Hungarian Church Press, 1968 (20. évfolyam, 2. szám)

1968-06-01 / 2. szám

HOP Vol XX Special Number

1968 No 2

(7626)- 6 -New, a few words about the way in which this Contribution came into being* Prior to the 1966 World Conference on Church and Society, in view of what has been said above, the Ecumenical Council of Churches in Hungary had felt the need of explaining its position on social problems in a way preparatory to the World Conference (See the Special Number of the Hungarian Church Press, July, 1966)* Our statement was received with attention fox which we are thankful« This interest in our work confirmed our intention to give a more detailed exposition of our thinking about social problems - partly with reference to the findings of the World Conference on Church and Society and in the way of offering our contribution to the Uppsala Assembly of the World Council cf Churches, With my yoke-fellow in the Lord, Bishop D, Zoltán Káldy of the Lutheran Church- we have organized and helped the work of a study group which then has solicited and obtained the cooperation of almost all the outstanding theologians of the Hungarian Evangelical churches. The group devoted two years to the project, and now the result of these labours is offered to the Reader® I

I should like to enphasize that our congregations, too, are embodied in this work. Not only in the sense that the insights explained on the following pages are, in fact, having their effect on pastoral work in the congregations; not only for the faot that these insights have been accepted and adopted by the great majority rf our parishioners. But, above all, for the fact that the congregational aspect underscores the decisive theoretical and practical problem concerning the social responsibility of Christians® The efforts of international Christian confer sices and synods on social problems are only meaningful if they are made with the view of counselling the Christian congregations by emphasizing that true obedience to Christ issues in the effort to head, the wounds of. our fellcwmenc It would be unfortunate, if the efforts of international Christian conferences narrowed down to learned studies or to declarations which do not reach the congregations. We are convinced that the way of making the social ministry of Christians effective is not to copy the politicians and statesmen, neither to adopt some kind of an ideology® Christians can only serve the world by dedicating themselves to Christ, by following and obeying Him, This obedience, however, means to turn back from the road of our own choice arai to return to Christo It is not enough to recognize the supreme and sole comforting fact of human history: "Behold, the tabernacle of God is

with men, and will dwell with them" (Rev 21:3); it is not enough to oall attention to the all—regenerating presence cf the Holy Spirit in the world; one is to realize that God himself makes the gift of the