Calvin Synod Herald, 1992 (92. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)

1992-09-01 / 5. szám

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD- 4 -REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA

Our New Chaplain

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the Desert Storm crisis, and was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade. So the initial nurturing within my small ethnic community has sent me great distances, ministering in varied and diverse capacities.

The love for other distant cultures, after having studied and extensively travelled in China as an undergraduate, has prompted my interest in missions and refugee relief work in Thailand and India. But at the same time my rootedness in the Hungarian culture draws me back to whence I came, and my unique mission also includes serving (in whatever capacity possible) the three million Hungarians still living under the chauvinistic regime of Romania, as they are a people of whom I care deeply. When studying in Hungary, the summer of 1986, I felt this deep affinity for those within Hungary, and especially for those who had taken refuge in Hungary, fleeing the abuses of Romanian rule on their own historical soil. Ecclesiates 4:1 rings true when I think of their plight: “Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun. And behold the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort

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In Mission

A Calendar of Prayer 1992-93 for the United Church of Christ by the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries and the United Church Board for World Ministries

Copies may be ordered through

United Church Resources, Calendar of Prayer, 800 N. Third St., St. Louis, MO 63102

Two excerpts from this very impressive “Calendar of Prayer ” deserve special attention to our own Calvin Synod Churches:

The Rev. Mihály and Gizella Tapolyai are the first missionaries of the United Church of Christ ever to serve in Romania. Thet were appointed at the request of both the Calvin Synod of the United Church of Christ and the Reformed Church in Romania to work primarily with ethnic Hungarians returning to their Romanian homeland. The Reformed Church in Romania is made up primarily of Hungarians who have often faced persecution. Trained as a psychiatrist, Mihaly’s skills in crisis counseling are especially helpful to communities and individuals struggling with the effects of ethnic discrimination. He also leads church services and teaches at a small theological college. , He was ordained to the ministry two years ago by the Calvin Synod.

The Calvin Synod, led by the Rev. Zoltán Szucs, is the only nongeographic Conference of the United Church of Christ. Its 46 churches work through the United Church Board for World Ministries to provide for the Tapolyais’ stipend as associate missionaries.

The Reverands Anthony and Aiko Carter: “We don’t always need strategies,” said Aiko Carter, missionary of the United Church of Christ who is editor of the Japan Christian Activity News of the National Christian Council in Japan, “we need love. We need the compassion of love.”

Each morning, Aiko’s small office is filled with urgent fax papers from the

world’s Christian councils. She and the staff discuss what their priorities must be and which causes and problems awaken their concern. Then, the day begins. It may be working with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, one of the first women’s groups in Japan and a leader in the campaign against prostitution.

Or perhaps it will be a concern for the children of Chernobyl. The National Christian Council, says Aiko’s husband Tony, who is also a missionary of the UCC, sent physicians to the Ukraine and brought a Russian Orthodox priest to Hiroshima to learn how to work with people exposed to radiation.

“The church,” he says, “is like a spark plug. We are helping churches understand and to do the ministry of reconciliation.”

In his work at Fuji Film, Tony realizes the fear many workers have when they take leave of their jobs. He has helped the company assure them that their job will still exist when they return and that they have dignity as individuals.

For Aiko and Tony, whether the contact is fax reports, the WCTU or corporate structures, their ministry builds bridges back to the church. And for both of them, the ministry is one of love.

Rev. Anthony Carter was ordained by our Synod in the First Church in Cleveland, where he started his ministerial service. He still proudly holds his ministerial standing in Calvin Synod! The pride is indeed mutual!