Orthodox Biz Blog

Having a first period class in college was bad enough. But, when the class was Russian History during the Middle Ages with an elderly professor nearing retirement, well that was downright torturous. Especially when the professor was a man known for his dry wit.

I remember sitting there one morning, bleary eyed, as he stood in front discussing the Great Schism between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches and its effects on Eastern Europe.

"So," he said at one point, "After the Schism the Western half of the Christian Church became known as Catholic which means universal. The Eastern half went on to be known as Orthodox which means right-believing. What does this mean?"

It was early, and most of us were sophmores with a scattering of freshmen in the mix. We tried various buzz-word laden responses, much to the merriment of the aged-professor who gently mocked our intellectual pretentiousness about ‘geo-political' this and ‘socio-economic' that.

Finally he said, "It means that the Orthodox need a new marketing department."

With a wry smile, he continued class.

At the time, I wasn't Orthodox. I didn't, in fact, become Orthodox until 10 years after that early morning. However, that statement often came back to me over the years as I observed the two Churches, East and West, in action both in the United States and Eastern Europe.

After 20 years of observing religion as an adult, and eight of years of life as an Orthodox Christian, I can say one thing emphatically for sure.

My old professor was right. We Orthodox do need a new marketing department.

But, thanks be to God and the Internet, that is exactly what we are developing.

The various Web-based ministries of the Orthodox Church are, in fact, our marketing department for the 21^st Century. This is where the initial impression of Orthodoxy will be formed for the vast majority of people living in non-Orthodox nations. Most of them will get their first introduction to Orthodoxy from the Web, and only later (sometimes much later) in the real world.

Those of us in Web ministry, then, have a substantial task ahead of us. If our efforts will form the basis of how millions of people will initially approach Orthodoxy - then we'd best get serious about what impression our ministries are making in the minds of Web surfers all over the world.

In that spirit, I'd like to make a few suggestions for things that will help our Evangelism efforts over the Internet. Because of the critical nature of parish ministry in the life of our church, my comments will be primarily aimed at parish Webmasters. However, other ministries of our church will find similar themes in their own work.

First of all, the Orthodox Church is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. This isn't a slogan. This is simple reality. Jesus left behind only one church. This is it. In our parish Websites, there is no reason to back away from this fact.

Why? Because emphasizing the universal nature of the Church means that the Orthodox Faith is for everyone. This isn't just the faith of the Greeks or the Russians or the Serbs, this is the universal faith of Jesus Christ founded once and for all time and open to all who would heed the call of the Holy Spirit. That means that those of us who build Orthodox Websites must be clear in communicating the universality of the Church to any and all who stumble across our efforts on the Internet

The fact that the Orthodox Christian Faith often has ethnic adjectives attached (Greek, Serbian, etc.) obscures the universal nature of Orthodoxy for the non-Orthodox. It is incumbent upon us, then, as individual parish Webmasters to make it crystal clear that an Internet user landing on our parish Website has found the fullness of the universal church which is open to all.

To that end, we must include in our Web designs an invitation to come and worship at the altar of Jesus Christ and to learn more about the fullness of the Christian Faith. It must be clear - Orthodox communities want visitors. We want catchumens. We want to reach out.

On my own parish Website, here is how we worded that message:

We hope that you enjoy your visit to our website! Please feel welcome to come worship with us! St. Stephen is conveniently located and easy to reach from anywhere in metropolitan Orlando. If you would like to get more information about St. Stephen or the Orthodox Church prior to your visit, feel free to drop us an email.

Many parish Websites do not actively invite visitors in this manner. There is also often no invitation to initiate contact with the parish priest. This needs to change. If a person reads your Website, and doesn't feel welcome, then the next step of actually exploring Orthodoxy in person may never happen.

We must make potential Orthodox Christians feel welcome and wanted in order to even get them to visit. After they arrive, then we must do the same for them in-person, but that is another topic.

Parish Web ministries are in a unique position to dispel myths about Orthodoxy. Obviously, the biggest myth has already been addressed above - the idea that Orthodoxy is somehow an ethnic thing rather than the universal Christian Church. Emphasizing the universality of the Church can dispel that myth nicely, but many myths remain to be tackled besides that one.

Given the Protestant background of so many potential converts to Orthodoxy, architects of parish Websites should also consider emphasizing the following in their designs:

1. Bible readings - The idea exists among many Protestants that the Orthodox Church does not emphasize the scriptures. This is, of course, a wrong assumption. An easy way to dispel this is by putting the daily scripture readings of the Orthodox Church on your Website. The mere presence of daily Bible readings re-assures the hesitant Protestant of the centrality of the scriptures in the life of the Orthodox Church.


2. Sermons and Classes - Protestants are focused on sermons. The sermon, of course, is the basis of their very worship. The image of Orthodoxy within Protestantism is one of "smells and bells" with little teaching or education. That isn't true at all, but most Orthodox Websites do little to dispel that erroneous notion. Most parish sites don't publish sermons, nor do they publish class notes either. The impression is given that the Orthodox don't value Christian education. If your parish Website doesn't publish sermons, then consider starting. The more educational material you have on your site, the easier it will be to present the fullness of the Orthodox Faith.


3. Pictures, pictures, and more pictures - Protestants often have the impression that Orthodox parishes are foreign. The thinking is, "The people there aren't like me, I won't be welcome." There are some deeply ethnic parishes which do fit this stereotype but they are increasingly rare. Most parishes within Orthodoxy (especially in the South), are full of all kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds. Nothing communicates this better than having tons of pictures of smiling parishioners on your site. This goes back to the universality of the Church. If your parish includes people of all different ethnic and national origins, then showing people that is worth a lot more than simply telling them that.


4. Prayer - Orthodox people pray. In fact, serious Orthodox Christians pray way more than most of their Protestant counterparts. Protestants, however, don't associate Orthodoxy with prayer. Include articles on prayer and suggested prayers on your Website. The centrality of prayer to the life of an Orthodox Christian can not be emphasized enough.

Of course, including many of these design elements in your site will not only make your parish more approachable, but also build up resources for your own parishioners. This is the classic win-win. Orthodox Christians need all of the above just as much, if not more, than potential converts. By providing them, a Webmaster is helping everyone.

As a side note, my company often builds Websites for Protestant organizations (assuming they meet certain criteria). My partners are Protestant, so we take this development business on a regular basis. When a new Protestant ministry is getting started, it often commissions a Website before it even holds its first meeting.

To provide an example, we are working on the Website for a new ministry for young urbanites. The ministry will officially launch over a month after the end date of the Web project.

The Website will be up and running for a month before the ministry even officially opens its doors.

That shows the level of commitment and the focus of Protestant evangelists on using technology to spread their message in a cost-effective manner.

There is no reason why the Orthodox Church can not, with a similar focus, do an even better job. We are, after all, offering the world a superior message.

The local parish is the fullness of the faith. Our altars are pure, our Faith is holy, and our hearts are being transformed. The world needs to hear what we have to say, but to get through to those around us we need to get serious about communicating our message where it counts most.

And that is at the local parish level, where those of us who are the new marketing arm of the Orthodox Church need to get busy effectively communicating our message of hope in Jesus Christ to a lost and sick world.

Glen Chancy is CIO for corfun.com and publisher of Orthodox Biz. You can contact him here .