About
Our History
History of SBSS
St. Barnabas and St. Susanna (SBSS) Coptic Orthodox Church of Baltimore was inaugurated with the blessing of His Holiness Pope Tawadros II at the hands of His Grace Bishop Karas on September 5, 2015.
In the years before the start of the church, God was busy at work in the hearts of the founding members of the church planting seeds for the future. Their vision was to establish a church that would be focused on serving the future of the church, their children. As this vision was maturing in their hearts, God was also at work in the heart of Fr. David who was serving as a general priest at the time. During this time, he was exposed to Coptic communities that had begun praying purely in English, making the richness of the Orthodox faith accessible to all. In time the path of founding families and Fr. David crossed and found common ground that led to a vision for a church in Baltimore.
Over the course of a year God continued to mature the vision for the community that would include key lessons learned from a great deal of adversity that was faced along the way. Those lessons would weave their way into the mission, vision, and core values of the community serving as a guide to this community.
All this and so much more culminated in the opening of the church on September 5th, 2015.
During the first four years, we bounced around from different churches, banquet halls, and hotels to hold services throughout the years. While this provided many beautiful memories and required us to grow together as a church family, it became challenging to find affordable places. As we began our search for a permanent home we could not anticipate the blessing God was preparing for us.
After months of searching on September 30th, 2019 we purchased our current church building and after some renovations, we prayed our first liturgy with His Grace Bishop Karas on November 23rd. Then in 2022, we purchased the adjoining Courtyard and Townhome, which we now call Susanna’s House. Susanna’s house serves as an ancillary meeting space, Sunday school classes, and as a mission house for missionaries coming to serve in Baltimore.
About
Our Mission
We are a community of Orthodox Christians living the Good News of Jesus Christ which transforms people who transform the world.
We aim to live our mission through what we call the 4 ‘Ships’ of SBSS:
Membership —> Fellowship —> Discipleship —> Apostleship
Membership
As the Lord told his soon to be disciples ‘come and see’ (John 1:38-41) we invite all to ‘come and see’ our Christ-centered community.
Fellowship
Discipleship
Apostleship
About
Our Core Values
Walking up a RIDGE to God
“But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
~Matthew 7:14
Relevance
We proclaim the eternal truths of the gospel from the Orthodox Worldview through relevant teaching and meaningful ministries.
“The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations.” ~Psalm 33.11
Integrity
We endeavor to live and serve with Godly integrity in all that we do.
“The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.” ~Proverbs 11:3
Discipleship
We aim for the spiritual formation of each person through intentional discipleship to become the image of Jesus Christ.
“A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.” ~Luke 6:40
Generosity
We desire to be a blessing to those around us through the offering up of our time, gifts, talents and finances because have received abundantly from God.
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” ~Acts 20:35
Evangelism
We strive to share the joy of Orthodox Christianity through the individual witness of our parishioners, our service to the City of Baltimore and through any door God may lead us through.
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” ~Acts 1:8