Koinonia on Orthodox youth groups

From the blog Koinonia a discussion about youth ministry in an Orthodox context. I'd also like to point to the podcasts by Fr. Hector Firoglanis given at the Orthodox Conference on Missions and Evangelism last year. One striking number: for every 10 teens that complete high school, 6 of them will not continue going to church after they go off to college.

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From Orthodox youth groups programs modeled after Young Life to Orthodox Christian Fellowships run like Campus Crusade for Christ chapters contemporary Evangelical Christianity has had a strong influence on the Church’s ministry to high school and college aged young adults. As with much of our outreach and evangelism materials, young adult ministry in the Orthodox Church has for better or worse adopted (sometimes with suitable changes and sometimes not) Evangelical Christian programs, language and pastoral methodologies. Much of this has been done out a genuine concern for “our young people.” This was also often done uncritically, without asking if what we were borrowing was–at its foundation–compatible with the Church’s tradition.

Take for example college campus ministry. More often than not, a campus Orthodox Christian Fellowship is composed of a small group of Orthodox students who meet for bible study and a meal. This is the model that is used here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison chapter. There may or may not be a philanthropic project or a retreat (both have been done historically at UW-OCF) and, now and then, a liturgical service (we do monthly Vespers).

But with the exception of whatever liturgical service is done, very little of what is done in most OCF chapters is Orthodox. Or maybe I should say, uniquely Orthodox. Whether we are taking about a parish youth group, an OCF or a young adult group, have simply taken over a Protestant, parachurch model and inserted it into the life of the Church...

Complete article here.