Evangéliumi Hírnök, 1999 (91. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1999-09-01 / 9. szám

8. oldal 1999. szeptember REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE MISSIONS AND LITERARY COMMETTEE AT THE 92nd ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE HUNGARIAN BAPTIST CONVENTION OF NORTH AMERICA ~ CLEVELAND, OHIO, JULY 8-10. 1999 Dear Delegates, Visitors and Guests of the Convention: At our millenium’s last Convention I hereby stand deeply moved. I consider it a great privilege to look back upon God’s grace of 2,000 years and on the most ani­mated century of our history. Our genera­tion has the prerogative of the human exis­tence to enter the mysterious and also promising realm of the Third Millenium, when the Almighty will give a heavy im­petus to the irreversible wheel of times. Compared to any other century, the 20th is absolutely eminent. Science and technol­ogy reached to an unforeseen level, this led us to a prosperous industry and agri­culture. The overproduction, the disparity between the life standard of different countries caused economic, social and po­litical crisis. The influence of false ideolo­gies drove huge crowds to the wrong di­rection. The explosion of information gathered all these and pushed mankind into chaos. Men knew only one way out of this: WAR. We received yearly news about two world wars, numerous bor­der-clashes, civil wars, colonial wars, and revolutions. The atheist system of com­munism had its dawn and nightfall. When people became weary of all this, they turned to entertainment, revitalizing its most profitable industry, gambling. Hand in hand with it moral depravity reached an unprecedented abyss. On the twilight of the second millenium the humanity is willingly heading for disaster. Nevertheless the beam of light crossed over and over our century. God did not let the crown of all creation loose heart. He ordained faithful workers, who set their time, strength, talents and life on the Lord’s altar, proclaiming the Gospel throughout. God’s word spread with un­equalled speed, power and effect, surpass­ing all preceding centuries. The full Bible is translated to almost 1,500 languages. The good news can be heard daily on TV and radio waves. Missionaries are pene­trating into unknown territories to take the doctrine of Jesus Christ to the heathen. Let’s remember the blessed memory of brother János Cserepka. He, after a long, exhausting, assiduous and faithful labor heard his Lord’s roll calling, when He ush­ered him into his well-deserved rest. Let us pray to the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers like brother Cserepka, into His harvest. The existence of a Hungarian mission in the New World, on foreign land is still the greatest miracle to me. We can look back with grateful hearts to over a hundred years of history. The past is speaking for itself, we actually are watching the pres­ent, and our future is in God’s hand. Through the last 20-25 years the physiog­nomy of our Convention has changed. Ag­onizing churches grew with the new wave of immigrants. Other Hungarian churches were absorbed into English ones, some ceased to exist and even sold their proper­­ties. Presently we account for 10 churches, with a membership of about 400 and 150-200 family members. The Hun­garian mission in Chicago is revived, in Cleveland the “Grace” church was estab­lished, in other cities the membership is growing, brothers of Bethany church are spreading the Word within and without. The shaken unity of our Convention has been restored, delicate situations were solved. Looking around we see our mem­bership growing younger - there are more children and young people than 10 years ago. Reading the Gospel Messenger every month, we find valuable news. We can fol­low with more or less regularity the activ­ity of almost every member church. I will recount the most important events since the last convention without claiming com­pleteness. 1. We held baptisms in New York, Palm Bay and Toronto. 2. Child presentations were held in Chicago, Cleveland-Bethany, Detroit and New York. 3. We had weddings in Detroit, New York; Golden Anniversaries in Cleve­land-Bethany (Mr. and Mrs. Zeke), and Detroit (Mr. and Mrs. Jakab). 4. In Palm Bay there was a pastoral change'. Rev. Barton Brown retired, and Rev. Denzel Alexander was instated. In Cleveland - Bethany Dr. László Fazekas was elected as associate pastor. 5. The Lord summoned home János Cserepka, Steve Forgács, Eszter Balia, Elisabeth Ruth Bán, Erzsébet Vass, Ber­nard Szerényi, Terézia Vajda and Júlia Radványi. 6. The local mission is prospering in our churches. Chicago excels in the music ministry among the city’s Hungarian com­munity. The Bethany church is evangeliz­ing Kitchener. Detroit is visiting our mem­ber churches and jumpstarted the GEHM program (Gospel for Every Hungarian in Michigan). Organizing the interfaith prayer-week became a general practice. In New York the good news reaches the Hun­garians by TV and radio. 7. Our Youth attended camp in Colo­rado last August. We still gladly observe its aftereffects on our children. After the camp closing conference, the Detroit and New York meetings followed. Each and every such event draws closer together our youth, the future of our Convention. 8. Often times we struggle with wor­ries. Our brethren of Chicago are in search for a church. In Detroit the building needed much time, energy and money consuming work. In New York we solved the air conditioning after years of struggle. The Rama Camp will finally gain a new building that will require much effort and financing. 9. We held our mid-year meeting in Palm Bay, Florida. Its results, future goal setting and recommendations will later follow. It was a work done with earnest consecration. Each member did his share for a good outcome. Mr. Tibor Mikó of Detroit deserves our grateful appreciation for his diligent work of taking minutes. We also had a guest: Dr. David Y. Lee, leader of the North American Mission Board (SBC). He inquired about our work and offered help in solving our problems - including the building in Rama Camp. 10. Internationally I have to mention the incorporation of the Hungarian Baptist World Alliance in Budapest. In Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Hungarian Baptist Church cel­ebrated its 67th anniversary with a bap­tism. Rev. Nyúl Zoltán keeps us well in­formed about the mission in Yugoslavia despite the war conditions. Our Conven­tion in fact supports him in his work. Rev. John Vadász is working as missionary in Eastern Europe under the auspices of SBC. 11. We received visitors from Hungary and Erdély: Pál Bálint, Miklós Máté, Márton Szabó, Dániel Mónus, Tibor Király, Zalán Dániel and Dr. József Si­mon. The list does not stop here, only the enumeration. 12. To the Gospel Messenger report I just add the following: let us support it, cir­culate it and read it. At the mid-year meeting we asked our­selves: how could we improve the effec­tiveness of our mission. Having great joy for seeing each other despite the distances between our homes, we received a stimu­lus to make plans for our future. Let me re­count some ideas that our committee ac­cepted unanimously. A. We prepared a project that includes the committee’s functioning principles and scope of duties. It has many ideas that can be useful in our ministry. B. We support brother Háló’s motion to rewrite our bylaws. To this task we pro­pose the nomination of Rev. Sándor Kulcsár, Dr. László Fazekas, Ernest J. Kish and Barnabás Gy. Háló. C. Our editor, Rev. Dr. Géza A. Heijeczki is asking our fellow workers to send him writings on a regular basis. We also urge our churches to nominate mem­bers who would relate all events in order to offer more information about our ministry to the readers.

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