Magyar Egyház, 1970 (49. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1970-06-01 / 6-7. szám
14 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ A departure from previous assembly practice is that each of the study documents contains a large number of questions for discussion. Delegates have been invited to send their comments, etc., to the WARC office well before the Assembly date. It is the intention that each introduction to the sections at Nairobi will include reactions to comments already received. Section I — Reconciliation and Creation; the freedom of God’s world — will be introduced by Professor Hendrik Berkhof, of Leyden University, Holland. Here delegates will discuss “reconciliation as the key to creation”, and the failure of the Reformed churches to keep the personal and the cosmic elements of the faith together. In Section II, Reconciliation and Man; the freedom of the new man, introduced by Professor George Caird, of Oxford, the question, What is man? will be considered, together with related ethical questions about man in the freedom in which he is placed. Is human nature a datum or a possibility? What should be the Christian response to tyranny? Professor Charles West, of Princeton Theological Seminary, U.S.A., will introduce Section III: Reconciliation and Society; the freedom of a just order. The questions that are being sent out for study deal with such topics as freedom in Christ related to political freedom, the limits and justifications of violence, the just distribution of the world’s resources, racial integration, and the enquiry: Can a Christian be a revolutionary? In Section IV: Reconciliation and the Church; the freedom of Christian witness, introduced by Principal C. S. Song of Taiwan, attention will be focused on the role of the Church as a reconciling agent, the relation between the Church and men of other faiths, and the churches’ failure in Africa, Asia and Latin America to relate the Christian faith to local needs and situations. Professor Jürgen Moltmann, main speaker at the assembly, underlines that the Church is called to the diakonia of reconciliation, since the Kingdom of God is not merely a matter of words. He challenges the delegates: .... “those who are reconciled make their own the misery of this divided world, and hunger for justice. They make their own cry for freedom which rises from the depths and they issue the call to freedom”. Rev. Edmond Perret General Secretary of the new Alliance will be the Rev. Edmond Perret, 45, a pastor of the National Protestant Church of Geneva, Switzerland. He will succeed Dr. Marcel Pradervand who will retire as general secretary of the W.A.R.C. Reformed & Presbyterian Press Service asked the Rev. Perret — among others — concerning the specific contributions Reformed, Presbyterian and Congregational traditions, in his view, could make to the new Alliance. “Let me underline first of all” — Mr. Perret said — “that these three traditions share a primary concern, namely that of acknowledging the Lordship of Christ. All other things are secondary to this and each one of us will have to take care not to let his preoccupations —- personal, social or ecclesiastical — obscure it. “Our mission of trying to discover the significance of the risen Christ for the world and our churches has three aspects, I believe. 1. to rediscover man to whom Christ has promised life. 2. to rediscover how man should respond to his fellowmen, and to uncover true community. 3. in our days of changing institutions, to do all we can to promote flexibility of church structures.” • The Hungarian Reformed Church in America is a constituent member of the Alliance. So are the Reformed Churches in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia and the Carpatho-Ukraine (the last four are Hungarian speaking churches and had been part of the Reformed Church of Hungary before the end of World War I). Other Hungarian Reformed Churches in the U.S.A. are affiliated with the Alliance through their respective denominations, the Reformed Church in America, the United Church of Christ and the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. NEWS FROM THE CONGREGATIONS AKRON, OHIO Our greatest church event during the summer months will be our annual musical picnic on the second Sunday in July (July 12, 1970) in the St. Nicholas Park, Barberton, Ohio. (1051 Robinson Avenue). The very famous Szittyái dance band will play all evening. We sincerely invite our friends to this picnic. During the past month our minister was the guest speaker of the Copley Kiwanis Club, the Fairlawn Kiwanis Club and the Trianon Committee of Cleveland. On July 12, 1970 our former minister the Rev. Stephen Kovács will preach in our church. During the month of August we will make a church bus trip to Niagara Falls or Washington, D. C. according to the wishes of our members. Our next Holy Communion service will be held in August. BETHLEHEM, PA. On June 14th the church treated ithe Sunday School to a picnic at Dorney Park. On June 21st we had a doggieroast for members and friends of our congregation in the yard of Mr. and Mrs. John Waros. Funeral: Emery Remaly, 7)1, on May 21st. He was bom in Coopersburg, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Emery Kery celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary on June 11th.
