August 30th, 2026: It’s Sunday. Why Aren’t You Building Another Church?

In Matthew 21:33-42, our Lord tells the Parable of the Wicked Tenants, a story about a landowner who carefully prepares a vineyard and entrusts it to others. When the time comes for the tenants to return the fruit that belongs to the owner, they reject his servants and finally kill his son. The parable is a warning about what happens when people receive something from God but begin treating His gifts as though they belong only to them.

The Orthodox Church teaches that Christians have been entrusted with the Gospel, the sacramental life of the Church, the Holy Scriptures, prayer, worship, and the fullness of the Orthodox faith. These gifts are not meant to be hidden or kept only for ourselves. Orthodox Christians believe that we are called to bear spiritual fruit and to share the Gospel with the people around us.

The Vineyard, the Church, and Our Responsibility

The vineyard in Matthew 21 was first spoken about in connection with God’s covenant people. The imagery would have been familiar to those listening because the Old Testament often described Israel as God’s vineyard. Isaiah 5, for example, describes God carefully preparing a vineyard and expecting it to produce good fruit.

The problem was not that God had failed to provide what His people needed. The vineyard had been planted and prepared. The problem was that those entrusted with it forgot who the vineyard belonged to and failed to produce the fruit that God desired.

Jesus Christ brings this warning directly to the religious leaders of His time. God had sent prophets to His people again and again, calling them to repentance and faithfulness. Instead of receiving the message, many rejected the prophets, persecuted them, and sometimes killed them.

What Does the Parable of the Wicked Tenants Mean for Orthodox Christians?

The temptation is to read this parable only as a story about something that happened long ago. We can easily point toward the failures of people in biblical history without asking what the parable says about us. Yet the warning becomes much more uncomfortable when Christians recognize how much has now been entrusted to us.

We have received an extraordinary inheritance. We have the Scriptures, the Divine Liturgy, the Holy Mysteries, the teachings of the Fathers, the witness of the saints, centuries of Christian wisdom, and a life of prayer that has been handed down from generation to generation. The question is what we are doing with what we have received.

The Orthodox faith cannot become something we simply possess. It is possible to love Orthodox worship, icons, theology, history, and traditions while forgetting why these things have been given to us. Everything in the life of the Church is meant to draw us toward God, transform us through His grace, and teach us to love Him and our neighbor.

Why did God give commandments?

God’s commandments are not arbitrary rules designed merely to test whether human beings will obey. They teach us how to live according to the purpose for which God created us. The commandments turn us away from sin and teach us to desire what is good, holy, true, and life-giving.

This is why reducing Christianity to a list of rules misses the point. We do not obey simply because a rule exists. We obey because God’s commandments direct our lives toward communion with Him and teach us how to become the people we were created to be.

The tenants in the parable lost sight of the owner and eventually acted as though the vineyard belonged to them. Christians can fall into a similar spiritual error when we begin treating the Church as something that exists primarily for our preferences, comfort, or enjoyment. The Church belongs to God, and we have been entrusted with its life so that we may bear fruit.

Are Orthodox Christians supposed to evangelize?

Yes. Evangelism is not foreign to Orthodox Christianity. At the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Christ commands His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe what He commanded them in Matthew 28:19-20.

This command was not given only to clergy, missionaries, or people who enjoy talking with strangers. The entire Church participates in the mission of proclaiming the Gospel. Christians have different gifts and opportunities, but none of us is called to be indifferent toward whether the people around us know God.

The history of the Orthodox Church demonstrates this missionary calling. The Apostles traveled throughout the ancient world. St. Cyril and St. Methodius brought the Christian faith to the Slavic peoples. St. Herman of Alaska, St. Innocent of Alaska, and other Orthodox missionaries carried the Gospel across enormous distances because they believed that people needed to hear it.

Orthodox Christianity did not arrive in new lands because someone constructed beautiful churches and waited for people to wander inside. Missionaries traveled, preached, translated, taught, baptized, served, and established communities. The Orthodox faith spread because Christians believed that the Gospel was something worth sharing.

Does evangelism mean preaching to strangers on the street?

