At the conclusion of this article is a copy of our parish mission statement. This was written when our parish first came into existence a few years ago, with the hope of keeping our focus clear.


Please take a moment to read it. Right now. Really.


Christ's Resurrection gives us all we need for our salvation; our task must be to turn out lives to Him, that His Holy Medicine might save us from our spiritual sickness. The Holy Mysteries, prayer, watchfulness over the heart, and inner stillness: all these are the means by which Christ's grace works in us. It should be no surprise that these are the heart of our parish mission.


Yet the challenge of sharing this Holy Medicine with others - Orthodox evangelism - must be the loving outgrowth of all of this. Without such love, we are, as the Apostle Paul puts it, just a noisy bell.


The Lord has blessed abundantly the efforts of our parish to minister here: look around the church, and you'll see it. On June 24, we will have the chance to look outward, to raise support for the Orthodox Missions to China, a mission to one-third of the world's population.


This event marks a critical part of our work as a parish: for our salvation, and for the salvation of others. Please take the time to read about the Chinese mission in the News & Events section of this month's website, and plan to attend the Fundraiser and/or contribute to the mission.


As we look inward to our interior life, let us take these opportunities to look outward, to share the Orthodox faith with the world. After all, this is the very thing Orthodox mission work - and Christian love - is all about.


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MISSION STATEMENT


All Saints of North America Orthodox Church exists with the mission of:


EVANGELISM to know the CHURCH - that through traditional Orthodox life, served in the common language of the people, all residents of the Golden Horseshoe, of all nations, would know Christ through faithful membership in His Timeless and Holy Body, the Orthodox Church;


HOLY MYSTERIES for TRANSFORMATION - that through regular Confession, Communion, and all the Holy Mysteries and services of the Church, the faithful may grow into the fullness of Christ's Image;


FELLOWSHIP - that through the struggle of mutual humility and service, the faithful may come to know true, self-sacrificing and enduring Christian love in the communion of the Church;


EDUCATION through WATCHFULNESS OVER THE HEART - that through learning watchfulness over their heart, the faithful may grow in discernment, and freedom from slavery to all the passions of this world;


PRAYER for INNER STILLNESS - that through common and individual prayer, along with the prayers of the Holy Theotokos and all the saints, the faithful will acquire the spirit of inner stillness, that a thousand souls may be saved around them.


- FrG+