Magyar Egyház, 1960 (39. évfolyam, 1-9. szám)
1960-08-01 / 8-9. szám
8 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ In this revolutionary age, we are looking for security. Nobody knows what tomorow may bring. This security can be found only in Jesus Christ. Real and true faith in Him, according to our Reformed faith means trust and knowledge. Our future depends primarily on the quality of our witness in the 20th century America, while this witness is to be judged by the strength of our faith. Now, if our young people as well as all the members of our Churches have met the Lord Jesus Christ and found the true and real faith in Him, in the teachings, piety and traditions of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America, it is a theme for an unbeliever even to question our future. The Church is the Body of Christ. If the Hungarian Reformed Church in America remains faithful to our Lord, our future is secure in Him. But this security of faith must become evident in the great risk of missionary service carried out by a vigorous young generation. Humanly speaking, our future will depend upon the faithfulness and loyalty of the coming generation to the Lord Jesus. What are the missionary objectives of the Hungarian Reformed Church in Amerca at this crucial hour of our history? a. ) It is most likely that God wants us to be His instruments to bring to Christ the unchurched people of Hungarian background. Every pastor who is serving in the large cities of our country can tell you how many thousands of Hungarians are living in his city without any connection with the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our objective is not at all to make our churches become Hungarian clubs, where all Hungarians can meet because of their common language and culture; no, definitely not. To bring into the fold of Christ those many Hungarian displaced persons and refugees who arrived to this country without any real faith and religion should be the primary objectives of our mission. No other denomination can perform this service better than ours, which has leadership mastering the language of these newcomers and having knowledge of their particular problems. b. ) There are many places where Hungarian Reformed people live, who want to live in the fellowship of a Church, but there is no Hungarian Reformed Church there, and they ask our help. As you may know, in the last couple of years we have started such missionary congregations in places like Rochester, N. Y„ Syracuse, N. Y., Long Island, N. Y„ San Francisco, Calif., Hollywood, Calif, and Ontario, Calif. We had to provide them with ministers, bibles and hymnbooks. In three places the congregational life has already reached the period of building their own churches. Just figure out that the very meager Mission Fund has burdens to carry far beyond its capacity. Even if the self-sacrifice of many missionary ministers is taken for granted by our existing narrow-mindedness, it has been a considerable amount of money we had to provide for this pioneering work. Because of lack of further financial means and suitable men commanding both languages, we could not yet solve the problems in Denver, Col., Minneapolis, Minn., Boston, Mass, and several other places, where Hungarian Reformed people are already organized and requested our help in their early period of church life. c.) There is a third aspect of missionary service among our scattered Hungarian Reformed people. It is outside the United States. At present there are many thousands of Hungarian Reformed people living in Latin America, Western Europe, even in South Africa, and Australia. Naturally, they turn to us for help, we being the only free and independent Hungarian Reformed church body in the free world. Not only these small churches look at us as their only “family” in the wide world but, the other American denominations consider it most natural that the Hungarian Reformed Churches in the U. S. should take their responsibility very seriously towards their Hungarian Reformed brethren abroad. In this spirit our church was supporting some Latin American work and lately we sent occasional help to Germany, Belgium, Austria and Italy, that is, to the Hungarian churches living there. Towards the first Hungarian Reformed chapel in London our congregations gave a substantial donation. These obligations cannot be fulfilled unless our whole church experiences the long needed inner revival. Again I repeat that the future of a church is secured if it is a real and living church. And I believe the turning-point will be in our history if all our people will see the wide missionary program of our church and accept it with at least the same loyalty and hope as they worked towards the preservation and strengthening of their local churches. May the Holy Spirit help our young people to carry out their own mission as God has commanded us to do. TO OUR YOUNG PEOPLE Read Matthew 19: 16, 22 Mark 10: 17, 22 The Lord Jesus Christ redeemed mankind through his dear blood on the cross, so that whosoever shall believe in Him should not be lost but should “live” eternally; “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36) This means that he who follows Christ faithfully takes part in eternal life now on earth. There are many Christians who believe that eternal life begins only after death. Yet one of our Hungarian hymns says so beautifully and clearly, “I feel that life eternal, is mine already here on earth.” It means that me must live according to the rules of God and with Him who is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. We must experience eternal life h e r e in our earthly lives Everyone wishes eternal life. Thus did the rich young man go to Jesus and asked what he must do to attain this life. Jesus told him to k e e p the commandments. The young man asked which ones. And Jesus answered: “Don’t kill. Do not commit adultery, do not bear false witness, honor your mother and father, and love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said he obeyed all these, but still, he felt he was lacking something. What, he wanted to know. Jesus knew that he was rich. He also knew that his wealth was the real obstacle. The young man couldn’t be truly God’s because he loved his own wealth more. He couldn’t win eternal life this way. So Jesus told him the truth: “Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross,