Not necessarily. Some Christians may have a particular gift for public preaching or speaking with strangers, but that is not the only form of evangelism. For most Orthodox Christians, mission begins much closer to home.

It begins with family members, friends, coworkers, classmates, and neighbors. A simple conversation can open a door. Asking someone what they are doing this weekend, mentioning that you are going to church, or inviting a friend to attend the Divine Liturgy can become a small act of evangelism.

We sometimes make evangelism more complicated than it needs to be. You do not need to answer every theological question before inviting someone to church. You simply need enough love for another person to want him to encounter the life that you have found in the Church.

Why is inviting people to an Orthodox church important?

People rarely walk into an unfamiliar church without some reason for doing so. Orthodox worship can be especially unfamiliar to someone who has never experienced it. An invitation from a person they trust can remove much of that uncertainty.

This means parish growth cannot simply depend upon constructing a building, maintaining a website, or hoping people eventually find us. Those things can certainly help, but buildings do not fulfill the Great Commission. People bring people into the life of the Church.

Every Orthodox Christian should therefore occasionally ask a simple question: When was the last time I invited someone to church? This is not meant to produce guilt or turn friendships into projects. It is meant to remind us that something precious has been entrusted to us and that love naturally desires to share what is good.

How can I share the Orthodox faith if I do not know much theology?

One of the most powerful ways to preach the Gospel is simply to live it. You may not be able to explain every Ecumenical Council or answer every question about Orthodox theology. You can still become a visible example of repentance, patience, mercy, courage, prayer, and love.

People notice how Christians behave. They notice whether we become angry easily, whether we forgive, whether we gossip, whether we help someone who is struggling, and whether our faith actually changes the way we treat other people. A person who knows every theological answer but behaves cruelly may drive people away from the very faith he claims to defend.

This is why evangelism and repentance cannot be separated. Before we preach the Gospel with our mouths, we should be struggling to live it with our lives. Our actions will never be perfect, but there should be evidence that we are trying to become more like the saints whom we honor.

St. John Chrysostom repeatedly emphasized the witness Christians give through the holiness of their lives. The Christian who practices virtue becomes a testimony to the power of the Gospel. People may argue with our words, but genuine humility, generosity, patience, and love are much harder to dismiss.

What does everyday Orthodox evangelism look like?

It can be remarkably ordinary. Cross yourself and pray before eating even when you are in public. Speak naturally about going to church when coworkers ask about your weekend, and do not act embarrassed about your faith when someone asks what you believe.

It also means becoming someone others can depend upon. When a neighbor needs help, Christians should be among the first people willing to serve. When someone is grieving, lonely, frightened, or struggling, an Orthodox Christian should strive to be present with compassion rather than simply offering opinions.

There should be something about our lives that makes people curious about the source of our hope. This does not mean presenting ourselves as spiritually superior. In fact, humility is essential because the Gospel is not the announcement that we are better than everyone else, but that God is merciful and calls all of us to repentance and salvation.

Why does Orthodox evangelism matter today?

Modern society offers countless answers to the question of what makes life meaningful. People are told to find identity through success, politics, possessions, pleasure, careers, entertainment, or personal desires. Some of these things may have a proper place in life, but none of them can bear the weight of the human soul.

Many people around us are spiritually hungry even when they do not know how to describe that hunger. They are searching for meaning, stability, forgiveness, community, and hope. The Orthodox Church has not been entrusted with the Gospel so that we can quietly enjoy it while assuming everyone else will eventually find their own way.

If Orthodox Christians remain silent, other voices will gladly speak. Every day people encounter messages telling them what human beings are, what happiness means, what morality means, and what their lives should be about. Christians should not respond with fear or anger, but neither should we surrender the conversation through silence.

The answer is faithful witness. We must know our faith, practice our faith, and share our faith. We should speak truth without cruelty and show love without pretending that truth does not matter.

Can an Orthodox parish grow without evangelism?

A parish may sometimes grow because Orthodox Christians move into an area, but this is not the same thing as evangelism. Moving existing Orthodox Christians from one parish to another does not fulfill the command to make disciples. Genuine missionary growth means reaching people who do not yet know the life of the Church.

This requires effort from clergy and laity together. Priests must preach, teach, welcome, and equip their people for mission. Parishioners must invite, serve, pray, build relationships, and become witnesses within their own communities.

