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"Go forth therefore and make all nations my disciples... and teach them all that I have commanded you." |
Matthew 28:19-20 |
In 1980, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Theodosius, gave his blessing for the establishment of the Fellowship of Orthodox Stewards as a means by which the faithful of the Orthodox Church in America would be encouraged to use their time, talents, and their treasures for the building up of the Church in North America.
The decision to form FOS coincided with the 10th anniversary celebration of the OCA’s status as an autocephalous Church. The decade following the granting of autocephaly witnessed countless discussions and meetings on the direction the Church should take in North America. Discussions on mission, witness, and outreach, while nothing new in the life of the Church, were explored in a new context, and the OCA’s various departments, commissions and boards were reorganized to express the Church’s essential ministry: to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to North Americans, regardless of their background.
The establishment of the means by which to finance the renewed mission of the Church was crucial at the time. In an effort to promote wise stewardship, as well as to ensure sufficient funding for the work of the Church, FOS was born.
The Very Rev. Sergei Glagolev was named FOS’ first Executive Director.
Through his tireless efforts, FOS conducted countless seminars across North America on the Christian understanding of stewardship and the needs of the Church. By 1982, gifts to FOS surpassed $100,000 annually, thereby supplementing income generated by the annual parish assessments. This additional income made it possible for the OCA to fund new initiatives in the 1980s, such as the Office of Church Growth and Evangelism, established in 1983, and the Department of Missions.
After Father Glagolev’s retirement in 1990, the Very Rev. Basil Summer was appointed the second FOS Executive Director. Under his guidance, FOS membership steadily increased, and by 1992, gifts to FOS funded over 30 percent of the OCA’s outreach ministries and programs.
Hand in hand with the growing emphasis on mission and outreach during the late 1980s and early 1990s was the need for funding the growing number of ministries and programs provided by the OCA. This became even more evident as income from parish assessments primarily met the day-to-day operating expenses of the Church, leaving much less for ministries and programs, and much less for expansion of the existing work of the Church’s departments and ministry units.
In 1995, one year after the Very Rev. Joseph Fester succeeded Father Summer as FOS Executive Director; delegates to the 11th All-American Council mandated that all OCA Outreach Ministries be funded by freewill gifts. By the following year, annual gifts to FOS had surpassed $200,000. In 1997, annual gifts reached $250,000, and by 1998 the amount had increased to $300,000.
Today, total freewill gifts to FOS and other freewill giving efforts of the Church currently provide 70 percent of the operating budgets needed by the OCA’s growing number of outreach ministries. Without such support, many of our ministries for youth, humanitarian aid, pastoral life, communications, Church growth and evangelism, and others would be grossly underfunded – or non-existent.
As FOS begins its third decade, one of its immediate goals is to fund the OCA’s outreach ministries exclusively through freewill giving. Our goal for the immediate future is to designate income from parish assessments – or whatever method is ultimately adopted to replace the assessment system, as discussed at the 12th All-American Council and the upcoming 13th All-American Council – for the OCA’s operating expenses, while earmarking freewill gifts to FOS and the Church in general for the OCA’s growing number of ministries.
The Fellowship of Orthodox Stewards exists for but one purpose, to help the Outreach Ministries of the Orthodox Church in America reach the world for Christ. This effort requires prayer and commitment.
By God’s grace, we have a Church filled with talented dedicated clergy and laity who give of their time to preach, teach, and live the Gospel. But they also need our financial support to fulfill their work for the Lord. By making a gift to the Fellowship of Orthodox Stewards you will become a co-worker in reaching out around the world to spread the Orthodox Faith.
The best gifts are those freely given. Thus the Church faithfully believes that our voluntary gifts must support our Outreach Ministries. When you make your FOS gift, it will be more than just financial support; it will be an act of faith and dedication revealing your love for Christ and the Church. |
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