Bethlen Naptár, 1984 (Ligonier)
Az Amerikai Református Egyházban
200 BETHLEN NAPTÁR Our Church School keeps using the excellent Bible Way materials based on the Heidelberg Catechism, but our numbers are dwindling. We confirmed two young men, Ronald Sadowski and Joseph Szabó. Our ladies’ Friendly Circle supports the congregation’s programs, assists in the evangelism booth at the community fair, and makes the best stuffed cabbage in New Jersey on Election Day (come and give it the taste-test!). Once again, we used World Vision’s Love-Loaves for hunger relief. Pastor Meeter has been serving the church part-time while he works on his doctorate in theology at Drew University. During the summer he took a long study-leave at the Liturgy-science Institute of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Pastor Emeritus Varga preached every Sunday of his absence, and the officers of the Consistory handled all the other business with great success, even including composing parts of the liturgy. God has preserved us and blessed us for eighty years. What will he dowith us in the future? Our automatic Hungarian constituency and loyalty is almost a thing of the past. The population of South River is decreasing, schools are closing, and we have only a few younger families. Church attendance remains steady, but membership itself does not increase. What are the strategies, what can we do? Are there any magical church growth formulae that would fit our situation? God is faithful — that is his formula — so we must be faithful. He gives no strategies for the future but speaks loud and clear his Word for today. The question is not one of successful programs but of faithful obedience. Are we preaching the full gospel right now? Are we teaching the Reformed faith in its richness today? Are parents reading the Bible to their children and teaching them to pray? Are we breathing scripture and singing the psalms as we work? God commands us to obey his plain words today and he reserves the secrets of the future for himself. So this is our strategy, to be always reforming our church and our lives according to the Bible, and to dedicate our lives as thanksgivings to the Lord, and trust in his plans for preservation. As the Catechism says (Q&A 34) : “Miért nevezed Őt ‘mi Urunknak’, Azért, mert Ő minket testestől-lelkestől a bűnből és az ördög hatalmából nem aranyon vagy ezüstön, hanem drága vérén megváltván a maga tulajdonává tett.”
