A Message from His Eminence Metropolitan Serapion: A Year of Growth and a Bright Future
Dear Friends of ACTS,
Greetings in the Lord!
As the 2017-2018 academic year comes to a close, and our graduating class prepares for commencement, I reflect on what was accomplished this year with our Lord’s provision. No effort can succeed without His hand and the support of our donors is a manifestation of the blessings the Lord has bestowed upon this school. For this reason, I humbly ask that you consider making a year-end gift to further the work being done at St. Athanasius & St. Cyril Coptic Orthodox Theological School (ACTS).
As you may already know, ACTS is a theological school dedicated to equipping this and the coming generations with the knowledge needed to carry our faith forward by offering candidates the opportunity to earn advanced theological degrees.
Among the abundant blessings from our gracious God, He has allowed us to witness some of these highlights in 2017:
Made advanced theological education available to all those who wish to study (here and abroad), regardless of financial ability.
Continued collaboration with North American and international dioceses to establish and standardize sound theological education for the Coptic Orthodox Church.
Our student body has doubled to almost 300 students, from Los Angeles, Diocese of Southern United States, Canada, Ethiopia, and elsewhere.
Many of our first graduating class of 7 have continued in Masters of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry programs.
Moved library and offices to our new facility in Anaheim.
With God’s blessing and your help, we plan to focus the efforts for the coming year on:
Increasing support for students by updating technology
Acquiring the needed additional faculty and staff
Improving our course offerings
Continuing to offer financial aid to new and current students
Marketing efforts around the school and its mission
Applying for grants that would help fund new and existing programs at ACTS.
Establishing a theological school in North America with various branches in major cities.
Our goal is to raise $250,000 to fulfill these tasks in moving forward. None of this could be possible without your support and every contribution is deeply appreciated. Please help us continue to build this very important resource for the benefit of our beloved church at large and for its future by making an unrestricted contribution to ACTS.
In Christ,
Metropolitan Serapion
President, St. Athanasius & St. Cyril Coptic Orthodox Theological School