Reformátusok Lapja, 1969 (69. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1969-02-01 / 2. szám
REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA 11 tions that led to the union of the Congregational Christian and Evangelical and Reformed Churches to form the new United Church of Christ. The union represented the first time in American religious history that two denominations from distinctly different confessional backgrounds were united to form a single church. The Evangelical and Reformed Churches, Presbyterian in government, came out of the German Reformation, while the Congregational Christians had their religious roots in the Pilgrim and Puritan forefathers of New England, each congregation being independently governed. In the eight years of his presidency, Dr. Herbster has traveled back and forth across the nation as a pastor to the whole church, preaching in its parishes, and serving as a bridge between the two bodies that formed the union. In his many ecumenical endeavors, Dr. Herbster has been active in the Consultation on Church Union in which nine major Protestant communions are working toward the establishment of a united church — “truly Catholic, truly Reformed and truly evangelical” — and embracing more than one-third of American Protestantism. He is a member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, the General Board of the National Council of Churches, the executive committee of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the executive council of the International Congregational Council. He was an accredited visitor to the First Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Amsterdam in 1948, and a delegate to the Second Assembly in Evanston, 111., in 1954, the Third Assembly in New Delhi, India, in 1961, and the Fourth Assembly in 1968 in Uppsala, Sweden. His dedication to the cause of racial justice, from which he has never wavered, was pointed up at the 1963 General Synod of his church when he asked for permission to interrupt the regular order of business to speak about the crisis in the nation. “Few times in our lives have we faced a greater responsibility than we face now,” he told the delegates. “The present situation across America, in the way in which our Negro brethren are treated, economically, politically and socially, constitutes a blight from which we must be saved. “This blight must be eradicated,” he said. “Eradicated now!” In his quest for a lasting peace, Dr. Herbster serves as a member of the Advisory Committee on Peace of the National Council of Churches. He has always viewed the prospects of peace in light of racial justice and a strong united Church of Jesus Christ. He served as president of the Southwest Ohio Synod of the Evangelical and Reformed Church and was presDr. Ben Mohr Herbster at the South Norwalk, Conn. Church celebration. ident of the Council of Churches of Greater Cincinnati in 1947-48. He was a member of the General Council of the Evangelical and Reformed Church from 1947 to 1959 and was a member of its Board of National Missions. Born in Prospect, 0., August 26, 1904, Dr. Herbster is a graduate of Heidelberg College, Tiffin, O., and Central (now Eden) Theological Seminary, Webster Groves, Mo. He did graduate work at Ohio State University, McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, and at Chicago Theological Seminary. In 1944, Dr. Herbster was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by Heidelberg College, of which he is a trustee. He has also been honored by Talladega (Ala.) College, Doctor of Sacred Theology, 1962; Elmhurst (111.) College, Doctor of Laws, 1962; Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa., Doctor of Divinity, 1962, and Lakeland College, Sheboygan, Wis., Doctor of Divinity, 1963. Dr. Herbster was ordained in the Reformed Church at Dayton, O., June 2, 1929. He was the organizing pastor of the Corinth Boulevard Reformed Church, Day- ton, which he served from 1929 to 1931, when he went to Norwood. Mrs. Herbster, the former Elizabeth Beam, is the daughter of two Reformed Church missionary physicians, Dr. and Mrs. J. Albert Beam, who established the medical work of the denomination in China, where she was born. She is also a graduate of Heidelberg College. Dr. and Mrs. Herbster have two daughters, Mrs. Marcus Buehrer and Mrs. Roger Liston, both of Dayton, O. They have six grandchildren. After his retirement, Dr. Herbster and his wife will settle in Dayton, Ohio. The constitution of the United Church provides that the president, upon retiring, shall serve for 90 days following the General Synod, which will be held next June in Boston.
