2021 Parish Development Forum Online 

Co-sponsored by the Archdiocese of Western Pennsylvania, the Diocese of the Midwest and the Bulgarian Diocese of the Orthodox Church in America, the Parish Development Forum is a conference for Orthodox clergy and laity which provides an opportunity for discussion of timely topics and discovery of practices used by healthy, vibrant Orthodox parishes.

The 2021 Forum will be a one day online conference that will occur Friday July 16, 2021 between 10:00 AM and 5:15 PM EDT via Zoom.

Theme: The Orthodox Parish: Awakening to Opportunity

While conditions vary by region and diocese, Orthodox parishes in North America seem to be finally re-opening. Parish life is getting back to “normal”.  Or is it? And should it be? Are we coming back-to-before? Or are we coming back-to-better? Can and will clergy and lay leaders recognize and inspire something better than the status quo?  Digesting lessons from the past year offers unprecedented opportunity to reach out as more resilient, more forward looking and less insular parish communities. Communities enlivened with new initiatives. New energy.  Engaged Laity. Parishes that are committed to beginning a dialogue with a brighter future. 

With all of this in mind the theme of the 2021 Forum will be "The Orthodox Parish: Awakening to Opportunity".

Feature Speakers 

Metropolitan TIKHON, Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, will offer a brief video welcome to the Forum. 

In addition to His Beatitude's welcome remarks the agenda will include two feature speakers, presented in "all attendee" sessions.

Archpriest Dr. John A. Jillions, former Chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America and Associate Professor of Religion and Culture at St Vladimir’s Seminary, is author of Divine Guidance: Lessons for Today from the World of Early Christianity (Oxford, 2020). He will speak on what the New Testament can teach us about understanding and engaging the challenges and opportunities presented by the secular culture. Specifically "Learning from Jesus and the Apostolic Church"

Dr. Nathan Jacobs, philosopher, artist, filmmaker and Orthodox Christian, is currently Visiting Scholar of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University and is best known to Orthodox audiences as the creator of the film: Becoming Truly Human.”  Dr. Jacobs will  explore the ‘Nones’ and ‘Dones’.   Who they are and what they are looking for. How do we connect with them and why Orthodox Christians and Orthodox parishes may have a shorter bridge in engaging in productive dialogue with them. Specifically "Engaging Spiritual But Not Religious. (Or 'Nones')"

Three Tracks of Awakening  

Encouraging parishes to awaken to opportunity has many dimensions.  The Forum will offer three parallel content tracks which build on the messages of our feature speakers and the specific situations facing parishes. Each faciliated track will include three sessions each (one in the morning and two in the afternoon) with subject matter experts contributing and leading attendee discussion.
 

Track One: Personal Spiritual Resiliency

Spiritual Resiliency is the balance of body, mind, and soul. How has a period of separation from loving parish relationships and communal worship and fellowship impacted your spiritual resiliency? How did people build spiritual resiliency and ‘muscle’? Were they able to strengthen their ability to weather the storm of the pandemic’s uncertainty and to embrace disorder to adapt and evolve to become closer to God?  What emotional, addiction and psychological issues may have been exposed or exacerbated by the pandemic? How can we as parish leaders be better prepared to recognize, assist and even intervene? Your spiritual resiliency is a means to help integrate the local community to become a spiritually vibrant and resilient worshiping and witnessing community.

Track Two: The Back-to-Better Parish

The parish we knew before the pandemic no longer exists. We know it will be different, but we’re not sure exactly how. Parishioners return as different people to a parish that is also different in many ways. Roles, jobs, and ministries may have changed as well as those who were leading and serving in those areas of parish life. Fears and concerns continue to exist. New Sunday morning rhythms have been established both at home and at the parish. What can parishes do to overcome the secular gravitational pull of new routines of kids’ sports, Sunday brunch in place of the Eucharist, or even a brisk morning walk instead of participating in Divine Liturgy? What special considerations are needed to engage youth and children – the youngest of whom church is a faint memory at best. To move forward, we need to heal, re-engage, rethink and act on new possibilities.

Track Three: Being Fishers of  Men

In the past year Orthodox parishes have opened themselves to the world as never before. Streaming of liturgies  has increased awareness, helped visitors to establish expectations avoid surprises prior to walking through the door. Online meetings have enabled visitors to attend introductory classes. Isolated persons have begun to consider their past faith choices. These and a myriad of other factors have resulted in many parishes experiencing an unprecedented stream of visitors, inquirers, catechumens, converts and “reverts”.  As we awaken how will we handle these exceptional evangelistic and service opportunities? Will we retreat? Will we focus only on "ours". Or, will we engage the world and our local community with the message of the gospel?  This track will explore using social media to communicate the uniqueness that Orthodox communities offer to the unchurched, understanding tools for listening and building trust and defining what the “Evangelizing Orthodox Parish” might look like.

Send Multiple Representatives

In addition to opening sessions final wrap-up and feature speakers, attendees will participate in one of the above tracks – providing maximum opportunity to dig deeply into an area of interest via skill building, dialogue sessions and Q&A with subject matter experts. Exploration questions and reflective articles concerning track content will be provided to attendees in advance.

In providing three tracks parishes will hopefully encourage participation by multiple parish leaders to participate, monitor and report back on the content in the different tracks.

Click here to view Agenda, Session Description and Speaker Bios

Budget Friendly Registration

Each attendee must register. Registration is open to clergy or lay leaders from any Orthodox jurisdiction.

Registration for the 2021 Forum includes various budget friendly free will pricing options.  Select the option that best fits your situation. Income after administrative expenses and speaker stipends will be used for Parish Development grants and for donations to Orthodox charities.  

Many sessions will be recorded. Registered attendees will have access to recordings.

Login credentials for the event, to be hosted on zoom, will be sent to registrants a few days before the event.

Register Now! 

Download event flyer

Click Here to View (2 min) Video Overview