TheLeader VOLUME XXVI ISSUE1 Winter2025 - Flipbook - Page 27
G R A N T S
AT
W O R K
“Effective Christian Ministry”
Training Grant Proves Effective
In January of 2020, the Department of Youth and Young
Adult Ministries, under Director Eva Konstantakos,
launched an online ministry training course, “Effective
Christian Ministry” (ECM). The course encapsulated the
vision for ministry behind the Departmental work over
past years (from multimedia resources like “Be the Bee”
to in-person BeeTreats).
While feedback from both clergy and laity was
overwhelmingly positive, students in the course
expressed a desire for deeper support in (1)
understanding the practices and principles we teach in
ECM, and (2) learning how to apply those practices and
principles in their specific parish context.
Data indicates that at least 60% of young Americans fall
away from the faith tradition that raised them as they
grow into young adults. If anything, this trend has
accelerated in recent years as Christian traditions fail to
understand and meet the needs of young people.
Unfortunately, the Orthodox Church is not immune
from this challenge.
Despite being active in the United States for over a
century, the Orthodox Church had yet to develop and
articulate a vision for ministry in contemporary
American society. To meet this need, the Department
developed the “Effective Christian Ministry” (ECM)
online training course. ECM offers students thirteen
video lessons to help them understand (1) why the
Church has been losing generations of young people, (2)
what the needs of young people truly are, and (3) how
the Church can meet those needs with more effective
ministry.
An evaluation of ECM in late 2020 found that both
clergy and lay ministry workers who enrolled in the
course offered consistently outstanding feedback. For
example, 75% of students rated ECM at least a 9/10 or
10/10.
Yet, as part of the evaluation, it was found that people
needed more support. Many individuals (both clergy and
laity) were the only person in their respective parish to
complete ECM and were struggling to share this vision
for ministry with their fellow parishioners. Others found
opposition from parish leadership when attempting to
implement what they learned in ECM. Still others were
too overwhelmed to even know where to begin with
changing things in their community. Due to the
Leadership 100 grant of $470,000, the Department has
responded to this need by developing a learning
community to help parishes (1) understand the practices
and principles taught in ECM, and (2) learn how to
apply those practices and principles in their specific
parish context.
The learning community is the ECM Cohort, an
intensive nine-month process designed to give parishes
support as they prepare to transform the way they lead
ministry.
The grant has fully supported at least two ECM Cohorts
(2021-22 and 2022-23 ministry year) and will partially
support the current 2024-25 Cohort.
On September 7, 2024, the Department initiated its third
Cohort. The third Cohort is currently comprised of the
following parish teams:
• Holy Apostles Greek Orthodox Church – Westchester,
IL
• Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church – Stroudsburg, PA
• Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church –
Lowell, MA
• Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral – Toledo, OH
• St. Anna Greek Orthodox Church – Flemington, NJ
• St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church – Sterling
Heights, MI
• St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church – Portsmouth,
NH
• St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church – New London, CT
• St. Thomas Greek Orthodox Church – Cherry Hill, NJ
• Sts. Sophia, Faith, Hope, & Agape Greek Orthodox
Church – Jeffersonville, PA
25
