The priest and activities that take place in the church
His Holiness Pope Shenouda III speaks about the priest’s role as the foundation for activating the church’s life, and about how to organize educational and service activities that make the church a flame of continuous activity.
Main points
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Summer and manual activities — the importance of programs like the summer activity that include handicrafts (arkit, gypsum, models of the temple) as practical education for children and youth and as a source of income for service branches.
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Practical education and training — training young people in multiple skills (making the offering bread, hymns, chants, serving the altars) and sending them to monasteries to acquire practical experience.
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Organizing the church community — preparing registers and maps of areas, streets and families, monitoring attendance, and forming teams to visit absentees and care for the sick and the poor.
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Forming specialized teams — groups to respond to heresies, teams for giving and case-finding, teams to organize celebrations, cleanliness, and security.
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Service to children and families — children’s libraries, playrooms with supervision (crying room/glass room), and training child supervisors so they understand the service without disturbing the liturgy.
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Investing local expertise — engaging retirees in service, and benefiting from members’ professions (electricians, barbers…) to arrange special liturgies and provide practical services.
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Using technology — proposing computer teams to record memberships and cases, which facilitates extracting data about the poor and attendance quickly and accurately.
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Continuous organization and proactivity — early preparation for elections and events, and training groups so the church is always ready with organized plans and skills.
Spiritual and educational dimension (from a Coptic Orthodox faith perspective)
The spiritual aim is to transform the church into a living place that raises believers in service and love, where the priest is dedicated to empowering the people: teaching generations to love the liturgy, the services, and prayers, and instilling a sense of communal responsibility. The talk links worship, education, and service work as interconnected aspects of true Christian formation.
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