Question: Hello Father, firstly - congratulations on your recent award. I am a Russian Orthodox Christian in the United States that attends a small mission parish. We currently don’t have a full-time priest, so services are only once a month. We are having a hard time bringing in people since we aren’t meeting as often. Our church building is also very small, and we are in the same city as a well established Greek parish. Many of our visitors end up attending that parish instead. We are hoping to move to a larger building in a nearby town, but financially without more member members it’s not feasible. It seems like a situation where “if you build it, they’ll come” but we can’t build it because they aren’t coming. I’m just curious, Father if you have any advice or guidance in this field. On how we can grow, and our parish can survive and thrive despite the difficulties. I visited St Elisabeth in July and was amazed to hear the story of how the Convent started and grew to where it is now. Thank you.
Answer from Fr Andrew Lemeshonok:
Firstly, you might notice that people often attend service just once a month. We have a service every single day; Sundays even have four. You see the way we live. You can pray as much as you like. Go to wherever suits: early service, late one, every single day. And that is how people live.
But I keep thinking, "I can do all things through Jesus who strengthens me." Your parish core might be small now, but if you all start to come together — not just once a week, but actually praying together each week for a bigger place, for more people to join you — God will make it happen. Just do not rush it. Do not say, "We prayed for two months and nothing happened."
Let me share a story. We were once cheated, very badly. That plot in Moscow, in Pushkino, which we wanted to buy, was seized; it was snatched from us, the owners simply swindled us. We could not pay the whole sum straight away, so they just took it back. The money — a huge sum — vanished. We were wiped out. Stuck, it seemed. No way out. We asked everyone we could think of for help. Every time: "No", "Cannot", "Will not". And at one point I said to Matushka, "Let us fly to Moscow and serve an akathist with a water blessing on that plot which was taken from us."
In the cold winter, with snow and wind, we prayed, blessed the place, sprinkled the water. We hoped it might help. "Saint Nicholas, our protector, please help us." A year went by, two years, three years — nothing. Four years — nothing. But in the fifth year, the people who had acquired that plot saw that they had cheated us on the paperwork, and they returned the plot to us themselves. And now our centre stands there.
Why am I telling you this? Because of where you are now. Pray, for as long as it takes. Prayer will bring you together, even if your community is small but strong. Soon, others will join your prayers. It might help to put up a notice: Orthodox people live here, members of the Orthodox Church. And I believe this prayer will be the start of both a new church and new bonds between you all, and then services will not be held just once a month any longer. Find among you a good person — devout, not a socialite or materialist — who might train for the priesthood and serve your community. Keep looking forward with hope. I am confident everything will turn out well.
