Doulos

An interview with Katrina Bitar, Director of Youth Equipped to Serve (YES), explores how to invest in emerging leaders by:

• Speaking the truth in love (Eph 4:15)
• Leaning into the "good uncomfortable" to allow stretching and growing
• Examining our own motivations for wanting young people in the church

Katrina suggests that just because kids are participating in church activities doesn't mean that they have encountered Christ. Young people need to be trusted and engaged in doing the living work of Christ.  

When you serve the Church, are you joyful and invigorated?  Or do you feel your service is a thankless, lonely, or overwhelming burden?  As the body of Christ, we are called to encourage one another. To do this, we need connections!

Peer Learning offers you the opportunity to connect with other parish leaders like you to problem-solve, share best practices, gather insights, and celebrate successes.

An interview with Fr. Paul Hodge explores how parish leaders - clergy, council members, treasurers, and emerging leaders - can develop in their role through Peer Learning, a resource offered by the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative.

Fr. Theodore Dorrance and explores how a parish can invest in its youth as emerging leaders by:

• Equipping parents as evangelists in the home
• Reclaiming the dinner table for life-long Christian learning and engagement
• Utilizing the oratorical festival as a fully engaging, cross-generational tool in faith formation

Many experts in organizational management believe that the imagery of shepherd and flock is outdated and even condescending in contemporary organizational settings. But it is key leadership imagery in the Church. 

Dr. Richard Benton looks to Ezekiel 34 to understand 

• Our place and duty as sheep within the flock.
• The responsibility of the 'ebed (Hebrew equivalent to the Greek word doulos, meaning servant or slave) who the Lord places as shepherd over the flock.
• The Lord Himself who serves as the true shepherd, protecting his flock and judging those who would devour it.

Richard Benton holds a PhD in Hebrew and Old Testament from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is co-host of The Bible as Literature Podcast and serves as an IT scrum master for a global company based in St. Paul, MN.

Fr. Dustin Lyon and the parish leaders of St. George Greek Orthodox Church participated in "Cultivating Vision and Change," a module of Doulos - The Intensive Program in Servant Leadership.  Hear their story and how the principles and disciplines of servant leadership are brought to life through the preaching, teaching, and ministries at St. George. 

In addition to serving St. George Greek Orthodox Church in DeKalb, IL, Fr. Dustin Lyon hosts The Way, a podcast on the Ephesus School Network.

A doulos in the household of God has many responsibilities including: 

1. Growing in biblical literacy and accountability
2. Cultivating watchfulness 
3. Leading as one under authority 
4. Caring for "the least of these" 
5. Offering the "first fruits" 

Jesus declares in Mark 10:44, "Whoever would would be first among you must be slave (doulos) of all." Hollie Benton, executive director of the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative interviews Fr. Marc Boulos to search the meaning of doulos in the Greek New Testament and its implications for Christian servant leaders.