The goal is also much larger than increasing attendance. The Church does not evangelize because we want impressive statistics or crowded buildings. We evangelize because human beings were created for communion with God, and because we have received something that was never meant to stop with us.

What fruit does God expect Christians to produce?

The vineyard exists to produce fruit. In the Christian life, this means much more than outward religious activity. St. Paul speaks of the fruit of the Spirit as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in Galatians 5:22-23.

These qualities reveal whether the life of the Church is actually taking root within us. We may attend services, know Orthodox terminology, and defend Orthodox teaching, but if we refuse repentance and remain consumed by pride, anger, selfishness, or contempt, something is wrong. The vineyard has been given everything it needs, yet the expected fruit is missing.

Mission therefore begins with our own conversion. We cannot give someone a life that we ourselves refuse to live. Prayer, fasting, confession, Holy Communion, Scripture, generosity, forgiveness, and service are not private religious hobbies but ways through which God reshapes us for His purposes.

What happens when Christians keep the faith to themselves?

The Parable of the Wicked Tenants contains a serious warning about stewardship. What God gives is meant to bear fruit. The proper response to receiving His gifts is gratitude, faithfulness, and service rather than possession and complacency.

Orthodox Christians should therefore resist the temptation to think that preserving the faith means hiding it. We must certainly preserve what we have received without changing it to satisfy the culture around us. But faithful preservation also includes handing the faith to the next generation and carrying it to people who have never received it.

The Orthodox Church does not need to become something different in order to reach people. She needs Christians willing to live what she already teaches. A faithful parish should become a place where people encounter serious prayer, genuine repentance, sacrificial love, reverent worship, and a community that actually cares whether they are present.

Where should Orthodox Christians begin?

Begin with prayer and repentance. Ask God to show you the people already around you who may be searching for something deeper. Pray for the courage to speak when an opportunity appears and for the wisdom to remain quiet when listening would be more helpful.

Then do something simple. Invite a friend to church. Tell a coworker why the Orthodox faith matters to you, answer a family member’s question honestly, or offer to bring someone with you so they do not have to enter an unfamiliar parish alone.

Most importantly, become the kind of Christian whose invitation has credibility. Be quick to forgive, willing to serve, slow to anger, faithful in prayer, and generous with your time. The goal is not to appear holy but to allow the life of the Church to change us so that others can see what the Gospel produces.

The vineyard has been entrusted to us, and the question is what kind of fruit we will return to its Owner. We have received an extraordinary treasure in Orthodox Christianity, but receiving that treasure also gives us a responsibility. We cannot simply build churches and assume people will come; we must become a Church that goes out, welcomes people in, and faithfully hands on what we have received.

The invitation of the Gospel is ultimately an invitation into a life. If you are curious about Orthodox Christianity, come experience the worship of the Orthodox Church, speak with a priest, meet Orthodox Christians, and begin asking questions. The doors of the Church are open, and those of us already inside must make certain that we are inviting others to enter.

Frequently Asked Questions About Orthodox Evangelism

Do Orthodox Christians believe in evangelism?

Yes. Orthodox Christians believe the Gospel must be shared with all people. The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 remains a command for the Church today.

How do Orthodox Christians evangelize?

Orthodox Christians evangelize through faithful lives, personal conversations, service, hospitality, teaching, and invitations to experience the worship of the Church. Evangelism involves both speaking about the faith and living it visibly.

Do I need to know Orthodox theology before sharing my faith?

No. Christians should continue learning their faith, but you do not need to be a theologian to invite someone to church or explain why your faith matters to you. When you do not know an answer, it is perfectly acceptable to say so and help the person find someone who does.

What is the meaning of the vineyard in Matthew 21?

The vineyard draws upon Old Testament imagery for God’s covenant people and His work among them. The parable warns that receiving God’s gifts carries the responsibility to produce the fruit of faithfulness, repentance, and obedience.

Why should Orthodox Christians invite people to church?

Many people will never experience Orthodox Christianity unless someone personally invites them. Inviting another person to worship is a simple way of participating in the Church’s mission and sharing what God has entrusted to us.