Magyar Egyház, 1972 (51. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1972-01-01 / 1. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 7 garians, wherever they may be. Our area of operation is the entire world. We must fight for each and every soul. During the last two decades the Lord has replenished the ageing, thinning and dying line of Hungarians in America with two waves of political immigrants. We now must take the next step and artificially create a new wave of immigrants, we must gather around us all of those who wish to come here from other lands, and thus refill the empty or near empty pews with middle aged or young Hungarians. This is and must be the missionary activity of our Church. We must increase our radio and press service to reach Hungarians living in diaspora throughout the world. With sacrifice, conviction, ability and will we could easily double the circulation of our magazine, and could build up a radio network with world-wide coverage. We must take steps to assure a new supply of ministers. Young men of Hungarian extraction who graduate from American theological seminaries go on to serve American congregations. If there is no other way, then we must create our own Hungarian theological seminary. We can even conceive the creation of a Hungarian high school, for prospective ministers. There is nothing to prevent the Hungarian Reformed Church in America from conferring doctoral degrees upon those of her ministers, who prepare a doctoral thesis on a sufficiently high plane about some burning theological or secular issue, and then verbally would and could defend their position in front of an appointed board of examiners. With the above work and sacrifices we could ensure the future of our congregations and serve our Hungarian brethren for decades to come. We must take note of the shifting centers of gravity of Hungarian life in America, and we must organize new congregations in those areas, where the future activity has already become visible. We must increase our concern and involvement with our young people — including their instruction in the Hungarian language, Hungarian history and Church history. We must give our Church members a goal in life, an overwhelming number of whom would and could do more for the future of our Church, if someone were to but guide them and help them in their work. We must increase our concern for our aged brethren by building nursing homes, apartment buildings and distributing them at key locations by design. The time has come for us to quit copying and meaninglessly parroting the liturgy and Church laws of American Churches which have run aground or are about to founder. We have our own liturgy, created for the Hungarian temperament, which have survived the test of past centuries, and whose dignity has no equal. We also have our own body of Church law, which our forebears have carefully put together, which during past crises have served our Church well and could and would serve us well in the future. We must make certain that our ministers remain the spiritual and cultural leaders of their congregations, whose stature, esteem and actions give direction to their Church councils and congregations. They must never become convictionless puppets, subservient to everyone’s whim at all times. We should structure, if necessary restructure the theology of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America, consistent with our circumstances, which would give new meaning and hitherto unachieved strength to our sermons, and our Church activities. (Our ministers living under the shadow of oppression understandably reach for allegorical examples contained in the Old Testament, but it makes absolutely no sense that someone in our circumstances should always use human or old Testament examples instead of the teachings of Christ to keep his congregation satisfied. Such a minister either has nothing to say or lacks the courage to face the questions of the present and the future.) Much more could be written about the tasks, plans, and direction our Church must choose for the next fifty years, but even the ones enumerated above indicate, that we have our opportunities — opportunities provided by God! It is, however, very difficult to turn the Lord’s plans into reality without people. Let us form our battle lines for our Church, for our congregations and for our Hungarian heritage. In this way we can keep our magazine and our Church true to the purpose for which our forebears have founded it: the Magyar Church. Tibor Dömötör CHURCH BELLS ARE SLOWLY FADING INTO SILENCE “I am a Hungarian Reformed Christian. You will find me in any of several ‘denominations’. I am proud of my heritage, I am proud of the past of my church, I am interested in her present, and I am vitally concerned about her future. Reading the available fragments of Hungarian Reformed church history in America, I feel a growing concern for our future. Church life is declining in many communities. Church bells are slowly fading into silence.” The above fictitious statement is the summary of the general feeling among Hungarian Reformed Christians in America. Fellow members of this great spiritual com-
