Bethlen Naptár, 1958 (Ligonier)
Highlights in Hungarian Life…
BETHLEN NAPTÁR 234 CONCERNING THE CHURCH The Work of the Hungarian Reformed Church In Europe The Reformed Church in Hungary has always felt responsible for the spiritual care of Hungarian Reformed people no matter where they lived. This is expressed by the missionary law of the Church which states that, “It is our God given responsibility to provide spiritual care for our brethren in other lands whenever conditions make it necessary and international conditions permit.” This missionary responsibility was filled by service to North America as well as the neighboring land of Romania. Between the two World Wars this work developed and changed to some extent. Work in North America left Hungarian control and many churches in this country entered denominations of similar standards of faith or became independent. The Church of Transylvania did great work among Hungarians in Romania. New missionary work was begun in South America: in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. In Europe large number of our people lived in the mining regions of France and Belgium and in Vienna, Austria. The Convent built and maintained a mission station in Paris for western European work until after the Second World War. In Vienna the work was handled by an itinerant pastor from Hungary. For many years this was done by the Rev. Gabor Incze of Budapest. There was also a certain amount of pastoral service in other European lands. Often students performed pastoral services, and frequently the people held worship services in their own homes. This situation changed radically after the Second World War. Many hundreds of thousands of Hungarians went West because of the War. A large part of this number returned to Hungary later. But many refused to live in Soviet occupied territories and settled where they were at war’s end. During the war the Convent provided pastoral services for the people in Western Europe. Rev. Alexander Nagy, who had done valiant work in Romania, was entrusted with this responsibility by the Convent. His colleague, Rev. Bela Szigethy, received a similar assignment. The Pastoral Office for Hungarian Reformed people in Germany was organized at Landshut. After the Armistice a similar service was organized under Rev. Nagy in Austria. There the organizational work was undertaken by the Rev. Ernő Nagy and continued by Dr. Andrew Harsanyi. Official relations existed at first with the Church in Hungary. Soon even these tenuous ties were broken and the support for the work came mainly through the World Council of Churches. At first tens of thousands of people were under pastoral care. With the beginning of mass emigration, when our pastors were vastly aided by Church World Service, the believers were scattered throughout the world. Although efforts continued to be made in Germany and Austria, new work was needed in far away lands where refugees had settled. In Paris the Mission church was ready for service. It kept Rev. Imre
