In a wide-ranging interview, Fr. Timothy Cremeens shared with us his perspective on missions as a former Evangelical. Fr. Timothy grew up in the Jesus Movement, eventually becoming a worship pastor for an Assemblies of God church. Researching the worship of the Early Church lead Fr. Timothy to the Church Fathers. He found them “troubling” as the Church they described was not the same as his Evangelical denomination. Eventually he found Orthodoxy, though the road to conversion was made more difficult than necessary by an ethnic focus in too many parishes he visited.
In the interview below, Fr. Timothy covers such topics as:
- What can we learn from the success of Evangelical missions in the United States?
- What are our true priorities in American Orthodoxy, and what should they be?
- Why is Orthodoxy attractive to Evangelicals?
- What is it like to really run an Orthodox mission, and why is founding one so hard?
- Who is the Orthodox Faith really for?
- What is the nature of salvation, and why does only the Orthodox Church understand it fully?
- Why does Fr. Timothy support Share the Faith with a monthly contribution, and why should you?
Below is the full interview. Following it, are embeds of segments of the interview covering specific topics. Please like, share, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Of course we encourage you to watch the entire interview, but the individual segments are great for sharing with anyone with a specific question. Thank you to Fr. Timothy for his time in this interview, and for his monthly support of Share the Faith.
“Sheep are made by other sheep, not by the shepherd.” Orthodoxy in America needs to recover the ancient Christian concept of lay evangelism. So says Fr. Timothy Cremeens, a doctor of Church History and an Orthodox priest serving Holy Cross / Ss. Constantine & Helen Orthodox Church in Huntsville Alabama. His parish is 50% adult convert and using 95% English in services. He has a background in the Assemblies of God as a pastor, before finding Holy Orthodoxy. Fr. Timothy is a monthly donor to Share the Faith and has been a mission priest living “hand to mouth”, as he tells it. Fr. Timothy believes the same as we do at Share the Faith – no mission priest should qualify for welfare while laboring to grow the Kingdom of Christ. This is an honest interview about the lessons the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church needs to relearn to evangelize in America. It is also an honest look at what Evangelicals need to face – the Orthodox Church is the original Church with the fullness of the faith and true worship.
Fr. Timothy is an Orthodox priest, but began his faith journey in the Assemblies of God as a worship leader. Orthodoxy can learn much from the success of Evangelical missions in the United States. The Evangelicals prioritize missions. They financially support missions. Each Evangelical is expected to be an Evangelist. It is not a calling for just priests or special individuals. In fact, as Fr. Timothy makes clear, “sheep give birth to other sheep. The shepherd does not make the sheep.” While there are many more Evangelicals in America, on a per capita basis they still do a much better job of funding missions that the Orthodox. It is a question of our priorities, not just our size. Orthodox Christians have much to learn before we can fully respond to Christ’s Great Commission in our nation.
Fr. Timothy, an Orthodox priest of 30 years, can be embarrassed by the priorities in which Orthodox Christians spend millions of dollars. If you have access to a person’s calendar and checkbook, then you can know their priorities. Where are time and treasure spent? Unfortunately, on that basis, many Orthodox Christians would be judged and found wanting. Many unchurched Americans need to hear the authentic Gospel from us. We need to focus on what really matters.
It is a terrible thing when Orthodox Mission priests can qualify for welfare because neither their local community nor their jurisdiction can, or will, care for them and their family. They and their families living hand-to-mouth is a shameful indictment of Orthodox Christians in America. It is equally shameful that missions are not founded because of lack of money. Fr. Timothy Cremeens was a mission priest, and is a successful Orthodox pastor in Huntsville with a growing, thriving community. He supports Share the Faith monthly, because he cares about Orthodox missions in the United States.
