Bethlen Almanac 1997 (Ligonier)

Kálvin Egyházkerület

With the arrival of the new pastor, the church engaged in quite a few new projects. Many renovations have taken place at the church. The front stairs have been repaired, a new roof installed, and other items repaired or replaced. The Lord’s house must be kept in good shape even if we are planning to move. Many thanks to our dedicated workers who made our fundraisers successful. Our annual Pre-Easter Sale of baked goods and Hungarian specialty meats in March and our Harvest Fair in November keep our church going financially and our shared love for God brings us closer together in friendship.

For the first time this year, a Harvest Fair Workers’ Appreciation Dinner was held, attended by about thirty-five. Youth programs have always been important to us, and we are thankful to God for our wonderful Youth Group. When our church did not have a pastor, the leaders of our Sunday School paid special attention to keeping our young ones together and in our congregation. This year the pastor and the youth took part at the Youth Conference in Fairport Harbor, Ohio, and they spent a week at the Youth Camp in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. During July, six of our young people attended camp. In October, two of our young people were confirmed in the Calvin United Church of Christ in Fairfield, with Rev. Bela Poznan officiating. They received their first Communion in our church the following Sunday, with the three confirmands from the Fairfield church.

We are trying to increase attendance and membership. In order to achieve this goal, both pastor and consistory work hard at organizing social functions, visiting, opening our doors literally and in the spiritual sense, too. A wonderful opportunity for our church is working together with the 21st Century Committee. So far, we have hosted two meetings - our church was among the first ones to do so - and both meetings were successful and encouraging. In order to keep our members informed about all the events that took place and about the upcoming ones we send out newsletters quarterly.

Our Bible Study Group has been an encouraging community. Every Wednesday we study the Bible, we seek the will of God and pray for our church and church members. Our hope for our church, which we bring to the Lord in our prayers, is that He blesses and keeps us, that He gives us strength and nurtures our faith, so we can worship Him and live to His glory. He has kept our church in His loving care for a hundred and four years for which we are thankful and wish that our children and grandchildren will worship His almighty name in the coming years.

Rev. Judit Mayer, Pastor Frank A. Dudás, Chief Elder

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