Greek Orthodox Church Losing Members

[GoingByzantine]

The Greek Orthodox Church in America is losing membership at a staggering rate.

In a startling find, statistics disclose over 60% of Greek Orthodox families of the last generation and 90% of Americans with Greek roots are no longer in communion with the Church. It is a concern shared by learned religious leaders who understand the need for a compassionate outreach towards intermarried families with sensitivity to differences among intermarried couples and the problems they face as a family. In the transition, as each population passes into successive generations, growing numbers of families move further from their origins, with the probability that our beloved Greek Orthodox Church in America will become moribund in the very near future.

Full Story:
An Important Challenge for Greek Orthodox Christianity — Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

 

[truefiction1]

I seems like they're not the only ones whose membership has declined.

 

[Kristos]

Leave it to the Greeks to try and make it about being Greek...smh

 

[GregConstantine]

no surprises there...

 

[GoingByzantine]

It seems to me that exclusively ethnic churches are doomed to fail, I have read stories before of potential converts going to Greek Churches and being looked at with suspicion.

 

[Joseph Hazen]

Leave it to the Greeks to try and make it about being Greek...smh

Amen. I'm biting my tongue so much. Not that the Greeks are the only ones who do this, but seriously hierarchs...

*Bites harder*

 

[GregConstantine]

great response to that article, check this link out:

Losing our Religion: On “Retaining” Young People in the Orthodox Church | Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy

This response said it, I've said it a million times and I will say it again, regardless of what language you use in the liturgy, the foundation of a strong fidelity to the faith starts with Mom and Dad in the home, which is an extension and an expression of the local Church.

once people get this, then you'll see the tide turning. It takes work, it takes taking personal responsibility especially for and interaction with the information and education one receives (rather than just absorbing whatever comes across from the media).

Certainly, the focus of many Greek parishes on Greek culture to the seemly exclusion of the faith doesn't help, however, even with that emphasis, one can still be and remain a faithful Orthodox Christian, because again, it really comes down to Mom and Dad. Parenting is a high calling, I would dare say it's almost sacerdotal in some ways.

 

[xenia]

I suspect the percentage of Americans of English ancestry who attend the Episcopal church is even smaller.

 

[xenia]

I left my original Greek parish because of their over-emphasis on their food festival. I didn't give up all my Protestant friends and my former way of life just to fry loukoumades. But, having said that, the Litrugy is still the Liturgy and it was at this very ethinic parish where I made my first baby steps into Orthodoxy, and for that I am very grateful.

 

[seashale76]

Leave it to the Greeks to try and make it about being Greek...smh

And insisting everything be in Greek even though very few speak Greek. Even people of Greek ancestry will eventually leave if they can't understand anything.

 

[Mary of Bethany]

great response to that article, check this link out:

Losing our Religion: On “Retaining” Young People in the Orthodox Church | Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy

This response said it, I've said it a million times and I will say it again, regardless of what language you use in the liturgy, the foundation of a strong fidelity to the faith starts with Mom and Dad in the home, which is an extension and an expression of the local Church.

once people get this, then you'll see the tide turning. It takes work, it takes taking personal responsibility especially for and interaction with the information and education one receives (rather than just absorbing whatever comes across from the media).

Certainly, the focus of many Greek parishes on Greek culture to the seemly exclusion of the faith doesn't help, however, even with that emphasis, one can still be and remain a faithful Orthodox Christian, because again, it really comes down to Mom and Dad. Parenting is a high calling, I would dare say it's almost sacerdotal in some ways.

You beat me to it. That is an excellent, and sobering, article. Thanks for linking it here.

Mary

 

[buzuxi02]

Christianity is on the decline. Unless people are actually foolish enough to believe there are 2.1 billion Christians in the world.

In America, Im still convinced that the GOARCH retains membership the best. Those people may not be in communion with the Church basically means there non religious, they just stopped attending church, belueve me there not attending the spouse's church.

