Reclaiming the Heart of Faith:
I sat for the “Best Practices” panel last week on the second day of the National Representatives Assembly, which was hosted by St. Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic Church in Watertown. I had a vague idea that the panel participants would discuss and share their parishes' success in some of the administrative parts of their ministry. Within a few minutes, I knew that I had guessed the direction of the panel correctly when I suggested to the participants that instead of discussing how we can make our church's ministry more effective, let’s focus on the why. Why does the church matter? Why is it imperative to preach and teach our faith in the Armenian Churches today?
Der Kapriel Nazarian, the pastor of St. Vartanant’s church in Providence, RI, articulated his ideas in an inspiring way, and pretty soon, we crafted the following two paragraphs as our “Why”.
“To modernize the message of the Armenian Apostolic Church and its indispensable role in growing our relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in His Love, Mercy, and compassion for each of us and our relationship with one another as the body of Christ.
Share the Gospel teachings, and traditions of the Armenian Apostolic Church in a modern, relevant, and scalable way so that faith becomes an indispensable and living presence for American Armenians in the 21st century”.
The panel also devised practical ways to create podcasts and short videos to reach out to the open-minded, curious Armenians no longer affiliated with our church.
When the panel assigned me and another person to present the resolution to the Assembly during the plenary meeting that afternoon, I was worried about our ability to secure enough votes for its passage. Our resolution proposed a budget of $25,000 for the first year to cover production and advertising expenses.
I was surprised that the assembly had concerns about some terminology in our resolution. The term "evangelization" was problematic because some members felt it might come across as too closely associated with Evangelical (i.e., Protestant) beliefs, potentially alienating our audience.
The Greek verb euangelizō means "to bring good news" or "to proclaim the gospel." In the New Testament, this verb is commonly used to describe:
- Jesus proclaiming the kingdom of God (Luke 4:43)
- The apostles preaching the gospel (Acts 8:4)
- Christians spreading the message of Christ's death and resurrection (Romans 10:15)
As an ordained priest in the Armenian Apostolic Church, I can attest to the evangelical nature of our faith. For instance, we do not hold the Bible with our bare hands; instead, we use a veil to touch the book, symbolizing the sacredness of the Word of God. We place the Bible at the center of the altar, reflecting that the Word of God is central to our lives. During the proclamation of the Gospel, we hold the Bible above our heads, signifying that the Word of God is above us. If we pay close attention to the words of the Badarak, we will notice that biblical references shape every prayer and hymn of the Eucharist sacrament in our church.
Our church is rooted in the teachings of the Bible. However, many members of the Armenian church seem to have lost their Gospel-centered identity, leading the average believer to hold the following views:
- A God exists who created and governs the world while observing human life on earth.
- God desires that people be good, kind, and fair to one another, as taught in the Bible and by many world religions.
- The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
- God does not need to be actively involved in one's life except when assistance is needed to resolve a problem.
- Good people go to heaven when they die. (Source: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, 2005).
These five ideas represent the core beliefs of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD), which contrasts sharply with orthodox Christianity. MTD promotes a belief in a distant, uninvolved God whose primary concern is for individuals to be nice and feel good about themselves. In this worldview, humans are seen as inherently good, and salvation is viewed as a reward for good behavior.
In contrast, Christianity teaches that humans are fallen and require salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. In MTD, religion serves as a tool for self-help and personal happiness. However, faith is understood as a transformative relationship with a holy, present, and personal God in Christianity. Orthodox Christianity emphasizes God's grace, the significance of Christ’s death and resurrection, and the call to live for God’s glory rather than personal comfort.
I conceptualize our mission in the Armenian Church as a call to re-evangelize our current members and those who have distanced themselves from our community. With this goal in mind, we must find effective ways to reach out and engage in dialogue with our audience, respecting their intelligence, curiosity, and openness. This effort is not about simply increasing the volume of our Sunday sermons; instead, it requires us to rethink how we engage and communicate, the messages we convey, and the partnerships we create.
To modernize the message of the Armenian Apostolic Church means sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ using contemporary language, methods, and technology to reach today’s world. While the core message of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection remains unchanged, modern evangelization emphasizes cultural relevance, personal witness, and compassionate and respectful dialogue. Our goal should be to reignite faith among baptized but disengaged Armenian Christians in increasingly secular societies.