Dear friends in Christ,
I hope that our ministry is a blessing to you. The ministry of Holy Cross Orthodox Church is local, national, and even extends internationally, and I am writing to invite you to help us in our Work.
Holy Cross Orthodox Church is a vibrant and active parish located in the Ralston suburb of Omaha, Nebraska. We are a Western Rite parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR), and are committed to outreach with the Gospel, rebuilding the Western Church, and to caring for those most in need.
Our Mission Statement says that the mission of Holy Cross parish is “To proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who do not know Him, and the fullness of the Apostolic Faith to those who do.” So far in 2017, we have added thirteen new members from nine households to our parish, including three previously unchurched adults who we baptized into Christ. In 2016 we added eleven new members. We preach for conversion and deeper conversion from the pulpit, and our adult Christian education program is taught at the college level. We are bringing people to Christ and His Church, and equipping them for service.
We regularly support four area homeless shelters. We collect hundreds of pounds of much needed food throughout the year for the Open Door Mission and the Lydia House, and make regular deliveries to them — and every ounce is contributed from within our parish. Parish volunteers make weekly pickups of large quantities of donated gourmet bread and then make deliveries to the Francis and Siena House shelters every Friday. In the winter we partner with the Salvation Army and collect large quantities of new socks, mittens, gloves and hats for the homeless.
We have members in Western Iowa, Eastern Nebraska, and even Central Nebraska, with families that drive up to a six hour round trip to get to church. Why do they drive so far to get to church? Because they have found a church worth the drive!
Our work in advancing the Great Commission goes well beyond Nebraska and Iowa. It is a national and even an international outreach. We reach out through our blog, Fr. Novak’s Blog, our Holy Cross Parish Facebook page, our parish Website, video sermons posted on the Internet, as well as by telephone and email. An important part of our work is in reaching out to Orthodox-minded non-Orthodox clergy — most commonly traditional Anglicans — and helping them to come home to the Orthodox Church. These men in turn bring members of their flocks into the Church and plant new Western Rite Orthodox mission-churches. This ministry, often done by telephone and email, goes on every day.
We would like to invite you to support our Work with a year-end donation to Holy Cross Orthodox Church. We do not beg for money or ask for regular support, but at year-end we do ask for help.
Holy Cross parish is strategically located in the centre of the United States. It needs to continue to be a hub in the Work of advancing the Great Commission and rebuilding the Western Church. We are in the midst of renovating our church facility for the glory of God, need to expand both our electronic and low tech outreach and make them even more effective, build our lending library to enhance opportunities for education and spiritual growth, pay our ever increasing expenses, and much more. All contributions will go into our general fund to be used as needed.
If you have been following our Work and have been blessed by it, you know how hard we work here. This is a ministry that goes on seven days a week and is worthy of your support. I hope that you will support our Work by generously contributing today.
Please make your check out to Holy Cross Orthodox Church, and send it to:
HOLY CROSS ORTHODOX CHURCH
7545 Main Street
Ralston, Nebraska 68127
Whether or not you can support us financially, I sincerely ask for your prayers. Prayer is vital for our Work. Prayer changes things.
We want to begin the new year strong so we can be even more effective in our various ministries. We hope you can help, and we will be looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you!
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. Victor+
Fr. Victor Novak
Rector
HOLY CROSS ORTHODOX CHURCH
7545 Main Street
Ralston, Nebraska 68127
(402) 573-6558
