Calvin Synod Herald, 1982 (82. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)
1982-04-01 / 2. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD — 8 — REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA Happy Anniversary “UCC 25th Anniversary: Ideas for Reflection and Celebration, ” is published by our Office for Church Life and Leadership. A list of 25th Anniversary materials available from other UCC agencies is also included. Cost of the materials is $3.00. Write to Church Leadership Resources, 1400 N. Seventh Street, Suite B, St. Louis, MO 63106. * * * GENEVA (RPS) —Some local papers in the Federal Republic of Germany paid considerable attention to the statistics published by the EPD on 5thjanuary about the strength of the Lutherans world-wide. Having noted that 22.5 million Lutheran live in the Federal Republic, 8,8 million in the USA, 7,5 million in Sweden, 6,5 million in the German Democratic Republican, the information concludes saying that “as the Lutheran World Federation in Geneva states, the Lutherans are the third biggest confessional block in world Christianity after the Roman Catholics and the Orthodox.” In some German Reformed quarters this affirmation was received with skepticism and displeasure. “We the Reformed in the Federal Republic,” says one of their leaders, “deplore always being treated as an insignificant minority (about 2 million strong, however) and further deplore that such press communiques assign us the role of outsiders. ” The WARC in Geneva is not interested in statistics as such: “We have good reasons to believe that the Lutheran and the Reformed-Presbyterian world communions are about the same strength in terms of total figures, the Lutheran being more concentrated in certain areas and the Reformed-Presbyterian more scattered throughout the world. The fact that almost all our member churches are minority churches, ” added the WARC speaker, “and yet able to witness effectively in all continents, suggests that we should not attach too much importance to numerical strength. What matters more is that all churches today, whatever their numerical strength, are minorities in today’s world. And this means that their first task is one of witness and mission.” (Reformed Press Service) THE FIRST 25 YEARS (1957-81) United Church of Christ A People Alive “The Grace of God” “As we celebrate the twenty-fifth birthday of the United Church of Christ in 1982,1 hope that we will be preoccupied chiefly with the grace of God. We look back to appraise the pilgrimage of our United Church and to meet our mothers and fathers in acts of thanksgiving and memory. “In all of that, we sense the grace of God. We are extraordinarily conscious not only of the present life and mission of our beloved United Church, but of our utter dependency on the grace of God. “Throughout this year, we will be scanning the next decade as well as developing plans, and will see that the grace coming to meet us from God’s future is indeed the grace that will lead us on. “I call you to a lively and joyous celebration of the first twenty-five years of the United Church of Christ. I deeply hope that in each celebration that takes place there will be prayerful moments of contemplation of the mission of God and a committed offering of gifts of our United Church of Christ to the gracious God of Jesus Christ.” —Avery D. Post, president of the United Church of Christ.
