‘Lay leaders’ to devote time for God’s work: Metropolitan Mar Seraphim
Indian Orthodox Church
By: Liju Cherian
27/6/2011
BENGALURU : Dr Abraham Mar Seraphim, Metropolitan, Bangalore Diocese, has made a clarion call upon the lay leaders of the church to devote their time and effort towards the work of the church effectively.
The Metropolitan was addressing a monthly meeting of the Bengaluru Orthodox IT employees at the Mar Gregorios Cathedral, Hosur Road on Sunday evening.
“It becomes humanely impossible for a vicar or a bishop to reach out to all sections of people in large churches or cathedrals. It is here we require ‘lay leaders’ – people who can devote their time, maybe spend a hour in a week. The main purpose is to reach out to more people and for our community to be recognized,” he said.
Nursing colleges near churches can be targeted and young church members must devote time to go and meet them and to know their problems and request them to come for worship.
It was left to Fr Mathews George, Vicar of St George Indian Orthodox Church at San Antonio, Texas, to pep up the two-hour-long meeting.
Fr Mathews personally got answers from all the participants about their stress buster techniques which ranged from family time, yoga, meditation, teaching, cooking, playing with children, reading newspapers or working out at the gym.
The Vicar from the United States elicited good response when he said: “We are all leaders and so good in everything but not to our self. How best you can scale down the stress level internally, is what is needed,” he cautioned.
Earlier, Biji Kurian John from IBM, set the tone for the meeting with his inspiring introductory
address on leadership relevance and iconic leaders from the Holy Bible. He listed leadership qualities like self illumination; God’s calling and attaining transformation through this.
Biji mentioned iconic leaders like Moses, David and St Paul who were leaders in their own self having the right vision and knowledge.
Omana Mathews also from IBM explained the purpose of the meeting and the Metropolitans vision towards it. She volunteered to help out the aged people who are unable to work on their own. Dr Mar Seraphim wanted the group to also pray for the sick and help them during emergencies. The Metropolitan suggested that the meeting also include the spouses and families provided some arrangements were made towards a crèche facility.
Techies from IBM, HP, Macmillan, Oracle, CTS, HCL, ANZ, ABB, Accenture, Startech, Nous Infosystem, Sysfore and Cognizant took part in the fellowship meeting. Efforts will be made to have representation from Wipro during its next scheduled meeting for July 31, Sunday, at 3 pm, at the same venue.
A core group has also been formed from among the techies for follow up and to garner more IT employees towards its next meeting. A group email id will be launched soon for more closer networking among the members.
Dr Mar Seraphim proposed a vote of thanks while Fr Mathews ended the meeting with a benediction. Fr Varghese P Idichandi also took part in the fellowship meeting.
