Bethlen Naptár, 1960 (Ligonier)
Bethlen Almanac
BETHLEN ALMANAC 127 Other bills, in connection with the church building project and necessary repair work, ran as high as $8,632 and these also were paid in full. To further secure the church financially, the pastor initiated a drive for free-interest loans and received a heart-warming response. Those who did not give loans increased their direct donations. Our organizations were also inspired by this spirit of stewardship. Eleven new elders were elected into our new Consistory in addition to those seven whose terms had not expired. In order to increase the effectiveness of our leadership the dedicated new Consistory chose two Prsidents, William Angi for the Hungarian language congregation and Louis Takacs for the English. The “Reformátusok Lapja” and the “United Church Herald” have been subscribed to for all members of the two language groups, respectfully. Our Lorántffy Zsuzsanna Ladies’ Aid Society continued her unfailing support of the church. Our Youth Fellowship had as their stwardship project the collecting and counting of sale-tax stamps, turning over the profit to the church. The Choir donated the profits from Christmas carolling to the church. Meaningful Christian fellowship was kept alive in our Goodfellowship Club with meetings held in the members’ homes and on picnics. Our Sunday School was self-supporting. Church properties were improved by repair and painting. With the helping hands of a few young men, Rev. and Mrs. Molnár painted the interior of the parsonage. The exterior of the parsonage was also nicely trimmed the church covering the expenses. The custodian and the hall caretaker have taken the initiative to improve their homes, too. The Kossuth Hall is to be undertaken in the near future also as a stewardship project on the initiative of John Hanos. We are happy to report that the good Lord has blessed our lives with the arrival of many babies. Sixteen babies were baptized among them Louise-Elizabeth of Rev. and Mrs. Molnár. It is good to see these infants with their parents in church. Confirmation classes were conducted by the pastor on Saturdays. Eight children in 1958 and 7 children in 1959 were confirmed. We had our Summer Vacation Bible Schools also in both years. Two young ladies of our Youth Fellowship attended Camp Mensch Mill this summer. Our church membership continues to shift from our church neighborhood to the outlying communities of Greater Dayton, however, our people are faithful in driving several miles to attend services. MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — Supply pastor: Rev. Louis Molnár 5 worship services were held last year in this rapidly decreasing congregation. DETROIT, Mich. — Pastor: Rev. Zoltán S. Vajda The pastor is the President of the Lakeside Classis and in his report to the Synod makes the following remarks on his own congregation: “Our church is striving to build the soul and strengthen the faith in a city where the Hungarian Reformed people live in separate groups ... We have enormous buildings and their maintenance is possible only through the sacrifice of our congregation. We had 134 worship services, half in English, half in Hungarian ... The Lord’s Supper was faithfully administered... The loan of $11,000 which the church received interest-free from its members in order to purchase a lot for a future church edifice has been almost completely paid back... We are truly grateful to the Lord for the achievements of the past year.” FAIRPORT HARBOR, Ohio — Pastor: Rev. Aaron Elek The only available report on this congregation is that of the classis
