Hungarian Church Press, 1968 (20. évfolyam, 2. szám)
1968-06-01 / 2. szám
HOP Vol XX Special Number ~ 51 - (07693) 1968 No 2 on the one hand, misunderstood the essence of the German Confessing Church, ard, on the other band, obstructed the search for the diakonia pattern under the conditions of our new society, Many people, however, were led to a better understanding ard. healthier views by the personal example of Martin NiemSlIer, The widening of our ecumenical contacts and the deepening of our ecumenical consciousness have led us to the experience that the Church) in whatever social order and community she may live, is destined to serve, and that the purpose of the ecumenical movement is to promote unity which we are to find in -the course of our service. It was in the interest cf enriching the contents of the ecumenical diakonia that our churches took part in convening the Christian Peace Conference and it has been for the same reason that they have since given their support to the movement of the Christian Peace Conference not only by their study contributions but also by the gifts of our congregations. Our first ecumenical contacts were established in the period between the two wars. Quite und erst andab iy tho churches of the wer Id began to take a keener interest in our churches after the end of World Weir II; the sister churches abroad were desirous to know how the church lives and serves in the midst of a revolutionary transf armation which was taking place in our country, how the new social environment affects the churches and how the presence of tho church influences societyD Our ecumenical relations have served the final lesson that there rre no ready formulae for finding the way of the serving church, and that wc ourselves must find this way. In doing this, the sister churches abroad have sometimes hindered us because their social environments - different from ours - have made it impossible for them to asses the tasks which we must face. He..ever, even their critical comments have served to our advantage, and still more their prayers and some cf their courageous gestures to identify themselvc with us« It has been the ecumenical movement that ultimately has inspired us to maintain closer contacts with the sister churches in the neighbouring countries, and thus liquidate those chauvinistic prejudices which, in the past had prevented us from maintaining closer contacts, And the ecumenical movement has also given us impulses to view and understand the diakonia pa.tterm of the church in a vrorld perspective also and to accept the tasks issuing from this understanding in the present world situation, d) The New Order cf the Serving Church The events of the country;s revolutionary transformation and the tasks arising therefrom have'prompted the church to review, in a thoroughgoing manner, all her manifestations end try to find specifically theological answers to tie problems thus posed-Theological problems arose in certain areas of church life which had been ceded before to lawyers and economists for their expert attention.
