I am Convergent - Fr. Agapios

I am Convergent.

I did not begin my spiritual life with the intention of becoming a “Convergent Catholic.” My journey has been a long unfolding, a gradual recognition that God was weaving together multiple streams of Christian life within me. Convergent Catholicism eventually gave me a name for what had already taken shape in my heart: the integration of the historic sacramental tradition, the charismatic movement, and the evangelical impulse toward personal transformation and mission. But before I ever knew those streams existed, I was already swimming in them.

My first real encounter with liturgy came through the Episcopal Church when I was younger. I remember being struck by the order, the reverence, the sense that worship was something we stepped into rather than something we invented. The prayers, the vestments, the rhythm of the liturgyz it awakened something in me that I didn’t yet have language for. It felt ancient, rooted, and mysteriously alive.

At the same time, I was also being drawn toward the free movement of the Spirit in Pentecostal worship. There was a fire there, an immediacy, a sense of expectancy that God could break in at any moment. I loved the openness, the boldness, the willingness to let the Spirit lead without a script. For years, I lived with these two impulses side by side: the beauty of liturgy and the freedom of charismatic worship. I didn’t know how they fit together. I only knew that both felt true.

Eventually, I found myself pastoring a Pentecostal church in Tennessee. It was there that I learned something essential: Pentecostalism is far more than emotionalism and showmanship. When you’re the one pastoring the people, praying with them, walking with them, and preaching to them week after week, you begin to see the depth beneath the surface. I saw genuine hunger for God. I saw lives changed through prayer. I saw people seeking holiness, not hype. Pastoring taught me that the Spirit’s movement is not a performance it is a lifeline. It is the breath of God meeting people in their real need.

And yet, even as I embraced this charismatic dimension, something in me still longed for the structure, the sacramentality, and the rootedness I had first tasted in the Episcopal Church. During my time in Tennessee, our Pentecostal congregation formed a close friendship with the local Episcopal parish. We prayed together, served together, and built genuine relationships. Through that friendship, something in me was rekindled. The liturgy I had encountered in my youth began calling to me again not as nostalgia, but as vocation.

I realized I needed a worship life that held both the fire of the Spirit and the depth of the ancient Church. I needed a faith that honored the sacraments without quenching the Spirit, and welcomed the Spirit without abandoning the sacraments. This longing led me into conversations with friends and mentors who understood this tension. Those conversations eventually opened the door to something I had never heard of before: the Convergent Catholic Communion.

When I discovered the Convergent Catholic Communion, it felt like someone had finally handed me a map of my own soul. Here was a tradition where the three streams, sacramental, evangelical, and charismatic, were not competing but converging. Each stream can provide water. But when streams converge, they become a river.

A river has power.

A river can move things.

A river can reshape the landscape.

A river can carry you swiftly where you need to go.

A river can overflow its banks and bring life where there was none.

That is what Convergent Catholicism became for me: not three separate sources, but one mighty river.

In my priesthood today, I draw from all three streams without hesitation. The sacramental stream roots me in the ancient Church. The evangelical stream calls me to preach Christ with clarity and conviction. The charismatic stream keeps me open to the living movement of the Holy Spirit. I no longer feel the need to choose between reverence and freedom, between structure and spontaneity, between tradition and transformation. Convergent Catholicism has shown me that the fullness of the Church is found when these dimensions flow together.

In ministry, this convergence allows me to meet people where they are. Some come seeking liturgical depth. Others come longing for healing or prophetic prayer. Others come wanting to grow in Scripture and discipleship. I can welcome them all without fragmenting myself or the Church. This is not a compromise. It is a fullness. It is the river.

Today, I stand as a priest who has walked through multiple expressions of the Christian faith and found them converging into one coherent calling. I am fully sacramental, fully charismatic, and fully committed to the transforming power of the Gospel. I honor the ancient Church while remaining open to the new things the Spirit is doing. This is my journey. This is my convergence. This is the river God has led me into.

I am convergent.