 

[Dorothea]

great response to that article, check this link out:

Losing our Religion: On “Retaining” Young People in the Orthodox Church | Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy

This response said it, I've said it a million times and I will say it again, regardless of what language you use in the liturgy, the foundation of a strong fidelity to the faith starts with Mom and Dad in the home, which is an extension and an expression of the local Church.

once people get this, then you'll see the tide turning. It takes work, it takes taking personal responsibility especially for and interaction with the information and education one receives (rather than just absorbing whatever comes across from the media).

Certainly, the focus of many Greek parishes on Greek culture to the seemly exclusion of the faith doesn't help, however, even with that emphasis, one can still be and remain a faithful Orthodox Christian, because again, it really comes down to Mom and Dad. Parenting is a high calling, I would dare say it's almost sacerdotal in some ways.

Yes, I read the first article in the OP, and had the thoughts about ethnic stuff and nationalism and not having services in English, but also there is the outreach issues and such as a priest said in response to that article on his status earlier today.

I don't think it's about the interfaith marriages as much, truly. And Fr. Andrew points out the lack of research and info to back that claim up in the first article. What he says in that article (Fr. Andrew, that is), is quite informative, eye-opening, and sobering, but needed to be addressed and there needs to be addressed sooner rather than later for all the Orthodox Churches (and all Christian communities need that as well).

 

[seashale76]

As shocking as such a conclusion may seem, here is the most important point: Teenagers and emerging adults believe in and practice “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” not because their parents and their local church have failed to teach them otherwise, but precisely because that is what their parents and their local church are actually teaching them.

^Yep.

 

[buzuxi02]

great response to that article, check this link out:

Losing our Religion: On “Retaining” Young People in the Orthodox Church | Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy

This response said it, I've said it a million times and I will say it again, regardless of what language you use in the liturgy, the foundation of a strong fidelity to the faith starts with Mom and Dad in the home, which is an extension and an expression of the local Church.

once people get this, then you'll see the tide turning. It takes work, it takes taking personal responsibility especially for and interaction with the information and education one receives (rather than just absorbing whatever comes across from the media).

Certainly, the focus of many Greek parishes on Greek culture to the seemly exclusion of the faith doesn't help, however, even with that emphasis, one can still be and remain a faithful Orthodox Christian, because again, it really comes down to Mom and Dad. Parenting is a high calling, I would dare say it's almost sacerdotal in some ways.

I agree that it comes down to mom and dad, definitely. But I believe the greek culture is the most successful at this. This trend may change of course as people become more secular.

There only about 5 million greeks outside of Greece (and Cyprus) in the entire world, yet they compromise the overwhelming majority of Orthodox Christians in every country which is (or was) a destination for immigrants. Whether its the United States, Canada, Australia, England or even South Africa, usually there will be more 'GOARCH' adherents, many times more than all the other jurisdictions combined. This quite perplexing looking at the large wave of immigration from the former Soviet nations which hasn't done much to change the numbers of the OCA.

The reason for this is the greeks have the best ministries for young adults tied with greek phronema. If mom and dad avoid their responsibility or if the young adult ASSIMILATES into American culture after high school then its lost.

While intermarriages can be better handled, right now SCOBA policies forbid it. Any Orthodox can marry a non-Orthodox Christian spouse in the Church, church policy does not even require the priest to simply ask whether the non-Orthodox spouse wants to convert!

 

[Lukaris]

I bet the situation we have in our church is the same in some others. We have a rapidly aging congregation, most are good, devout, hard working, charitable, & show commitment to the church amid personal hardship (this is truly Orthodox & important).We also do not know much about Orthodoxy, evangelically handicapped, & stuck with functionalism to survive. Functional modes like weekly dinners to raise cash, basket raffles, etc are the rule.

Personally( I am a greater sinner than my fellow parishoners) I have tried to raise concerns about new members. When on council I did this sparing & cordially; the disposition of our discussion was good & we ended up like deer in the headlights & soon back to cemetery policies & basket raffles. I am also just a functional cog as I work a couple long nights every week (after the day job) as church janitor.

Our priest is very good & shoulders many burdens. The problem remains: what do we do to share our faith in a loving & meaningful way?