Brief History
Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) has a rich history in North America that spans over 50 years. Following WWII, an Orthodox college student movement began to emerge. Individual campus groups were formed at various universities, including Columbia, McGill, and Penn State.

Despite the momentum of this growing movement, there was virtually no interaction between the groups. Then, in the spring of 1965, the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) created its first national ministry, the Campus Commission. The purpose of this ministry was to oversee and coordinate these developing local fellowships.

James Couchell (now Bishop DIMITRIOS of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese) was appointed as the first Executive Director of the Campus Commission. He visited hundreds of campuses, helping to establish and grow local campus chapters. Over 100 chapters developed coast-to-coast during this

time. The national programs included a quarterly magazine entitled Concern as well as annual retreats, which gathered at St. Vladimir’s and Holy Cross seminaries. These nationwide retreats were the predecessors of our present day College Conferences.

In 1971, the exciting growth of campus ministry came to a virtual halt with the reassignment of James Couchell. Shortly after a new director was appointed, funding from the archdioceses discontinued, and in 1973, the Campus Commission was forced to close its ministry. It’s estimated that campus groups dwindled to less than 50 nationwide. Without any coordinated effort, successful campus ministry was inconsistent and sporadic at best.

Eventually the Church began investing time, energy, and money into jurisdictional youth programs and summer camps. These programs flourished alongside church school programs, full-time national and parish youth ministry positions, and Orthodox camping programs. With the Church’s renewed focus on developing youth programs, campus ministry, once again, became a priority.

In 1997, three former seminarian classmates responsible for their respective jurisdictional campus ministry programs, pledged to work together towards the resurgence of a pan-Orthodox Campus ministry. In 2000, Fr. Michael Nasser of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese, Fr. Mark Leondis of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and Fr. Michael Andersen of the Orthodox Church in America went before SCOBA and asked for the formal reestablishment of a North American campus ministry. Each jurisdiction was petitioned for appointments and a working board was established.

Over the next two years, the members of the Board worked diligently to establish the framework of what is now called Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF). They created a website, an online directory, the Real Break, short-term missions program, a student newsletter, and a variety of other local resources for campus chapters.

Looking to take the ministry to the next step, the Board hired a full-time administrator during the summer of 2002 and established the North American office on the campus of Hellenic College/Holy Cross in Brookline, MA. At the same time, OCF received a portion of a Lilly Endowment grant awarded to Hellenic College for the Theological Exploration of Vocation. This five-year scaling grant enabled OCF to build an infrastructure, hire staff, and expand its programs. In 2008, OCF moved its

headquarters to Indianapolis, IN, and hired additional staff to oversee the three-year sustainability grant awarded by Lilly to explore Christian vocation in the context of service to the poor.

At present, OCF has a staff of six full-time employees, including the first full-time Executive Director in over 30 years, and its first full-time campus chaplain who ministers in the “Triangle Area” outside of Charlotte, NC. OCF is thankful to God for the growth of its ministry and believes the greatest chapters are yet to be written.