Fellowship of St. John the Divine

The Fellowship of St. John the Divine is a group of leaders who, representing different dioceses, come together at one table to develop and administer programs, projects, and activities that are intended to help each local parish find ways to fulfill its true calling in Christ. The Fellowship is therefore a catalyst for action in three areas:

1. Unity;
2. Missions, outreach, and evangelism; and
3. Spiritual renewal.

Some of the activities the Fellowship supports or has itself developed include: mission trips, pan-Orthodox fellowship events at conferences, the production and dissemination of education materials about Church unity, the St. Philip’s Prayer Discipline program, young adult retreats, the Food for Hungry People program, the Creative Festivals, and the Oratorical and Bible Bowl Festivals. The Fellowship communicates opportunities for involvement through periodic bulletin inserts.

For more information visitors can explore the links provided below.

Mission

Serving the needs of the parish is the mission of the Fellowship of St. John the Divine. Unlike other organizations of our Archdiocese, the Fellowship’s ministries are developed from the bottom up, since we are serving the needs of our particular parishes with the blessings of our parish priests. The Fellowship of St. John the Divine is living the gospel through witness, worship, fellowship and service. We are defined by need. We serve these needs through our individual talents. We are guided by the Holy Spirit and we serve to the glory of God.

Activities

Perhaps to many people, “serving the needs of the parish” is vague. Specifically, it means donating blankets and clothing at our local homeless shelters; establishing and maintaining a food pantry for those who come to our parish doors hungry; hosting breakfasts to raise money for the missions in our diocese after liturgy; learning more about our Orthodox saints at a new book club called Saints Alive; joining our St. Philip’s Prayer Discipline; meeting the needs of the “20/40” age group, facilitating the transition from Teen SOYO and college contact into the Fellowship; having a parent’s club that meets, socializes and raises money for extras in the Sunday School; holding a Saturday morning men’s Bible study; having a parish-wide Bible study; and much more. Our needs are many and different throughout the Archdiocese, yet many of our projects are the same.

At St. George New Kensington through the organization of Fellowship, we want to be able to focus on the Glory of God knowing that Christ is always in our presence. We try to put aside our hectic and busy lives and come together and make time for each other as a church family knowing that we all have one essential thing in common – Our Faith.

We do this on a weekly basis at coffee hour. Coffee hour is organized through the Fellowship, but completely supported by the parishioners. The parishioners sign up and volunteer to provide light refreshments after church each Sunday. This breaking of the fast with our brothers and sisters each week is truly reflective of Christ being in our midst as we all make time for each other each Sunday after church.

The Fellowship organizes St. George’s annual Liturgy in the park, held at Northmoreland Park. After Liturgy, we share a wonderful meal provided by the parishioners and enjoy the beautiful park surroundings. We are very grateful and fortunate that the past few years Westmoreland County Commissioner Thomas Ceraso has donated the use of the boat house at Northmoreland Park to us so that we could celebrate Divine Liturgy at the park.

Some other events sponsored by Fellowship are bowling night, game night, book club, scrap booking, and pasta dinner theater. At all of these events members of St. George Church come together to spend time with each other to have fun and enjoy being with one another.

Our book club meets the first Thursday of each month at 7:30 PM in the conference room at St. George Church New Kensington. Each month we meet and discuss a chosen book. Light refreshments are provided by volunteers each month.

Fellowship supports many other organizations through monetary donations. We recently have supported the Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration, the annual St. George golf outing, St. George missions, and St. George 100 for 100 fundraiser. The Fellowship of St. John the Divine provides scholarships to graduating high school seniors how are pursuing higher education. Fellowship organizes the annual Christmas gift drive which provides gifts to Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau for needy children in Westmoreland County.