Christian Apologetics Society

Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God."
- Matthew 22:29

Isaiah 55:11
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it
Gen 1:3
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light
Matthew 26:26
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body."
Malachi 1:11
My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations," says the LORD Almighty.
John 20:23
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.
James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
James 2:14
What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
Luke 20:38
For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.
Rev 21:27
Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
1 Cor 3:15
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
Psalm 51:5
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.
John 3:5
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Titus 3:5
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
1 Timothy 3:15
but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
Acts 22:16
And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

Orthodox Church in America Increasing

Kendall Harmon of the Anglican blog TitusOneNine, a CAS must read, notes a recent USA Today article on a welcome trend among the Orthodox Church in America. Namely, their congregations are increasing. Not only are they increasing, but the congrgeations are swelling with both Catholic and Reformation Christian converts.

According to a study by the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute in Berkeley, CA, 29% of Greek Orthodox in America are converts. Amazingly, as many as 56% of clergy among the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) are converts.

A commenter Ad Orientem on TitusOneNine noted:

"The fundies generally come to Orthodoxy when they start discovering church history. By which I mean the part between the end of the New Testament and Martin Luther / John Calvin. To read the Fathers is to end forever the weird ideas that so called “Bible Christians” have about things like sola scriptura etc. I have yet to meet a fundamentalist Protestant who was well read in the Fathers and early Church history. It is absolutely impossible to square Protestantism with the faith of the first millennium."

If you'd like your voice to be part of the discussion, click over to TitusOneNine. Don't forget to set a bookmark while you're there.


Related Posts:
Pew and the U.S. Religious Landscape
Ordination Prayer for Women Deacons Differs

Source: Study finds more U.S. Orthodox Christian converts

Labels: , ,


1 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Look at the baptism records and old parish photographs -our parishes used to be MUCH bigger. Read the Hopko letter - he laments that nowadays a parish of 200 is considered large, and some OCA diocese have fewer members throughtout as our old cathedrals did.

Estimates on OCA membership are tricky to be sure. If there is anyone that still believes it is 1M+, I have this great ocean-front property in Arizona I need to get rid of for rock bottom prices, please call me...

The last OCA yearbook lists 1026 clergy - 180 some deacons, the rest priests...

Using the Hartford Institute's estimated membership of 39,000 for the OCA...

(per: http://hirr.hartsem.edu/research/tab2.pdf)

You get -
ratio of clergy to laity: 38.01
ratio of priests to laity: 47.04
39,000 / 456 parishes = 85.52 members per parish

Using Fr. Jonathan Ivanoff's estimated membership of 27,196

You get -
ratio of clergy to laity: 26.50
ratio of priests to laity: 32.85
27,196 / 456 parishes = 59.64 members per parish

If some sources are correct, that the OCA active membership is closer to 15,000 you are getting to a point where 1 in 15 members of the OCA is a deacon, priest or bishop. Not great any way you slice it.

8:02 PM  

<< Home