Calvin Synod Herald, 1974 (74. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1974-08-01 / 8-9. szám
REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA 3 Quo vadis? — Congregations? — Address of the Calvin Synod Meeting -—• “Quo Vadis Domine?” whither goest thou, Lord? The reply, “I come to be crucified again.” This was not an answer of “let’s see what happens” or “I don’t know, I haven’t thought about it.” It was a definite planned response. We ask today “Quo Vadis Congregations?” Where are you going Congregations? or, in other words, “What are your plans Congregations? What would be the answer if we were to ask the lay-leaders of our congregations, today, this question? What would be the answer to this question if we were to put this question to any part of our congregations? In American industry today, or for that matter, in most organizations, a lot of time is spent planning. The planning is done at each level of supervision, the group leader, the foreman, general foreman, department heads, managers, officers and Board of Directors. Each level utilizes a large percentage of their time planning and each level is planning the events of a different span of time. The group leader is concerned with problems which occur by the hour, and on the other end of the spectrum, the Board of Directors is planning the goals to be achieved five years in the future. In between these extremes the different levels are planning from day to day) week to week, month to month, year to year and finally the future. Planning is necessary for many reasons, but most important it forces you to take stock, to review where you are, and where you want to go. It compels you to ask yourself the question “Is this an acceptable condition? Can we improve this condition?” If it could be made better you must plan to do so, it won’t happen by itself. If the condition is acceptable, you must make plans to keep it that way. Our congregations should also be concerned with all levels of planning. We must plan our solutions to problems which manifest themselves daily, and we must plan for the future. Of course, as in industry, we are also confronted with the in-between planning. We cannot assume an attitude of complacency, we must be ready with a well thought out plan as an answer to the question “Quo Vadis Congregations?” Where are you going Congregations? Where does your future lie? To plan for the future means to find solutions to the problems of today and anticipate the stumbling blocks of tomorrow. Some of our congregations may have problems peculiar to themselves, but there are many hurdles we can jump together, a lot of planning we can share. I ask again “Where are you going? What are your plans? Where does your future lie?” -----To start with, a great deal of our future depends on our youth. The future of “The Hungarian Reformed Churches in America” will be in their hands. This phase of our planning we call “Youth Integration.” In the past, I have heard many questions asked leading up to this general topic of “Youth Integration.” These questions were as follows: 1— Where are the Sunday School children? 2— What ingredient is necessary to be certain that we confirm our youth into the Hungarian Reformed Faith and not confirm them out of the church? 3— What is required to draw our teenagers into a large fellowship, proud of their faith and their heritage? 4— Why are our well-educated younger adults too busy to share just one-tenth the burden that their parents and grandparents carried without a formal education? To say that all churches are suffering with this illness is not a solution to our problem. We must put our minds together and plan to solve these problems. We must gather together all the facts; take stock of where we are, and plan to improve this condition. Aside from the many different magnetic forces pulling the youth away from the church, in general, all over the country, we have a few of our very own. In many cases, our churches may be five, ten or even fifteen miles away from their homes; the path they take to get there passes in front of many Protestant churches and sometimes Reformed churches. Some of our churches are located in areas that have, for some time, been classified as undesirable areas. We are an ethnic church extremely proud of our heritage, but it is only natural that this sharp edged blade of pride grows a bit dull over the generations. This is not to say that our youth does not care for its background, but you cannot expect them to feel the same as a 1956 freedom fighter. Our mixing pot consists of a few remaining pioneers, hard working immigrants, who labored and sacrificed to build our churches. Add to this the first generation American born children of the pioneers; then shake into the pot some third and fourth generation children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Now, sprinkle into this pot a few immigrants of the thirties and forties, mix this well with a smathering of inter-marriages of different ethnic backgrounds and top it off with a new spice of Hungarian born immigrants of the late fifties and their second generation. In spite of this, the Church should and must serve each of these constituents without giving up our Hungarian Reformed heritage. The Church must simultaneously remain relevant and meaningful to each of these groups. And we must cook the ingredients of the pot to a taste that our children will love. The second part of our plan for our future should include our responsibilities outside our own congregations. I call this our “Special Mission.” A half century ago or more, the Hungarian Reformed people in America were considered displaced Christians in dire need of help. Churches inside and outside of our country helped through their missions and we prospered and grew to what we are today. It is now our turn. Hungarian Reformed churches all over the world are in need of our help, in need of our mission. The people of these churches are, as our forefathers were, trying to build a new home for themselves and trying to continue their religious faith in a new land. We must assume our responsibility to be of help to our own brethren in diaspora. I am not referring to a single shot in the arm, but a continuous transfusion until we are certain that the patient will live. Each congregation should plan not only for their own future, but how they can help the future of others. I will conclude by saying that without the youth of today we will not have a church in the future, and without a mission, there cannot be a church. Quo Vadis Congregations? John Nemesnyik
