Coptic Orthodox Church Mission

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Coptic Orthodox Church Mission

• Vision, Mission, Strategy
• Building a Healthy Church
• From Member to Missionary

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To become a Healthy Church

• Bring In
• Loving Church
• Catechism Course

• Daily Life in the Church
• Lively Worship
• Dynamic Teaching
• Family Counseling
• Discipleship programs
• Theological School

• Send Out
• Evangelism Programs

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New Member Bring In

• Bring In
• Loving Church
• Accepting/Welcoming Others
• Visitations of New Members
• Agape Church Events
• Catechism Course
• Basic Church Beliefs
• Christian Principles (Prayer, Bible)
• Understanding Church goals mission
• Evaluation for Baptism

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New Member Loving Church
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New Member Loving Church
Accepting/Welcoming Church

• Welcoming Committee Members
• At least 3 members in the committee based on size
  of the church
• Members need to arrive at the church on time
  before the Service
• Need a welcoming attitude
• Social Responsibilities for the Welcoming
  Committee
• At the door to give new members liturgy books
• Show them to their seats
• Publicly welcome the new person after the
  Liturgy- Announce their name and where they are
  from
• Sit with new members and do the following
• Talk about the church
• Share church schedule
• Give small icons with stories
• Provide pamphlet on the Coptic Church
• Retain contact information in a sign up book to
  follow up by SMS or other means
• Update a notice board located next to the church
  door with the upcoming weeks activities and
  schedule

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New Member Loving Church
Accepting/Welcoming Church

• Welcoming Committee - Spiritual Responsibilities
• Meet once a week
• Share together in the bible
• Prepare for the following week program in church
• Following up with the new members and visitors
• Resources
• Each church must have enough liturgy books for
  all literate members of the congregation
• Pictures of icons and church pamphlets should be
  obtained from a designated resources office. The
  committee will be responsible for making sure
  there is always enough.
• Each church will have a book of records to record
  names, contact info, date of first visit to the
  church

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New Member Loving Church
Visitations

• Purpose of Visitations
• To know and discover members more intimately
• To have a presence in the community
• To link the church and the home
• Church members have requested to be visited
• Comfort the sick
• To show the church loves and cares
• To monitor members
• The following groups of people will be visited
• Sunday School
• Youth
• New members
• Compound people
• Visitation Committee Members
• Have a heart of service
• Responsible for recruiting a team to go for
  visitations
• Team should be aware of local culture before
  visitation

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New Member Loving Church
Visitations

• Visitations will be conducted in the following
  manner
• Should open with a prayer
• Speaker(s) should be prepared in advance
• A general curriculum should be set based on one
  of the 5 pillars of a good church (put here)
• Get feedback on visitation from servant
• Get a record of which areas are being visited
• Take cards on church celebrations (e.g.
  Christmas, Easter, New Years)
• Always carry pamphlets on the church for new
  members who attend
• Remind or let people know about schedules of
  church services
• Start a new focus on compound people (Doctors and
  local missionaries)
• Transport challenges need to be addressed

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New Member Loving Church
Visitations

• Visitations Committee Responsibilities
• Meet weekly
• Prayer meeting and bible sharing
• Prepare for the week
• Ensure all resources are available
• Follow up
• Resources
• Pictures of icons, crosses, and church pamphlets
  should be obtained from a designated resources
  office. The committee will be responsible for
  making sure there is always enough.

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New Member Loving Church
Agape Church Events

• Agape Committee Members
• Must have good communication skills
• Must be creative people
• Agape meal for all people after liturgy. Love
  Fellowship together.
• Every 3 months, each parish should organize a
  spiritual day (1 day). A committee needs to be
  in charge of this and should always be new
  servants. The day will feature
• Drama
• Competition
• Games
• Teaching liturgy
• Agape
• Choir

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New Member Loving Church
Agape Church Events Move to Evangelism

• Every 6 months, each parish / church should
  organize an open house to (1 day)
• Explain the church (etc)
• Teaching Liturgy
• Support church members in selling their talents
• Yearly national church gathering of leaders (3
  days)
• Teaching Liturgy
• Choir competition
• Drama competitions with a focus on a pre-defined
  virtue
• Focus on a character in the bible
• Resources
• Coordinate with the different classes /
  ministries (e.g. choir, Sunday school, etc.)
• Each parish should collect from the congregation
  to be able to put on these spiritual days with
  help with mother church.

