Magyar Egyház, 2010 (89. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)

2010-10-01 / 4. szám

MAGYAR EGYHÁZ

9. oldal

new philosophy, but to offer people fresh, new life. It is to offer people grace, health and joy. Church growth that means anything finds its meaning and direction not from technique, however helpful it may be, but from the gospel. The gospel contemplates and intends both individual and corporate transformation. It calls the church to proclaime, through Jesus Christ crucified and raised, the forgiveness of sins as well as the reordering of communities. It calls for congregational and denominational leaders who wrestle long and hard with the Scriptures, the theological reflections of the past, and the new challenges of post-modernity to proclaime that gospel with integrity and love. Growth will come not from a new program but from a new mission. But this mission is not really a new; it is as old as Galilee and as fresh as Easter morning.

Discussion between the bishop and pastors during the meeting of the General Assembly

In my information as Bishop of the Synod, I would like to guide your attention to a few important issues.

In my service as Bishop of our Church, I have represented our Synod at many church and social events in California. During my stay in Hungary I attended the Doctor’s College of the Reformed Church in Hungary, where I greeted the participants on behalf of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America. I have met with Church leaders along with Hungarian bishops Bölcskei Gusztáv, Szabó István, József Csomos, József Steinbach, the Subkarpatian bishop Zán Fábián Sándor, ecumenical officer of the Synod Tamás Bertalan, officers of the Synod, president of the Bible Alliance Sipos Ete Almos pastor, and other persons to discuss about bilateral relations of our two churches. I have taken part and held services in congregations. I have represented the Hungarian Reformed Church at the annual meeting of the Consultative Synod of the Hungarian Reformed Churches on Nagyvárad, where I have been elected as Managing President of the Synod. I had the opportunity to attend the Diaspora conference in Budapest in November 2008, and meet the leaders of every Hungarian church from around the world. This was possibly the first event that brought together and facilitated the elders of the Hungarian churches outside of Hungary. The conference addressed many questions and forwarded our collective plans to the mother church.

I have taken part and held services in congregations in Hungary. I held church services, baptism, wedding and funeral services or brief talk in Hungary at the reformed congregations of Üllő, Hajdúnánás, Budapest-Klauzál tér, Csákvár, Hajdúböszörmény, Budapest, Debrecen, Nyíregyháza, Cigánd. I attended 3 times at the meeting of the Constituting Synod of the Hungarian Reformed Churches in Debrecen, Balatonszárszó, Balatonfenyves.

I represented our church at the Calvin Synod UCC yearly meeting 3 times. I was in Ligonier,PA five times for various Bethlen Home and other church meetings. I also represented our church at the anniversary celebrations of the Grace Hungarian Reformed Church in Tarzana,CA and Hollywood,CA.

On May 14,2009 at the Special Bishop's Council meeting, our church has officially voted to join the Hungarian Reformed Church. At the historic meeting of the Constituting Synod, the Rev.Dr.Attila Kocsis, Dean and I represented our church and declared our intention to join the Hungarian Reformed Church with our signatures. The decision has to be confirmed by the today’s General Assembly of course.

We become the center of attention and everybody would like to learn the multifaceted nature of our American-Hungarian reformed service in two separate denomination. Our history and formation is known, along with separation and the current efforts for reuniting. We spoke many times about the issue in small steps but the decades long talks resulted in definite progress. I would like to list these achievements.

The Calvin Anniversary year was opened jointly on the East-Coast at the two New York congregations in Oct of 2008, Bishop Bölcskei providing the service. As we proposed many congregation hold remembrances of this anniversary in the last year, and the closing service was held on the Reformation Day, October 31, 2009, at the Free Magyar Reformed Church in Ontario, California. In honor of the Calvin anniversary, the two church bodies will edit a joint publication during the year 2010.

The elders of the two church bodies came to agreement and established a Ministerial Qualifying Committee to allow for better job placement for the pastors arriving from abroad.

There are discussions about to hold a joint Synod meeting, where both entities can discuss issues related to service, mission and church politics.

Thru a common decision both church bodies were represented at the Diaspora Conference in Budapest, on November 17- 18,2008.

These steps are greatly responsible for the possibility of the American Hungarian reformed unity.

During my Bishop’s visitations I always informed our congregations of the possibility of this union, which our leaders endorse and promote as well. The promotion and support of the Hungarian reformed union is a mission and a duty of all reformed Hungarians. This work was taken on fifteen years ago by the World Federation of the Hungarian Reformed Churches and the Consultative Synod of the Hungarian Reformed Churches and is being continued fry the General Convent of the Carpathian Basin. We were glad to attend the 2008 Diaspora Conference in Hungary, which pointed out how dispersed we are in the world and how little we know of each other. We need to encourage each other, pray for one another, because we are all one in Christ. We have waited a long and were finally able to experience the embrace of the mother church on May 22, 2009 in Debrecen, Hungary.

During my service I have visited congregations, and held services at the Eastern Classis congregations: Bethlehem,PA, Carteret,NJ, Miami,FL, New Brunswick,NJ, New York,NY, Perth Amboy,NJ, Roebling,NJ, Staten Island, NY; Trenton,NJ, Washington,D.C. I was unable to visit the Poughkeepsie,NY and Rochester,NY congregations. At the Central Classis congragations: Chicago,IL, Duquesne,PA, McKeesport, PA, Toronto,ON; Win-