Calvin Synod Herald, 2005 (106. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2005-07-01 / 7-8. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 5 Highlights of the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Calvin Synod May 17-20, 2005 The Annual Meeting was again held at Somerset, Pennsylvania. The Opening Worship Service was held at the Bethlen Home Chapel in Ligonier, in many ways the “home” of our Reformed people for over 70 years. Rt. Rev. Koloman Karl Ludwig, Bishop, preached at the opening worship service, and again emphasized the theme of Christ’s Love as that which must continue to strengthen our fellowship as a Reformed community, which he later reiterated in his “State of the Synod” message. The Delegates to the Annual Meeting were guests of the Bethlen Home for lunch, and had the opportunity to tour the brand new nursing home facilities just being completed. Rev. Imre Bertalan, Administrator of the Bethlen Home and Mr. George Dózsa, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America welcomed the delegates and extended the hand of friendship to the congregations of Calvin Synod, inviting them to use the facilities in the future as there are plans to make use of the older buildings for the community. On Wednesday evening the William Penn Association, a longstanding Hungarian Fraternal organization and supporter of the Calvin Synod and its work, hosted the Synod Delegates to a picnic evening at their beautiful Scenic View grounds, which include tennis courts, a beautiful lake, cottages and cabins available for use by members of the Fraternal. Both Fratemals are long-time supporters of Calvin Synod’s Hungarian Reformed Youth Camp, and they endeavor to continue the heritage and spirit of our Hungarian heritage at the forefront in our congregations. The Delegates to our Annual Meeting dealt with a number of weighty issues this year. They passed a number of Constitution and Bylaws amendments, which had been prepared during the past year by a special Committee charged with this task. Also amended were the Classis Bylaws as part of this same charge. A new Treasurer was elected. Mrs. Janet Lawton, who had been elected in 2004, resigned her position several months later due to illness in the family. Miss Lisa S. Toth had been appointed Treasurer, had fulfilled the duties for the past 10 months, and was elected by the Synod to fulfill the unexpired term. Upon the resignation of Rev. George Cseh as Hungarian Editor of the Calvin Synod Herald, Rt. Rev. Joseph Vásárhely had been appointed to fill this position. Having served in this capacity for 5 months, Synod elected Rt. Rev. Vásárhelyi to this lives even today. We are still to love the Lord our God, with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength and with our entire mind. I believe in God’s promise to us that all who trust in the gospel for forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace, have courage in the struggle for justice and peace, have the presence of the Holy Spirit in trials and rejoicing, will find eternal life in the kingdom which has no end. position. Synod has undertaken the updating and re-publication of a Catechism originally prepared by Rev. Steven Kovács. With the assistance of Rev. Gabor Nitsch, Synod has received permission from his widow, Mrs. Irene Kovács, to republish this book, and Synod Presbyter Mr. James Balias has spearheaded this effort and is following through on the project. Our featured speaker was the Rev. Csaba Kokai from Debrecen, Hungary. For the past 6 years Calvin Synod has, together with the Rhode Island Conference of the U.C.C., co-sponsored a Chaplaincy Program at the University in Debrecen. Rev. Kokai gave a short history of the Chaplaincy Program, the scope and breadth of its work, and its importance in a secular university in a secular world. Rev. Poznan reported on his trip with the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the 24th General Council, July 30 - August 13, 2004 in Accra, Ghana - West Africa. He mentioned many of the highlights of the General Council and showed the Synod many of the gifts that he received while in Ghana. It was an enthusiastic and heartfelt account of a wonderful experience as a representative of Calvin Synod. Synod was presented with three ideas for strengthening our fellowships. The first, a “Lay Worker’s Long Weekend Seminar” to expose laypersons to techniques for lay service in their congregation, to bring alive the “spiritual fire” of Christian involvement. A second idea is to institute a “Retreat for Ministers.” Finally, a third proposal was that Calvin Synod should authorize a committee to plan for revitalization, outreach and growth of our congregations. All three recommendations were passed by the Delegates. Also approved by the Delegates was a plan that Calvin Synod establish a fund to assist churches with travel expenses of potential ministerial candidates, according to need. Over the course of the past year many congregations participated in a heart-wrenching mission - the Tsunami Relief effort, something Calvin Synod encouraged and for which it was a conduit for many donations. One of our joys this year was that two Lay Minister Candidates - Mr. Wilburn Roby and Mr. Lehel Deák - recently completed their studies. Voted upon by the Delegates, they were granted “Lay Ministry” status within Calvin Synod, and Bishop Ludwig, together with Church and Ministry Chairman Rev. Poznan led the two in an Affirmation of Faith service. The Annual Meeting passed a very strongly worded resolution in opposition to the proposed resolution supporting “same sex marriage” which will be presented at the 25th General Synod biannual meeting in July. Referring to this resolution as “heresy.” Calvin Synod went on record that it does not find such an un- Biblical stand as tolerable. To the contrary, a number of Calvin Synod congregations were in the forefront of a proposal, which will also be presented at the same UCC General Synod, which affirms traditional Biblical views about marriage, that it was instituted by God between “man and woman.” We had a presentation from Mr. Donald A. Barnes, Vice President of the United Church of Christ Pension Board. After an enlightening presentation on the work of the Pension Board, (Continued on page 6)