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New Member Loving Church Recommendations

• All Committees should be chosen based on the
  following criteria
• Commitment punctuality
• Leaders of committees should have completed or
  currently attending the pre-servants course
• All members of the committees should have
  completed the catechism course
• Once a month, the committee leader will provide
  the priest with an update on their activities
• At Yearly conference committees from the
  different church to discuss achievements and
  challenges
• At each event discussed above there should be a
  sign up book for follow up
• Each Church or Parish will be required to fill
  out a report on all Church events for evaluation.

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New Member-Catechism Course

• The Basis of the course
• You are a member of Gods very own family and
  you belong in Gods household with every other
  Christian (Ephesians 219)
• The goal of this course
• that I will commit myself to our lord and
  savior Jesus Christ and the Church family.
• Who will be responsible to conduct the Catechism
  course?
• Priest or trained deacon
• Duration of the Catechism Course
• Meeting once per week for a total of 4 weeks at
  1hr per week
• Week 5 a test to be given

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New Member- Catechism Course Cont..

• What will the Catechism Course Cover?
• what is the meaning of life or Purpose?
• Why Am I Here
• God made me to love me
• Created to enjoy a personal relationship with God
• What is the Coptic Orthodox Church?
• Church of Apostles
• Church History
• Church Belief Doctrine
• 7 Sacraments
• Salvation
• Saints
• Christian Principles and Practice
• Ten Commandments
• Sermon on the Mountain
• Daily reading of Holy Bible
• Life of Prayer
• Tithing
• Evangelism

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New Member-Catechism

• Criteria for Baptism
• Completed Catechism course
• Follow up on daily Christian life by the Father
  or Servant conducting course
• One must deny the world and accept the Lord
• He must be committed as evidence of his
  conversion and able to show signs of repentance
• Duration
• The time of baptism will depend on the evaluation
  of the presiding priest
• Children should obtain the written consent from
  the guardians or parents before baptism
• Orphans and vulnerable children who have no
  guardians should be given Godfather or Godmother
• Names of the Catechumen should written down and
  be announce in the church before baptism
• We recommend that a person should be baptized
  after 6 months to 1 year.

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Mature Member Daily Life
New Member
Daily Life in the Church

• Family Counseling
• Discipleship programs
• Pre-Servant/Servant Curriculum
• Spiritual Retreats
• Transform Servant to Image of Christ
• Small groups to disciple church
• Theological School

• Lively Worship
• Liturgy, Praise, Overnight Prayer
• Dynamic Teaching
• Reading Programs
• Preaching Techniques
• Bible Studies

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Mature Member Lively Worship
New Member
Daily Life in the Church

• Lively Worship
• Liturgy
• Praise Worship
• Prayer (Overnight)

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Mature Member- Lively Church Liturgy

• Liturgy Books
• A uniform Liturgy book that can be used by all
  Churches. They will be translated into the
  preferred language for each Church. They will
  include explanations of what is happening in the
  Liturgy, pictures of the journey of Christ
  through the Liturgy, when to sit, bow and stand,
  etc.
• Explanation of the Liturgy
• The Priest will provide a short explanation of a
  specific part of the Liturgy
• Priest Preparation for Liturgy
• Priests will prepare their hearts the night
  before the Liturgy by spending time alone with
  God, studying the readings deeply, and praying
  for the hearts of the people in the Church
• Deacon Training Preparation for Liturgy
• Deacons will prepare their hearts the night
  before the Liturgy by reading the Bible readings,
  songs and prayer for an open heart. Priests will
  teach the deacons the true spirit and beauty of
  praising God through the Liturgy

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Mature Member- Lively Church Liturgy Cont

