Bethlen Almanac 2001 (Ligonier)
Tóparti Egyházmegye - Lakeside Classis
CLEVELAND-ELSO, OHIO The First Hungarian Reformed Church Walton Hills, Ohio Pastor: Rev. Steven Geczy Chief Elder (English): Richard Sarosi Chief Elder (Hungarian): Steve Hunyadi It is with humble gratitude that we look over the past year and give glory and praise to our Heavenly Father for the many blessings He has bestowed upon our church and our congregation. The First Hungarian Reformed Church is a bilingual church, holding worship services each Sunday in Hungarian and in English. While we find familiarity and comfort in our traditions and shared ethnic heritage, it is our love for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and our faith in God’s Word, given to us in the Holy Scripture of the Bible, which unites us as a church family and defines our purpose as a church. In addition to the many wonderful Hungarian dinners and raffles we held throughout the year, there are several events that especially stand out. Our talented and dedicated church members prepared a record-breaking 6,717 cabbage rolls in March for an all-you-can-eat stuffed cabbage dinner and a stuffed cabbage take-out. In April, our pastor took the Confirmation Class and a group from our congregation on a field trip to tour our old church building in the Buckeye Road neighborhood and explore our church’s history. On May 12, 2001, we celebrated our 110th Anniversary with a special afternoon Communion worship service, followed by a dinner served to 300 guests in our Bethlen Hall. We praise the Lord for all of our members who worked so hard to make this celebration a success and we are grateful that so many guests honored us with their presence. We were blessed with a beautiful, sunny day for our Summer Picnic/bazaar on July 15. We began our day with an outdoor bilingual worship service. Over 50 members of our congregation were actively involved in the preparation, execution and clean-up that made this day a fund-raising success. During the summer months when the Sunday School is on vacation, we encouraged our teens to teach Children’s Church class on Sundays. Our “teen teachers” connected well with the children and worked from special class material that the church ordered for this program. At our Fall Sunday School Rally Day in September, we welcomed a new Sunday School Superintendent, our wonderful teachers, and our beloved children 121
