Reformátusok Lapja, 1969 (69. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1969-02-01 / 2. szám
REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA 13 MARCH 16th Share Our Substance 1966— Famine in India — thousands die of hunger — crops fail due to drought — not enough food. 1967— Arab-Israeli war — thousands suffer from hunger and exposure — over 100,000 made homeless in the period of a few days. 1968— Civil war in Nigeria — 6,000 to 12,000 die daily from starvation due to war-imposed isolation and devastation. These are only the most dramatic announcements of hunger and suffering that people in many countries in the world today face in hopeless resignation. Rapid population growth continues to wipe out gains that are made in food production and distribution. The gap between the “haves” and “have nots” continues to widen. Countries which have the ability to change the hunger trend are not aroused enough to take seriously the threat to peace and human existence that hunger poses. Predictions are that catastrophic hunger will be widespread in South America and China as well as India and Africa in the mid-1970’s. This is a gloomy picture — so gloomy that many of us refuse to comprehend it and try not to face it. But as Christians we have no choice. Those who suffer are our brothers. We do not show God’s love until we do something to change this picture. The 1969 OGHS-SOS folder for adults makes this statement: “One Great Hour of Sharing is your ‘direct line’ to the body and soul of that starving Asian child; that eager African youngster who wants books to learn from, shoes with which to trod the stony road to school; that Arab refugee, widow and fatherless children who need more than a flimsy tent to survive; that Latin American farmer who desperately needs seed and fertilizer.” This is the life-line that challenges affluent Christians. This is the time to share with compassion and with generosity. Give through your church to the One Great Hour of Sharing-SOS appeal. J. Blaker Herod Reformed & Presbyterian News Roman Catholics in Calvin Auditorium GENEVA — For the first time since the Reformation Roman Catholics and Protestants worshipped together in the John Calvin Auditorium here. The service, on January 19, marking this year’s week of prayer for Christian Unity, was attended by members of the Dutch Protestant Church in Geneva and by Dutch Roman Catholics. Worship was led by the Rev. Albert van den Heuvel, Director of the Department of Communications, W.C.C., and Father Franciscus Dirks, parish priest in a German speaking congregation in Bienne, who is responsible for the pastoral care of Dutch Roman Catholics in South-west Switzerland. It was at the Auditorium, once a medieval chapel known as “Our Lady of New”, that John Calvin lectured and preached; it was here also that English speaking Protestant refugees worshipped under the ministry of John Knox; it was under Theodor Beza, Calvin’s successor that the building became the heart of the University of Geneva. The theological classes of the University met here for more than two centuries. Ten years ago the John Calvin Auditorium, after extensive reconstruction undertaken by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, was dedicated as a new memorial centre for the Reformed and Presbyterian people of the world. Today the building is used as a church by several foreign congregations, including the Church of Scotland, the Walden- sian Church of Italy and the Netherlands Reformed Church. —RPPS One Church - Five Languages BRUSSELS — When the union between the Evangelical Protestant Church of Belgium and the Belgian Methodist Church takes place (anticipated early this summer), there will be one church with one synod, but with five distinct language areas. There will not only be Flemish and French speaking congregations in the united church, but also a number of German speaking congregations which are located near the Belgian-German border. The Evangelical Protestant Church also has a Hungarian, and an English- language congregation. The latter is the Scottish Church in Brussels. The Belgian Methodist Church includes a number of American congregations. When asked whether these language difficulties would not present serious problems to the new church, the Rev. E. Pichal, President of the Evangelical Protestant Church, was optimistic; “there is already an excellent understanding amongst us”, he said. —RPPS Swiss Interchurch Aid to Spend 3 Million Francs in 1969 GENEVA — The Interchurch agency of the Federation of Protestant Churches of Switzerland has budgeted for an expenditure of nearly 3 million Swiss francs during 1969. The list of proposed grants includes the following items: To Interchurch Aid in Western Europe: 150.000 SwFrs; aid to churches in Eastern Europe; 230.000 SwFrs; scholarship programme: 250.000 SwFrs. To development aid: in India, technical workshops and agricultural projects: 612.000 SwFrs; in Africa: secondary schools in the Congo and afforestation in Algeria: 635.000 SwFrs; in Argentina: agricultural training centre: 163.000 SwFrs. To emergency aid: a further contribution to the air lift to Biafra: 400.000 SwFrs, and a similar amount to the provision of food for Biafran children. —RPPS Canadian Churches To Dump Pastoral Call System A personnel management system will replace the old “preaching for a call” method of assigning clergymen in the United Church of Canada. And unless the local presbytery decides otherwise, congregations having fewer than 250 families will be abolished. At the 23rd biennial general council in Kingston, Ont., delegates voted to set up a division of ministry and personnel services in accordance with a recommendation from its commission on the ministry in the 20th century. The commission went to the Canadian National Railway for advice, according to its chairman, the Rev. Hugh G. Pritchard. The commission report proposed that the new division establish an information recall and referral system which could be central, national and computerized. Such a system would store facts about pastoral charges and employment situations, with job descriptions plus pertinent facts about personnel available. The report said the present system of “calls” for ministers is inadequate and leads to a wasteful mismanagement of ministerial potential that is both frustrating and unjust. It said, “The settlement of ministers too often depends on knowing the right people, selling oneself with a sermon from the pulpit or the view of a committee.” (United Church Herald, Nov. 1968)