• Teach the People the True Meaning of Praising God
  
• Teach the people that every single person is
  needed to participate in the Liturgy with their
  whole hearts. Also, teach the true spirit and
  beauty of praising God through the Liturgy.
• Include the People in the Bible Readings
• List the Bible readings on a blackboard outside
  and inside the Church. Invite the people to
  follow along in their Bibles or read their Bibles
  when they get home
• Add Music to the Liturgy Responses
• Add lively tunes and instruments to the responses
  in the Liturgy
• Explanation of the Connection between the Liturgy
  Reading
• During the Sermon, the Priest will include the
  common theme in all the Liturgy readings
• Teach the Symbolism of the Liturgy
• In the meetings after the Liturgy, the Priest
  will visit each meeting and explain the symbolism
  of a specific part of the Liturgy

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Mature Member- Lively Church Praise Fellowship

• Praise Worship Team
• This team is the first to arrive at the Liturgy
  and all Church events. They warm up the Church
  and the people with music and song
• Spiritual Sundays
• Have special Sundays where after the Liturgy, the
  people come together in fellowship to have food,
  participate in activities share testimonies.
  This invitation will be extended to non-Church
  members

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Mature Member- Lively Church Prayer

• Praise Prayer Day
• An open invitation to come and sing songs with
  drums, pray together for the things we need, pray
  for the sick, hear a 15 minute sharing and listen
  to testimonies
• Tasbeha (Midnight Praises)
• This is a night of Vesper Prayers and Doxologies
  in the local languages, a short Bible study and
  contemplation
• Overnight Prayer Meeting
• A theme will be chosen (eg repentance, Gods
  will, the mission). The Church will pray for the
  theme. A movie that reflects the theme will be
  shown. The Church will share a tea and bread.
  The meeting will end in a Liturgy.
• Servants Prayer Meeting
• The servants will come together to hear a
  teaching, allocate duties, review past and coming
  weeks, pray and share testimonies.

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Mature Member - Dynamic Teaching
New Member
Daily Life in the Church

• Dynamic Teaching
• Reading Programs (Hosea 46)
• We need every church to have a library equipped
  with books and reading materials.
• Reading system must be set up (summarizing a book
  once a month by the reader)
• Magazines and the Newsletter of the church should
  be printed
• Reading study of the Bible should be encouraged
  in the church
• The reader should be updated with the news of the
  days
• The reader should make his own personal library.
  (The best reader should be rewarded and the
  careless should be punished to encourage
  seriousness)

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Mature Member - Dynamic Teaching
New Member
Daily Life in the Church

• Dynamic Teaching
• Preaching
• Preparation
• Prayer (Seeking The message from God)
• Allocate time to sit and research from different
  books
• Giving of the message in a summarized manner
• Learning personally the message before giving it
  to the people
• Content of message
• Focus on Church Calendar year
• Know your Audience
• Be Creative
• Have good presentation
• Application should be relevant

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Mature Member - Family
New Member
Daily Life in the Church

• Family Counseling
• Pre-marital program to prepare couple before
  marriage
• Marriage Counseling to strengthen relationship
• Training parents to raise their child in the Lord
• Seminar on helping parents to understand their
  children
• Understanding the teenager and youth issues
• How to handle alcohol and drug abuse in the
  families

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Mature Member - Discipleship
New Member
Daily Life in the Church

• Discipleship Program
• Pre-Servant Curriculum
• 2 year program to prepare potential servants to
  be servants
• Meeting once/week for 2 hours to prepare
• Spiritual Retreats
• Goal is to retreat for a weekend to spark
  spiritual life of believer
• Retreats for all ages including servants
• Servant Meetings Curriculum to keep servant
  growing weekly
• Servant Evaluation Tracking servant
  spirituality on monthly basis to help keep them
  on track to be Image of Christ
• Small Groups Mechanism in which 6-8 people meet
  together to be discipled

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Mature Member Discipleship Image of a
servant-servant evaluation
New Member
Daily Life in the Church
Image of a Servant

