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The Choco mission, part 03

So, how did I get involved personally in the Choco mission? Well, it was all because of Fr. Alejandro. He went the first time, and he also went a follow up time. My assumption and encouragement was that he would be the one to keep going out there. After all, he speaks Quechua; he had members in his congregation from Choco; he had grown up in the altiplano and so had better lungs than I, and so on.... [Read more]

service

The Choco mission, part 02

Fr. Alejandro Mesco I mentioned the last post that the 1998 El Niño rains in Peru caused a massive landslide that blocked one of the streams going by Choco, a stream that had become a raging river. As a result, the river swept over part of the small bluff that houses Choco, killing 34 persons and wiping out part of the town. The news made it to Arequipa, where our family lived, and to the pueblo... [Read more]

The Choco mission, part 01

If you notice, on the previous post there is a photographs of some Quechua farmers with ancient-design farming equipment and a couple of ladies, one carrying her child in a blanket on her back. That photograph was taken while I was visiting Choco, Perú, the title was Photoshopped on later. The Choco mission was a very successful church plant that began as an emergency relief mission and developed... [Read more]

Mission minded congregations are not necessarily nice

Continuing on with some of my comments on missions and fund-raising, I recently posted the note below on another blog. After I posted it, I thought that it might be worth reposting here. Since I am no longer an overseas missionaries, it may be that my memories of how it really was will be helful to both churches and organizations involved in missionary support. I have done a couple of minor edits to... [Read more]

Multiple Missionary Support by Local Congregations

Have you ever been to a local congregation that has a missions board up with multiple missionaries? I do not mean a large congregation with multiple missionaries. I mean a typical size medium congregation, one with an attendance around a couple of hundred people. Sometimes their missions board will proudly display ten or more different missionaries scattered around the world. They may even have some... [Read more]

Why do you make it so hard to become Orthodox? – part 03

OK, I understand much of what you have been saying, but why must I have a sponsor, or why is a baby expected to have godparents? Well, in the book of Hebrews, it says: For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.  For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled... [Read more]

Why do you make it so hard to become Orthodox? – part 02

So, why is a catechumen encouraged to take on a “new” name when they are chrismated? What’s in a name? Taking on a new name is not necessary, but it is highly encouraged. The background to a name change goes all the way back to the beginnings of God’s special interactions with Abraham and continued all the way through the New Testament. There is a long list of people who had... [Read more]

conditions

Why do you make it so hard to become Orthodox? – part 01

St. Augustine with catechumens Last week one of my readers asked me to comment on the year-long process to become Orthodox and be allowed to participate in the sacraments. Let me begin with a bit of contrast. Recently, an evangelical who worked on the Mike Huckabee presidential campaign, and is a blogger, wrote a posting listing ten problems with evangelicalism. Let me pick up on just one of them as... [Read more]

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Why don’t we reach out to the inner city?

A fellow blogger has asked the question as to why non-inner city Christians do not do more inner city work. I was going to answer his question, and then I realized that my answer would be too long for a simple comment, so I decided to put it here. There are a complex of reasons why non-inner city Christians do not reach out to the inner city. It does not boil down to just simple sin, although,... [Read more]

Lived Theology School

NEW! Opportunities through the Lived Theology School (LTS) program at St John the Compassionate Mission in Toronto Canada. St John the Compassionate Mission is an apostolate of the Carpatho-Russian Diocese. GUEST-WORKER VOLUNTEERS Come alone, or in a group, stay at Lourmel House (LTS), work and pray and share and grow. Accommodation and board provided free. You pay your own way to and from Toronto... [Read more]