Reclaiming the Mission Mindset

Mission communities help to broaden the Church’s footprint in under-served areas. They bring numerical growth. Yet there is more for both the mission – and parishes that support them.

The Qualities of Mission Life

Missions Have Characteristics Necessary for Parishes Newly planted mission communities bring with them a missionary zeal. They need to build awareness and express an identity as Christians that will attract new members and friends. They need to grow or they will die. They must be welcoming and engaging to visitors and guests. They must invite. They never have enough money — so they aren’t afraid to ask for commitments. There are no liturgical furnishings – so parishioners become carpenters.

Often the priest is working – and laity learn to take responsibility. In the community’s formative years everything is new – and every decision requires them to review and discuss their mission, vision and values. As a result these values become ingrained – and the community learns to make Christ-centric decisions. A communal toughness yields a can-do attitude. When members of the mission community move elsewhere they bring the missionary spirit to their newly found parish.

In short, struggling – with a hopeful spirit – seems to make mission communities both numerically and spiritually stronger.

Many of the Strongest Parishes Began as Missions
Surely these qualities of outreach and effort can erode as time passes. Yet this helps to explain why in the Midwest Diocese many of the strongest, most vibrant, ministry centric, growing parishes began as mission communities.

Impact on the Planting Community
While the important fruit of a planting effort is the raising up of a new community where none existed, the planting community benefits as well. The planting parish is encouraged to look outside itself to the needs of others. Long forgotten (or never known) growth-oriented values are rekindled. Seeing the struggle and single minded effort of the spawned community strengthens the ‘parent’.

As time goes on – and parish life becomes safer, established parishes need to remind themselves of the value and importance of organically subdividing and creating new Orthodox communities. Often existing churches become risk averse and it becomes a lot harder to think about sharing some of their resources or people for birthing new Orthodox communities.

The challenges for mission communities are significant. Nonetheless established parishes can learn from the experiences of smaller new ones. And as a result all communities can become stronger.

Clear Purpose

The longer churches have been doing something, the harder it is to remember why they do it. Whether explicitly or implicitly mission communities seem to have a clear(er) sense of why they exist, who they are, what they value and where they want to head. And, a broader sense of who they serve. Apparently there is a reason we call them "Missions"!

Openness

Often missions have a higher proportion of persons who have recently embraced the Orthodox faith. Existing members have helped them in their journey – and learned in the process. As a result these mission communities often have a clearer understanding of how non-Orthodox inquirers think and how they will react to Orthodoxy. Likewise the general mentality of missions often has a clearer sense of the demographics of the region they are serving and the prevailing religious culture. They can express their community's "uniqueness" (hopefully in terms other than "Well, we're small!") to those who are seeking a spiritual home.

Flexibility

Missions rarely are dominated by one Orthodox historical ethnicity. Multiple traditions and practices are blended together. From the beginning it is relatively clear that there is more than one way to do things. An ability to collaborate and compromise often develops that serves the community in dealing with challenges.

Urgency to Evangelize

Once a parish is 'established' an unspoken sense of "we have enough people" or "new members require (painful) change" can start to set in. This is simply never the case in missions. Conversations associated with "are we doing enough of the right things to bring new people to Christ --to shine our light to the world?" can be a rarity in the Parish Council of an established parish. In Missions this often becomes a common topic at any gathering: parish council, coffee hour, parishioner dinner parties and adult study groups. If missions don't grow they will die. (In a less urgent sense this holds true for all parishes as well.) Sometimes the methods are ineffective and even occasionally wrongly motivated. But missions seem to never stop trying.

Adaptibility

Every situation seems to be new or a special case in a mission so there is usually little "standard procedure". When continually confronted with new challenges a certain "competency for chaos" develops. ("Oh, the icons fell down? No problem!") Eventually the disarray subsides -- but the community seems to develop an immunity to setbacks. And, the process of openly thinking things through inevitably builds an ability to dialogue and reinforces the community's sense of purpose and values.

Inentionality

Because there is a continual sense that this community could fade away quickly there is not only a clear urgency for evangelization but a propensity for everyone to work a bit harder to understand why they are plugging away in this often difficult situation. Often those in mission communities seem better prepared to explain their faith and why it is the faith they hold.

Teamwork

Life in an established parish can begin to resemble the qualities of a consumer society. Parishioners "expect" parish programs and events and a smoothly running parish without a related investment of their time or financial resources. They expect "the parish will be here on my terms, when I'm ready for it". In a mission there are fewer people and disproportionately more to be done. To be sure, some people can exist as spectators in missions but it's just harder to hide. In part because one's presence is obvious, but also because, while progress is measured in baby steps, there is an infectious and warm quality that comes from a small group coming together to accomplish something -- anything! The joyous payoff is obvious and invigorating -- and inviting of broader participation.

Hospitality

In a past OCA study, 86% of parishes claimed friendliness as their most positive attribute! While perhaps some missions can improve when welcoming newcomers, most missions can honestly and accurately claim a welcoming and loving atmosphere as a "core competency".

Propagation

For many new missions the founding vision is to establish a constellation of multiple Orthodox parishes in the local area. For some missions even in their earliest years help is extended on a regional basis to assist the creation of new communities in neighboring cities. But the continued planting often gives way to other pressing needs.