Our Mission
ChristianExchange was founded by members of Eastern Orthodox and Western Christian Churches. Initially, it appeared as a Christian missionary initiative where Christians and Christian organisations from Great Britain, Russia and Bulgaria cooperated with each other and supported dialogue and mission in the three countries. In this, the UK's Church Mission Society was very instrumental and supportive. The common missionary work bore the idea of expanding this cooperation further to other Christians and other Christian organisations and churches. The fruits of the eight years of mutual spiritual exchange between Orthodox and Anglican Christians since 2001 in the three countries resulted in the conviction that Christians of different traditions not only can live common life in the Lord but are also called to common understanding and ultimately to unity, as Jesus wanted that we all be one in Him (John 17:20). Because the Church body "is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body" (1Cor 12:12). In this sense, ChristianExchange exists to pray and work for Christian unity and to provide opportunities for Orthodox Christians and Christians of Western traditions to meet and get to know one another. We are convinced that through learning and live sharing, Christians of various traditions can deepen their understanding of each other's spirituality, theology, worship, and everyday life. We also feel that we need other Christian organisations to join us and we combine efforts and resources in order to work together on the path of dialogue for better understanding. This is why we invite Christians from other Orthodox, Protestant and Catholic background to join our initiative and help promote inter-Christian dialogue and sharing. For more information about ChristianExchange, click here.
Please note that the website is still under construction and more updating will soon be done. |
In addition to our missionary work, we offer various Christian services for the website visitors and for those who would want to cooperate with ChristianExchange and to benefit from our workDo you want to learn more about the Orthodox Church, the Anglican Church and any other Christian Church, either through reading or direct contact with Christians? Or do you want Christian books and other Christian reading materials to be sent to you or to read them online or sent to you for free? We can translate Christian texts for you! For now, only English, Russian and Bulgarian languages are available for translation but soon new language pairs will be added. Would you like us to do some research into an issue or enquiry or a topic which is of your interest? Do you want your Christian books, booklets, articles, essays and other written materials be edited and made ready for printing? Do you want your Christian books, booklets, articles, essays and other written materials be bound on a Comb and Thermal Binding Machine for a neat and nice look? Are you an Anglican or other Western Christian wanting to be in contact with Orthodox Christians in Russia and Bulgaria? Or are you an Orthodox Christian who want to link with Christians of other traditions? Or you may wish to visit Christians in Russia, Bulgaria or the United Kingdom and share spiritual experiences together? We can try to organise the visit in the way you would mostly like and benefit from it. If your church or organisation need an authentic spiritual environment for a Christian conference, seminar or a training course, what better place than carrying this out in an authentic Christian environment, for example in a monastery? Tell us about it and we will organise this for you!
The answers to all these questions you can find at the Services page of the website.
You can always share with us any other Christian enquiry you may have in connection with the Christian Orthodox-Anglican Network and the movement towards Christian unity. Don't hesitate to tell us about your ideas! Contact us with your enquiry on: |
ChristianExchange is very much concerned about dialogue between Christians of various traditions. Dialogue, we are deeply convinced, would eventually lead to unity of Christians. Not to deep doctrinal or 'universal' spiritual unity but about unity as common Christian sharing and witnessing Christ.
Here are some Holy Scriptures' verses on unity of Christians
Psalm 133:1 (Psalm 132:1 in the Slavic Bible)
How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!
John 17:22-23
22
I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one.
23
I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Romans 6:5
If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
1 Corinthians 1:10
I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.
1 Corinthians 12:12-13
12
For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
13
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Ephesians 4:1-13
1
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
2
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
3
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
4
There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called
5
one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6
one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
7
But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.
8
This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men."
9
(What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions?
10
He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)
11
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
12
to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
13
until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Philippians 2:1-3
1
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,
2
then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
3
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
Colossians 3:14
And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
