The first Small Parish Forum was held July 2014 at Christ the Savior Church in Byesville OH. Over fifty attendees representing six OCA Dioceses, other Orthodox jurisidictions and the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma participated in spirited sessions discussing revitalization success stories,worship, sharing your faith, charitable outreach all tailored to the unique issues of small parishes. |
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Use the following links toaccess materials from the 2014 Small Parish Forum
Keynote Address - Fr. Daniel Rentel
Profiles in Revitalization - Fr. Jonathan Proctor
Worship I - David Drillock --Outline
Worship II David Drillock - Outline
Evangelization - Sharing Your Faith in the 21 st Century Fr. Stephen Frase
Charitable Outreach - AnnMarie Mecera
Communicating Your Parish - Joe Kormos
Clergy Laity Letters
In one of the final sessions of the Small Parish Forum attendees were 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.