Calvin Synod Herald, 1988 (88. évfolyam, 1-5. szám)

1988 / 2-5. szám

CAliVIN SYNOD HÉRÁID-14-RFFflRMATUSOK I.AP.IA

HUNGARIAN REFORMED CHURCH CAMP 1988

The annual youth Camp was held on August 14-20, at the Laurelville, Pennsylvania, Menonite Church Center site. There were 103 youth representing our various churches. Last year a proposal was made to change Camp sites due to escalating costs. The UCC "Living Waters” camp, approximately 40 miles west of Ligonier, was recommended as a possible alternative. In March we visited and inspected the proposed site and found it to be inadequate for our program needs. Hence we opted to stay with the familiar and practical accomodations of the present Camp.

The Western Classis of the Calvin Synod had the privilege of choosing, compiling and organizing the Camp theme. The two Camp directors met with concerned individuals at the Calvin Reformed Church in Lynwood, Illinois for this purpose. According to the feed-back questionaires, the youth desired to learn more about the meaning of Revelations and how God's message is to be understood in regard to the "end times”. With this in mind, we settled on the main theme entitled "Relevant Revelations.” This was further divided in five subheadings and we enlisted the help of five ministers to develop each for presentation to the youth.

The subtopic on the first day was titled "How God Speaks to Us.” 1 volunteered to research, develop and present the

essence of this topic, with emphais on the historical, spiritual and personal nature of God's self-revelation. The subtopic for the second day was "Signs of the Times.” Rev. Zsolt Takács presented the message using role-playing, involving the youth in acting out the possible feelings, behavior and reaction of various people to the news of the rapture. The subtopic for the third day was "Revelations - Fact or Fiction,” presented by Rev. Andrew Sholtes. He weighed the value and substance of various film productions in which evil was depicted as "good", or which laid claim to authority for predicting the future. The youth were encouraged to exercise caution when viewing such mass media productions and to familiarize themselves with the truths of the Scripture so as not to be taken in by the fantasy of films. Rev. Dr. Zoltán Szűcs presented the fourth theme, "Personal Revelations.” He stressed the importance of faith for hearing God’s message and the need for constant prayer, study and witnessing to keep faith alive in us. The last subtheme summarized the thrust of God’s Revelation in "How Do 1 See My Future,” presented by Rev. William Nyerges. He elicited the response for choosing God’s way through the example of a Merchant Marine survival test on the high seas. "If we were forced to the lifeboats, what items would we take along?” From the list of useful materials we learned the need to value those items that would help save our life,