Bethlen Almanac 1997 (Ligonier)

Kálvin Egyházkerület

We are grateful to God and to our members for being able to serve the Cleveland area American-Hungarian community for over ninety years. It is a privilege and a gift from God to be utilized in His kingdom’s service. We are grateful for the peace in our church; for the many challenging ideas and efforts to keep up with the demands of the time while endeavoring to be faithful to the eternal values of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our church is still characterized by having a relatively strong Hungarian-speaking membership. The average attendance in the Hungarian worships is 72, while in the English is 38. Both figures are close to last year’s level. Our total membership decreased only by 2, to 330. Membership is a status that needs to be renewed each year by participating in the life and in the support of our church. The Hungarian Sunday School has 22 children and 5 teachers (2 of them are teenagers), who attend with some regularity, the English Sunday School has a pool of 13 children and 2 teachers (1 is a teenager), but usually only 2 to 5 children show up on a given Sunday. A year ago we lost Irene Heller, our devoted Youth Group director; the group is in the process of reorganization. A Hungarian and an English Bible Fellowship meet on alternate weeks, each averaging 6 or 7 participants. Our choir meets weekly, about 15-18 dedicated people; they primarily sing in Hungarian but always serve the English worships as well. During the year, they join hands with the Mindszenthy Choir and with the Hungarian Baptist Church when as a Combined Choir they sing at special Hungarian celebrations. Confirmation is an important event in the life of our church. Last year 5 young people confirmed their faith through extemporaneous speeches at a Hungarian worship.

Distinct events of our worship-life are the Hungarian and the English pre-Christmas Candlelight services with special programs by our children and the choir. During lent, we presented a series of workshops on art and religion, on personality traits, and on communication, with artist Csaba Kúr and pastoral counselor the Rev. Sára Katócz.

The highlight of the year was the celebration of our 90th anniversary on Reformation Sunday. Pastors and delegates from our sister churches were present, the Combined Choir, about 60 members strong, sang in Hungarian from Ferenc Liszt’s Christus Oratorium: “The Foundation of the Church. “ A festive banquet concluded the memorable event. The year also witnessed our pastor’s Doctor of Ministry project conducted in our church. The theme is to construct a model for bilingual cooperation in an American-Hungarian church. The project involved a series of four sermons, five small group meetings, and three open forums with participation by our church members. We all hope that the project will beneficially influence any ethnic bilingual church.

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