Hungarian Church Press, 1957 (9. évfolyam, 14-15. szám)

1957-12-31 / 15. szám

HCHP XII.31,1957, Vol,TX/l5-lC- 4 -182-* The World Council of Churches is incomplete for lack of the Eastern Churches. I place trust in, that despite every temptation and ominous symptom the World Council of Churches will not become a Western organization but it grows into a real world council of churches. Then he spoke of the Hungarian churches of typical western origin but in the same time going on the path assigned to them by God in their peculiar situation, and expressed his hope to "he comforted together by the mutual faith" having privity with the Chinese brethren.

Bishop Ting in his answer expressed the joy to have been able to come to Hungary and acknowledging the chairman-’s salutation expressed the brotherly thanks of professor Wu, President of the Three—Self Movement. Then he expounded the life of the churches in China liberated in 1949.- Our Christian population - he said - is dealing with building up the church of Christ in a way always in an inner unity which corresponds to the claims of the life, of our people, - Then he ran through the 150 year past of the Christian missions in China and pointed out the concatenations making the value of the missionary work in China problematical to a high pitch.- To be able to evangelize our Chinese people - he wait on - we would like our Chinese Christianity to be Chinese as far as the Hungarian Christianity is Hungarian and that of Great Britain English, We do not want to emancipate ourselves from Jesus Christ’s Lordship0 Our independence means to be free of imperialism, colonization, western currency and battleships; it means independence of every reactionary influence which contaminates the church life. It is no nationalist movement, as it is many times interpreted in the western, world, but such an ecclesiastical movement in which the church identifies herself with the Chinese people. This way, we, after our own tiny fashion, arc going to try to imitate what was done by our Lord Himself, He wanted to bo like one of His brethren in everything. It is Gospel what we have to deliver to the Chinese people and we think it cannot be done without love,; otherwise our voices would be as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal only.- Are we perhaps in contradiction to the Christian world community? Not at all! We are for it, we are backing it in the way that in the mean time we do not want to forget to be Chinamen« I think that ecumenicity cannot be expropriated by one single group for itselfa

Then bishop Ting spoke of ehe increasing sense of responsibility of the Chinese congregations-, They are - he said - graving both in loving their people and reliable in building up New China«, We believe that socialism is right towards the whole mankind, towards us, and towards Christianity, too- God gives His Y/ord in our mouths only v/hen we are in this kind of oneness with our people.

Finishing his address Bishop Ting asked for the love, helpful backing and prayers of the Christians in Hungary for the churches in China.

Mr. Huang Pei-yung expounded the work of the Chinese Churches among the

youth.

After the Chinese visitors-' addresses there were delivered reports on the situation and the life of the Hungarian if-o test art Churches*

■THE REFORMED THEOLOGICAL ACADEMY IN DEBRECEN CONFERRED THE DEGREE OF HONORARY DOCTOR CN BISHOP DR. K, H. TING

The faculty of the Reformed Theological Academy in Debrecen appealed to the Synod of the Reformed Church in Hungary with the proposal formulated in a resolution according to which they wanted to honour the Rt. Rev. Dr. Kwang Hsun Ting,