Missionary Work by the Orthodox Church

Question: 

Why is there almost no missionary work by the Orthodox Church in the USA towards the Non Orthodox?  I am a convert to Orthodoxy from a Protestant background and I recall that the Protestant Church supported missionaries overseas in some real rough places at times, while since I've been Orthodox, I've only met one 'missionary' as a guest speaker in my parish, and he was a Lutheran working in relief work in Russia.  I would like to support mission work in the USA, if I could find anybody doing it.  I am willing to volunteer to go to the field myself for at least a month or so in the summer.

Very Rev. Ihor Kutash kutash@unicorne.org 

Perhaps the answer to that is that the Orthodox do not seem to have the same sense of urgency about mission work as do our Western brethren.  We do not seem to see the world divided into the saved (those in the fold we are in) and the lost.  It is a keen sense of that sort of dichotomy that impels Western Churches - particularly the Evangelical Protestant ones - to send out and support missionaries to preach the Gospel.

This does not mean that we do not have a missionary sense and tradition.  For example the work of the mission school in Kazan brought many people in Central Asia and the Far East into the fold of Orthodoxy.  We had communities in China - and there is a vibrant Orthodox Church in Japan

Why do we not do it in North America?  I suppose that we *do* actually do it - in a different way.  We do it by *being* the Church - i.e. by setting up and maintaining places of worship and serving the Lord - and proclaiming Him - by our (His) liturgies.  And just as Jesus invited His first disciples to do, people "come and see".

And so the seed is sown and the seed sown is watered.  Eventually the fruit is ready.  Churches spring up.   Translations are made.  Organizations form.

This is the way it normally happens in Orthodoxy.  There are exceptions, however.  There are evangelically zealous Orthodox Christians and communities.  For example Orthodoxy in North America was blessed recently by the acceptance of a large community of people who had been Evangelical Protestants.  They have often brought their missionary zeal with them.  This is a good thing.  The Church is a living body.  It is right that there should be in it a diversity as well as a unity.

Perhaps *you* have something to add to the missionary work of Orthodoxy.  Get in touch with your Pastor.  He may be able to direct you to a place or organization where the vocation you seem to be sensing can be realized in action.

What a blessing to have discovered the sweetness of the light and goodness that is found in Orthodoxy in addition to the faith and commitment to our Lord that were available to you in your Protestant background!

May the Lord of the Harvest continue to guide you in your desire to be a faithful labourer in His Vineyard.