Orthodox Australia - Missionary and catechesis website

Alex Ivanov

www.orthodox.net.au

(www.australianorthodox.com)

Why do we need one?

• Australia, like other countries, is rejecting Christianity

• Catholic and Protestant churches are closing

• Government policies and law no longer supports Christian

values

• Australian adults grown in Christianity no longer attending

the church services

• Australian youth have absolutely no idea about Orthodoxy

Orthodox Christianity in Australia

• Largely unknown to Australians

• Associated with migrant country: Russian Church, Greek

church instead of focus on Christ Himself

• Only 2.6% Australians are Orthodox

• In the world, Orthodox is the second largest Christian

church

• In Australia, Orthodox is fifth largest behind Catholicism,

Anglicanism, Uniting, and Presbyterian/Reformed

churches

Website goal 1: Mission

• Provide a short summary what Orthodox faith is

• Why we believe Orthodoxy is The Truth

• Explain why we believe God exists, what are major

religions and how they differ from Christianity

• Explain why Orthodox is the only Church founded by

Christ Himself

• Address “difficult questions”

• Apologetic information

Website goal 2: Catechesis

• Basic Orthodox teachings

• Difference with catholic, protestant

• Links to Holy Fathers books

• Living a Christian life

Website goal 3: Linking Orthodox Churches of Australia

• Build vibrant Orthodox online community

• Information about Orthodox eparchies of Australia

• Map of all Orthodox churches and monasteries, with links,

photos

• Calendar of church feast days

• Bible study groups

• Pilgrimages

• Photo gallery

• Forum on various topics. Apologetics, Q&A etc.

• Example protestants: http://carm.org/apologetics

Multi lingual site

• Initially only English and Russian – full versions

• Other languages to join later (engage multicultural team)o Greek

o Serbian

o Romanian

o Bulgarian

We are Orthodox Christians of Australia.

We come from many ethnical backgrounds.We believe in Lord Jesus Christ according to Nicene Creed (325 AD)

Our bishops were ordained by preceding bishops, tracing back to Apostles ordained by Jesus himself.

We believe Holy Tradition is an important and distinct source of faith.

There are 244 Orthodox Churches and 20 monasteries in Australia.

Social network &Facebook integration

• Articles have public FB comments enabled• Discussion is translated to Facebook user

feed• Moderation is required• Forum with the priest answering questions

Project team

• Laity not clergy (time consuming)

• Clergy to review articles

• Engage Fr. Michael, Fr. Igor, Fr. Nikolai

• Engage laity from Dandenong, Brunswick, Oakleigh

• Engage people from national churches

Part 1: Missionary

• What do YOU believe?o No God: Atheism, agnostics

o Buddhism

o Multiple gods: Hindu, pagan

o Islam

o Judaism

o Sects

o Occult teachings

• Christian churcho Church History

o Orthodoxy and Catholics

o Orthodoxy and protestants

o Orthodox countries in the past and today

o Famous Orthodox people

Structure 2: Catechesis

• Orthodox faitho Holy Trinity

o Nicene Creed

o Holy Tradition

o Holy Scripture

o Apostolic

succession

o Icons

o The Divine

Liturgy

o Saints

o Jesus Christ –

Man and God

o Sin and

repentance

o Salvation

o Church

o Judgement and

Afterlife

Being an orthodoxo Prayer

o Fasting

o Repentance,

confession

o Holy Communion

o Spiritual warfare

o Bible studies

Structure 3: Orthodox Australia

• Orthodox Australiao Orthodox church in Australia

o Australian eparchies

o Map of all churches and monasteries

o Calendar of church feast days

o Bible study groups

o Pilgrimages

o Forum

o Photo gallery

Project budget

• Project is driven by lots of people volunteering their time

• Content is mostly copied across from other websites, with

permission

• $600 professional design https://www.fl.ru/konkurs/

• $80 per year hosting

• $300 custom maps