Magyar Egyház, 1993 (72. évfolyam, 1-5. szám)
1993-12-01 / 5. szám
. MAGYAR EGYHÁZ Reformed churches in the area, was held this past January in Gwatt, Switzerland. The meeting was convened by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the HEKS (Swiss Evangelical Interchurch Aid). Representatives from 16 ecumenical agencies were present, joined by the Rev. Lajos Gulacsy, auxiliary bishop and a parish minister, the Rev. László Horkay. This church of 91 congregations with close to 100,000 members is situated on the borderline of north-eastern Hungary and the south-western Ukraine. The area also called the “Tiszahat”, was a thousand years old part of Hungary. It was detached from Hungary by the Trianon Treaty in 1920, and attached to the new Chechoslovakia. In 1939, it was returned to Hungary, then after World War II, it became part of Soviet-Russia, finally of the new Ukraine. The churches were extensively persecuted under Soviet rule: pastors and church officials carried off to prison (even executed), churches and parish buildings confiscated. There were no theological schools to train new pastors. At the time of the recent changes, the average age of pastors was over 70. In spite of these hardships, the remaining 26 pastors maintained a lively ministry. Discussions centered on how ecumenical sharing of resources, assistance from various interchurch aid agencies can support the church’s self-reliance. The difficulties of the church are not only lack of training facilities for new pastors and general financial shortcomings, but also the crucial issue of the return of property, confiscated during the communist period. A dialogue was initiated in 1992 by the European Area Committee of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, in which a request was made to state authorities for the return of various parish buildings. A recent court decision, however, denied the return of parish houses, having restricted the definition of “places of worship” to actual church buildings. (EPS, and a Report from the office of the WARC) 12. oldal ry, for becoming one of us, for loving, serving, healing us, He received the cross. He knows exactly how we feel and suffers with us. Therefore we should rather probe into the secret of His endurance, instead of complaining. How was Jesus Christ able to bear the cross and all the unfathomable suffering our salvation imposed on Him? We find His secret in Hebrews 12:2: “Jesus., for the sake of the joy that was set before him, endured the cross.” The anticipation of the reward, the joy that the Father set before He made Jesus able to endure the inferno of the cross. Just one chapter earlier, in Hebrews 11:26, we read something similar about Moses. “He considered abuse suffered for the Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt for he was looking ahead to the reward.” Similarly, through the anticipation of God’s rewards, the Holy Spirit provides us an explosive power to boost our endurance under pressure and suffering. We worship a Lord Whose promises are not pies in the sky, He is a gentleman and keeps all of them. His Word is abounding with promises of compensations and rewards for His faithful servants. In 1 Peter 5:5 the Lord promises that if someone tends His flock faithfully, “when the chief shepherd appears, you will win the crown of glory that never fades away.” In Matthew 25:21 we read about the most glorious compensation any servant of the Lord can dream about, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over the little, I will set you over much, enter into the joy of your master.” Even here and now, we have Christ’s promise, “Whoever serves me, the Father will honor..” (John 12:26). When we elders get tired, frustrated, tempted to throw the towel in, we should recall that we are on the Father’s honor roll. Surprisingly, sometimes, we may even receive the earthly compensation of love, respect, trust, gratitude, and friendship from the members of our congregation, our fellow elders, and most of all from our pastor. (All Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.) Ligonier, Sptember, 1993 Rev. Dr. Eva M. Fabian ROUND TABLE MEETING OF THE REFORMED CHURCH IN THE CARPATHO-UKRAINE At the request of the Rev. Paul Forgon, bishop of the ethnic Hungarian Reformed Church in the Carpatho-Ukraine, a round-table meeting of churches, which have been traditional partners of Hungarian UNION OF PROTESTANT CHURCHES IN THE NETHERLANDS Three of the large Protestant Churches in the Netherlands are vigorously working to achieve constitutional and structural union. They are the Netherlands Reformed Church, the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. They have a joint press service and a joint board of the uniting work. The work encompasses all areas of theology and moral problems. The problem discussed in the following article is universal and we believe it is worth quoting in the Magyar Egyház. (TotW is the abbreviation of the written organ.)
