Year: 2022

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Share the Faith Interviews Michael Mason of FreeFiltering.org – Filter according to Christian Values

All Internet filtering services target porn, but they do not block harmful LGBTQ+ sites that groom our children into perverse lifestyles. Only Freefiltering.org, a free service provided by Orthodox Christian and Web Entrepreneur Michael Mason, offers complete protection for your family according to traditional Christian values.

As an added bonus, if you use this link: https://freefiltering.org/#ShareTheFaith Michael will donate a portion of any upgraded services you purchase to Share the Faith to support Orthodox Christian missions in the United States! The basic service is free, and you are welcome to configure it on your own. However, should you need assistance, paid, remote set-up is available at a rate you can afford. The free service covers your home WiFi, but there is also a premium plan that will even cover your mobile devices everywhere they are used!

For more information, use our sponsor link to visit the FreeFiltering Website. Share the Faith was also fortunate enough to interview Michael about both his filtering service, and his journey to Orthodoxy. Michael discovered the Orthodox Faith at Liberty University. He became interested in Orthodoxy through studying Church history at the largest Protestant University in the world. It is a great interview, be sure to check it out.

 

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His Eminence Paul, Archbishop of Chicago and the Midwest (OCA)

To all Clergy, Monastics, and Lay People of the Orthodox Churches in North America

The purposes of my letter to express my heartfelt endorsement of the Share the Faith Ministry (STF) founded by Fr. Evangelos Pepps. The Share the Faith Ministries Orthodox Missionary Priest Fund is dedicated to raising funds to supplement Orthodox clergy who serve very small or needy missions.

Basically, STF seeks to provide financial assistance to New Mission Priests in North America as they work day-to-day to develop the membership and income level of the mission.

  • This may take the form of small stipends for personal and or family assistance such as healthcare expense, car expense, a rent or house payment, and education of children.
  • Or, due to today’s pandemic support the cost of communication thru zoom meetings. This is important in keeping the community together for Bible studies and the catechumenate.
  • Or, support outreach in the community that can take the form of such things as funding costs for advertising mission events, or feeding our OCF college and university students at monthly meetings.
  • Providing this kind of assistance gives the new mission priest personal encouragement. It is another resource that can help a mission priest in developing the church growth and evangelical ministry of the mission.

STF has hopes over time to help mission priests pay for fees and other costs for:

  • Clinical pastoral education for Hospital Chaplaincy;
  • Advanced Degrees in pastoral counseling and/or
  • Prison ministry programs

Share the Faith has assembled a team of people currently seeking to secure gifts from Orthodox Christians throughout North America to fund the above endeavors and more. Do be generous in making your offerings when contacted. You can also donate online at sharethefaith.net Thank you so much for your support for this worthy endeavor.

The blessings of the Lord be upon you.

With love in Christ,

 

 

 

 

View original endorsement in PDF.

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Endorsement of His Eminence Archbishop Nathaniel – Romanian Episcopate OCA

Father Evangelios,
Members of the Board:

In December of 2002, we wrote a letter of Congratulations and Support for the work of the then “Nika Ministries.” Today, twelve years later, we are renewing that Congratulations and Support for the work of the “Share the Faith Ministries,” which has assumed the activities of Nike Ministries.

We are aware of the dedication of the Board to make this project successful and laud the tenacity which has brought the Ministry to this point in time. Over the decades of my service as bishop, one of the most challenging problems I have had to face and which I still have not resolved is the procuring of appropriate clergy remunerations.

Perhaps the Share the Faith Ministries will be able to stir up interest among the faithful to review their giving to the Church and to the Clergy so that the greatest hours of each day may be spent on serving the faithful and not on working in a non-parish situation.

May the Holy Spirit bless the Ministry and may Orthodox faithful respond with open hearts.

With archpastoral blessings on Share the Faith Ministries

+Nathaniel, Archbishop of Detroit
Romanian Episcopate
Orthodox Church in America

For the original PDF, click here. 

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Bishop Longin of the Serbian Diocese of New Gracanica-Midwestern America

Rev. Evangelos S. Pepps
Share The Ministries – Founders, Workers, and Supporters

Dear Fr. Evangelos,

It pleases me that I can send my blessings to you and all your colleagues at the beginning of Share The Faith Ministries, a Non-Profit Pan Orthodox Fellowship whose Mission is to help the Church be what it is called to be: One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic.

It is an important undertaking to assist the ordinary parish in America and I commend your Christ­ centered goals, sound ideals and Orthodox compassion, especially, with your seeking to build an endowment for Orthodox missions to our N. American continent.

May God grant you great favor for the sake of the many souls who need the True Faith.

With God’s blessings,

Bishop Longin

Bishop of New Gracanica and Midwestern America Diocese

Click here for the original PDF.

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Effectively Witnessing for the Orthodox Christian Faith to Baptists / Evangelicals

Fr. Mark Hodges is an Orthodox missionary priest in Bullhead City, AZ. Fr. Mark is a former American Baptist. In this interview with Share the Faith, Fr. Mark shares his unique insights on how to effectively witness to Baptists and other Evangelicals. Fr. Mark addresses Church history, early Church worship and practices, Sola Scriptura, the Orthodox teaching on salvation and how it differs from Protestantism, “proof texting”, what happens when you excise from the Faith anything not found “in the Bible”, the unity between faith and works in the Bible, intercessory prayer of the Saints, veneration of Mary, and more. This is a must watch video for all Orthodox Christians who want to learn to effectively answer Baptist / Evangelical claims.

To find out more about Fr. Mark and his mission, visit his page here.

 

In the excerpt below, we cover select topics from Fr. Mark. There is no such thing as personal Biblical interpretation. The Holy Spirit guides the Church in understanding the scriptures, not individuals. Individual interpretation of scriptures leads to chaos. Salvation is a growing relationship with God, not a mental belief system. Protestants misunderstand Faith and Salvation. If you study Church History, you will find the Orthodox Church – infant baptism, liturgy, hierarchy, and people alive with the love of God. You cannot remove all the things not found in the Bible and still have an authentic Christian life. The Fathers of the Church had a high view of scripture, but never tried to replace God with a book. No one ever taught that, or believed that such a thing was possible, until Martin Luther came along. The Bible itself refutes Sola Scriptura. There is no tension between Faith and Works. Paul and James are in agreement. You can’t make idols of individual words and passages of scripture and pretend that is somehow Christian.