Magyar Egyház, 1955 (34. évfolyam, 1-10. szám)
1955-02-01 / 2. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 11 ENGLISH SECTION HOW ABOUT BENEVOLENCES? By The Reverend Charles A. Darocy There are two sides to the work of the Church. The first is obvious: that of the local congregation. It includes the ministry of the Word and the Sacraments, the maintenance of a Church building, manse and other properties; the many phases of organizational life and social activity. The other side includes all that takes place outside the bounds of the local area. The maintenance of the classis and denominational offices; the foreign missions program; aid to the Orphanage and Old Polks’ Home; united action through interdenominational agencies, are all aspects of the little known side of the life of your Church. It is unfortunately true that this other side of the Church’s program is neglected. Local considerations seem to leave little money for the many other worthwhile and necessary tasks of modern Christianity. But if the Church is to continue its development the worldwide program must be reinforced with adequate financial aid. The Protestant denominations of the United States have been able to build powerful missions and educational institutions through regular weekly Benevolence giving. They emphasize the value of Christian stewardship and build united funds that can be easily disbursed by action of the local Board of Elders. The Duplex System of receiving offerings is in use in most congregations. The only trouble is that usually just one side is used. If separate donations were included in the Bevevolence half of the Envelope the need for special drives would cease and each Church would double and triple its giving to EVERY cause that it now helps support. How are you supportnig your Church Benevolence Causes? The one way that is of real effect is by regular weekly donations. Try to balance both sides of the envelope. Consider the needs that must be met and the many material rewards which you have received for your work. Then make a generous donation. A quarter a week is all right for Sunday School children but it is not even carfare for grownups. If your Church receives less for all it gives than your entertainment costs, please re-examine your conscience. There are two sides to the work of the Church. If one is overlooked at the expense of the other the entire program will suffer. Help achieve balance and give the entire Church your enthusiastic support by conscientious Christian stewardship. ONE NATION UNDER GOD Brotherhood Week 1955 Brotherhood Week will be observed throughout the nation from February 20 to 27. An idea conceived in Denver, Colorado, Brotherhood Week was first established in 1934 as Brotherhood Day. Since 1940 it has been extended to a full week. The theme chosen for the 1955 program of religious and cultural unity is “One Nation Under God.” President Eisenhower, honorary chairman of Brotherhood Week, sees the spirit of the yearly occasion as one mankind’s oldest concerns, reaching back to the answer given the first man who asked, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” This question asked through thousands of years has been answered time and time again, the President said, by bravely affirming “that all men — of all religions, of all colours, of all languages — are in fact brothers, that no man can live alone.” Yet each age must find the answer anew: Brotherhood Week is sponsored by the National Conference of Christians and Jews, a nation-wide organization in 1928 by Charles Evans Hughes, a former Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Newton D. Baker, once Secretary of War in President Wilson’s Cabinet, and S. Parkes Cadman, past president of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America. They joined by Roger S. Straus, elected first Jewish Nation Co-chairman, an office he has held continuously for twenty-five years, and Dr. Everett R. Clinchy, president of the organization since its beginning. Although the National Conference does much of its work through religious groups, it is not itself a religious organization. The men and women who are its members dedicate themselves to eliminating prejudice and bigotry from the American scene through educational programs of tolerance and good will. A conspicuous facet of its year-round activities is Brotherhood Week. This year Brotherhood Week will be celebrated by special events in more than 10,000 communities throughout the United States. Its message of unity will be spread by schools and colleges, churches and synagogues, and labor and community organizations. Newspapers, magazines, radio and television are enlisted to give the widest currency to the vital concept that only when we know one another intimately will the old prejudices, bred by differences of creed, race and national origin, disappear. Brotherhood Week is a good time to emphasize in letters to friends and relatives abroad America’s fundamental faith in the equality of man. Common Council.
