EVANGELISM

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We Orthodox must realize that we are the "Original Evangelicals". The Church that Jesus founded was, and is, Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical. The Apostles and their immediate disciples carried the Gospel of Jesus Christ with zeal across the Roman empire and beyond. These early followers of Christ proclaimed the good news, the "Evangel", that swept people into the fold of the Good Shepherd (Evangelical). Then Churches were founded by the Spirit of Truth which fashioned the hearts of God's people in the "Right Faith, Right Worship" (Orthodoxy). The ideal that every local church possessed the fullness of the Trinitarian Christian Faith (Catholicity) was cemented in the consciousness of the people of God through the teachings of the early Church fathers.

May we acquire the "heart of the Savior" for all peoples!!!

"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15)

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have taught you" (Matthew 28:19,20)

"But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto meboth in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8)

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear" (1 Peter 3:15)

"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man" (Colossians 4:6)

"Ye are the salt of the earth...Ye are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:13,14)