats to conferences to pilgrimages to curricula that support hundreds of chapters around the country, OCF is making a difference in the lives of thousands of young people.
Because young people are called to grow into faithful, rather than former Christians. And OCF is really good at helping to form faithful young Christians.
Plus, OCF is in an exciting phase of new growth. We recently placed a full-time missionary on the campus of Texas A&M. And we’re hoping to do the same in dozens more cities and campuses across the country: providing all college students—from those who grew up in the Church to inquirers just learning about the Church—a place to develop a deep and lifelong love for Christ in His Church.
If you want to help the Church effectively minister to college students, then I hope you’ll support OCF.
Hi Steve! Angel Mindala... I’m not sure where to reach you best but I’d like to talk to you about speaking your youth at our Parish near Cleveland, Ohio.