July 21, 2015
Dear St. Mark’s family,
We want to take this time and thank the Lord for another blessed Coptic Year. We
thank Him for giving us the blessing to serve a congregation that truly loves the Lord
and desires to serve Him faithfully.
St Mark’s remains committed to our vision. As we have communicated throughout
the last several years, we want to remind you of the core values of our church which
are to be committed to a life of Orthodox Worship, maturing in Christ through
Discipleship, and spreading the gospel through Mission.
This year, the Lord has blessed the Washington Metropolitan Area with many new
churches to serve His people in a deeper way. A few weeks ago, we were blessed by
the visit of HG Bishop Karas, the General Bishop of the Archdiocese of North
America, to the area. As he gathered the priests of the area, he assisted us in
designing a plan to ensure that every parish is serving its own geographical zone of
5 cities and serving its own committed members. The five cities of St Mark’s
geographical region of outreach are:
Fairfax, Centreville, Clifton, Burke and Fairfax Station
Please note: Anyone outside of these 5 cities is welcome to be a full member of St
Mark’s and any family among these cities have the freedom to become members
of any other church in the area.
Due to the rapid growth of our church, we believed it to be necessary to figure out
how many members we serve. In order to do that, we will have a seven-week
campaign of updating our church membership database. It is of great importance
that each person in the Northern Virginia Washington DC Metropolitan area register
their name and membership in one of the local churches.
Every person has the freedom and is encouraged to join the parish of their
preference to be your home church while you are still welcome to enjoy the services
of any other parish as a visitor.
From the short period of August 9 to September 20, 2015 we will be sending you
various communications in the mail, through email, the website and outreach visits
to explain what your role is and what is expected of you in order to register yourself
as a member or visitor of St Mark’s.
All visitors to St Mark’s are welcome to participate in all of our ministries, but due to
the limited resources of space and servants, priority will be given to the members of
St Mark’s.
Membership will be for one year and must be renewed annually from
September to the following year.
In order to apply for membership at St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Church, DC, you
have to be Christian, Coptic, Orthodox, obedient to the rules of the Coptic
Orthodox Church, regular attendant of liturgies and church occasions, participate in
communion and confession periodically. You also have to be committed to the
following in your relationship with God and with the other members of the church:
- To be prepared to be true disciples of Christ, so you can also disciple others
- You work on the edification of the church by praying for the priests, servants
and the rest of the members, inviting the un-churched to attend and welcoming
visitors.
- Take an active role in voting for important church decisions, like electing the
board of deacons, nominating a new priest, church expansions, new buildings or
other projects.
- Committing my tithes regularly and periodically to the church
- Being ready to participate in ministry if/ when asked according to the needs
of ministry.
We look forward to see how the Lord will bless us this new Coptic year and to see all
of His children grow in the knowledge of God. We kindly ask for your continual
prayers for our Father, Abouna Bishoy and for his healing and restoration.
Your servants,
The Priests of St Mark’s