• Spirituality of servant
• Daily Prayer and Quite time
• Daily Bible reading
• Reading spiritual books
• Attending weekly Liturgies early
• Should make every effort to attend at least one
  liturgy during the week
• Visitations at least once every two weeks
• Examine himself
• Living Gods word in your daily life
• Daily Repentance
• Confession at least every 6-8 weeks
• Evaluation from the priest
• Commitment in the above mentioned topics
• Through the servants obedience to the service and
  to the fathers
• Servants flexibility to serve where needed

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Mature Member Discipleship through Small Groups
New Member
Daily Life in the Church

• Small Groups
• What is small groups?
• A small family of between 6-8 people with one
  leader
• Should be the same gender and age or married
  couples
• A small group leader will meet the group weekly
• Goal To disciple the members of the group
• Format Prayer, Bible Sharing, Book about topic
  related to group
• The groups stays accountable for each other
  through prayer and visitation
• Leader is a guide and friend, not strict teacher

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Mature Member Discipleship through Small Groups
New Member
Daily Life in the Church

• Small Groups
• Why small groups? (Benefits)
• Through this discipleship group we create devoted
  followers of Jesus
• Church members begin to feel accepted in the
  church community as a family
• Members offer confidentiality and support while
  transformation is happening
• Members can encourage each other to make
  decisions through prayer

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Mature Member Discipleship through Small Groups
New Member
Daily Life in the Church

• Small Groups
• How to Start Small groups as a church?
• Announce to leaders (servants, deacons) and
  explain small groups
• Announce for 3 weeks about small groups in the
  church and have sign up cards
• Youth age and below should have parent/guardian
  approval
• The church will organize the people signed up
  into groups and assign leader
• Leaders should be trained and receive curriculum
  for group
• Once Leader gets his group names, he/she will
  contact them and organize weekly meeting
• Meet at various members home to make it more
  personal
• Leader will evaluate the meeting every month and
  make any changes necessary
• As new members come into the church, they can
  placed into an existing group

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Mature Member Theological School
New Member
Daily Life in the Church

• Theological School
• 2 year program (Boarding)
• Theology, Bible, Mission Training
• Practical Application
• Preparing future leaders and missionaries to lead
  areas or projects
• Transform life of leader

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Missionary Send Out

• Send Out
• Evangelism Programs

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Missionary Send Out

• Send Out
• Evangelism Programs
• What is Evangelism?
• It means reach out to men and women even children
  and the youth who do not have a relation with the
  lord to bring them to have that personal
  relationship.
• Thereby fulfilling the great Commission according
  Matthew 2819.

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Missionary Send Out

• Send Out
• Evangelism Programs
• How to Start?
• Every local Church should identify
  Servants/deacons who will be trained to be on the
  evangelism team and reporting to the priests
• And every local church should report to the
  Evangelism Steering Committee monthly
• Ushers should be well trained to follow up with
  people who from evangelism events
• Organize literature material such as pamphlets
• All members of the church have to support to
  Evangelism events
• Invite International guest speakers who are
  orthodox priests
• Target areas
• The market place, The slums, The communities in
  the rural areas, Universities colleges and
  secondary schools, primary schools.

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What every member needs to do

• Bring In
• Complete Catechism Course

• Daily Life in the Church
• Weekly Worship Services
• Sign up for Small group
• Attend Spiritual Retreats
• Pre-Servant Course
• Servant Meetings
• Theological School

• Send Out
• Evangelism Team

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Steering Committee Leader

• Daily Life in the Church
• Lively Worship
• Fr Joshua
• Grace Attwa
• Dynamic Teaching
• Fr Thomas
• Family Counseling
• Fr Abraham
• Discipleship programs
• Pre-Servant -Fr Joseph
• Servant-Father Jacob
• Small Group-Dalia Fam
• Retreats Fr. Elisha
• Theological School
• Fr Elisha

• Bring In
• Loving Church
• Fr Timothy
• Mena Attwa
• Catechism Course
• Fr Mark

• Send Out
• Evangelism Programs
• Fr Bishoy