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

1957-12-31 / 15. szám

HCHP XII*31,1957, Vol.IX/l5-16- 24 -202

"OUR CHURCH CCNSITJSRS HER TASK BACKING- THE CAUSE OF PEAGJS"

The Lutheran weekly ''Evangélikus élet" in it3 issue of December the 15th published under the above mentioned title a series of pastors* conferences dealing with the quer ti on of peace all over the country. These conferences were unison in accepting, in the presence of God, the cause of peace as one of the tasks what has to be backed and served by the Lutheran Church in Hungary.

In scweral Meetings was discussed, gaining deep impression, the staggering appeal on the atom-tests of Albert Schweitzer. They considered Albert Schweitzer* words as words of the inner man,

_ln_the regional conference held in Budapest were present the Chinese guests in Hungary,' too. The Teheran fast or Chen-Chien-hsun spoke of the Chinese Christian churches living in a decisive era o'f íhVir' Vi story. With the Liberation the church was overtaken by basic changes, since that tine the church in China has been standing and walking on her own legs. Ail the burdens due to the separation from the western missions were willingly token by the congregations upon themselves. Timit aeons that the church in China belongs to the chinamen,

Huang-?el~yung, Methodist Pastor expounded the change in lineaments cf the Chinese ohristienity as consequence of inner, theological causes, and revealed them in three points:

li ) The Chinese Christianity has believed itself rich, but it was poor, today it considers itself needy but it is opulent. Just like the congregation of Laodicea in the Revelation. They were rich before the Liberation in buildings, organized charity and American, dollars. They were pleased in them, only they did not realize that the object of their reliiaice was the American dollar and not Jesus Christ who could rule the church, American dollars demoralized the church in China. Today one feels that it is Jesus Christ whom one needs and in Him one is opulent,

2. ) The church has for her task the preaching. In China the missions were used up for political aims, either, Franclce, German missionary wrote at the outset of the century; "One of the biggest and most idiotic blunder of the western diplomats wa3 to make use of tlie Chinese mission for their political aims notwithstanding all the protests. That inflicted an incurable wound on the Christianity in China", Frencke was right there. Missions separated the Christian Chinamen from their own people. Today the church has got into the people, ,e wanted to preach the gospel in China and avoid all that are in the way - he said.

3, ) China became a new society, a socialist community in a few years,

’That could the church say to it? Some of us, too, had said at the beginning, our faith had got nothing to do with it. Today we realize that our faith in Christ has got to do with it. Today we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord of all, All power is put under His feet. Vie do not think that the changes supervened with us were out of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. We are thankful to God for all the lot of ohsnges resulted in China.

The lectures of the Chinese guests made a deep impression on the participants of the conferences of the jurisdiction held in Budapest. As a result of that they expressed their opinions in a common declaration according to which they considered necessary to draw the whole Chinese people into talks on decisive political questions, for that is an integral part of being, engaged on the worldpeace.