Hungarian Church Press, 1949 (1. évfolyam, 4-13. szám)

1949-05-08 / 4. szám

-2-ITo 4«

May d j 19 49

It cannot be denied tiiat there is a revival in the Hungarian Lutheran Churcha This is seen not only by those who visit us from abroad and whose general impression of our Church is this., but we ourselves also must regard with wonder how God is working in our Church .>

I shall list a few of the manifest signs of revival*

1,/ There are the evangelictic meetings of the congregaticnso Some time age it would have seemed impossible that for a whole week people of our .ongregations should set everything but their most; urgent tasks aside to spend all their time,practically from morning till night,listening to the word of C-od* Today at evangelistic meetings unprecedented crowds,surpass ing even the crowds o:i important holidays,gather to hear the lord of God. Por a whole week,comfortable city people rise at early dawn to attend services at seven; and village people,tired from work in the fields,sit till late in the night on the hard church benches or narrow school benches to imbibe the Gospel. We can hardly satisfy all the requests for evangelical meetings.I should like to take by the hand the rumour mongers who,like birds of ill-omen,speak aoout the ruin of the Church and I should like to bring them into the charged atmosphere of these meetings.I know that they,too,would see the fields ripe for harvest.

When we speak of all this,we must not forget that these evangelistic meerings proclaim the rrue Gospel.The masses it draws do not hear at these meetings flowery speeches,deep interpretations ,or artistic expre:sions,but merely the simple and often offending Gospel of the Gross- Still they come because they feel inat this is what they n~ed.

2./ Another manifest sign of revival is the success of the conferences.

When the method of evan yaiistio me:tings of the congregations began.,we sh'ou.ght the period of conferences vvas over and that was why G-od had presented this method ox proclaiming the Gospel in a new way« Today we see clearly that the era of conferences is not over.■Summer,which was once the dead season of Church life,has become its liveliest period,. Conference follows conference- Because they cannot admit ail,conference places must all bo enlarged, additional domestic missions have had to he established as permanent or trmporarry c nTerence camps.This is now £apernaum,lilctildliget .I'ct,Repcelak; Szilvásvp.raö and Marospart came into being - all blessed spots of communion with God.

It is. especially worthy of consideration that our usually rather immobile and, because :<f financial difficulties, people, bound to their homes, visit i ot only the conferences geographically clofcv-st to their reside, cos,but are willing to make heavy sacrifices to roo^ive God;s spiritual aountament. It is a moving and heart—warming s ght to see people '.calling, riding bicycles, or going by cart to the conferences,or people who have saved every spare penny for the fare,