September 29, 2021, as we near the end of 2025, it has been a year of ebbs and flows for our supported missions. Our need for donations is still dire as we aspire to maintain our support through the remainder of this year and the next.
As we move to create momentum to bring the Orthodox Church to all corners of the Unted States we’d like for our donors to see what their support has accomplished so far as reported by our missions.
Fr. Phillip Dage of Ss Peter and Paul Mission near Detroit reported that with the support he receives from Share the Faith Ministries he has been able to maintain mission outreach to his community by serving a Sunday Meal. He was happy to state that his mission has not missed a meal this year. The area that his mission is located suffers from severe poverty and he hopes to continue his outreach ministry as his parish grows. He calls it his mission to “Baptize the Neighborhood” as his aim is to help members of his mission garner a deeper repentance and a deeper relationship with Christ. Because of these efforts his mission has grown in size, has frequent inquirers.
Fr. Photios Parks of St. Anthony Mission in Henderson, North Carolina was glad to report that his area has rebounded from the disastrous floods of 2024 caused by Hurricane Helene. His mission was able to raise and give $8,000 to sixteen individuals who were affected by the disaster. Number in mission attendance have gone up drastically, with fifty plus members who attend on a regular Sunday and fourteen catechumens ready to become disciples of Christ’s Orthodox Church. They have continued to look for property for a permanent space for their mission but has reported that property prices have gone up since the flooding. Fr. Photios has expressed an enormous amount of gratitude for the help he’s received from Share the Faith Ministries stating that it has definitely helped to garner growth in his ministry.
They have a good, loving, and Godly community full of children, so Fr. Photios is very hopeful for the future of the parish.
Update as of today, St. Anthony the Great Mission has located a local church in the area that is interested in selling them their space that can hold up to 200 people. This location is in a neighborhood that they know that is underserved.
Fr. Photios contends that they have had consistent attendance of fifty plus faithful and will be Baptizing seventeen individuals in the near future.
Please continue to pray and support Father Photios and the mission of St. Anthony the Great in Hendersonville, NC.
