Description
This course will help one understand the central importance and role in the Church of witnessing our faith through missions and evangelism. The “spirit of missions†is central in our ecclesiology and Orthodox worldview and identity. The need for Christians and churches to continue the work of Christ, welcoming and reaching out to those outside our Christian faith is paramount. We need Churches which instill in its members the spirit to raise up, train and send out missionaries and witnesses locally, nationally and globally. This course will educate and inspire students to understand the central spirit of missions and evangelism in the Church. The first part of the course will focus on the lives, ministries and methods of some of the greatest Orthodox missionaries - the Apostle Paul and the early Christians, Cyril and Methodios, Innocent Veniaminov of Alaska, Nicholas Kasatkin of Japan - along with exemplar witnesses of the faith from last century like St Maria Skobtsova, St Tikhon (Bel