Magyar Egyház, 1997 (76. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
1997 / 4. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 9. oldal AMERICAN HUNGARIAN REFORMED PRESBYTERS’ ASSOCIATION EASTERN DISTRICT SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5,1997 The first meeting of the Eastern District Presbyters’ Association was held on Sunday, October 5, 1997, in the Hungarian Reformed Church of Carteret, New Jersey. The meeting was opened by Rev. Peter Toth, who welcomed everyone and explained the use of the Resurrection bulletin as the new resurrection of the presbyters in the churches of the Eastern District. The hymn, “Take My Life and Let it Be Consecrated” was sung, followed by prayer and the Apostles’ Creed led by Rt. Rev. Alexander Forro. Les Martin, President of the Presbyters’ Association read from Ephesians 4:4-8. Vice President, Helen Dodge, then introduced Joe Tegze, our guest speaker for the afternoon. Mr. Tegze thanked Mrs. Dodge for the kind introduction and reminded the audience, there will be another meeting in the spring. He then proceeded with his topic: ‘What is an Elder?’ He advised that he used scripture for the source of his material from the Geneva Study Bible. This Bible was a force in the Reformation because of its use of everyday language. This Bible was brought by the Pilgrims to the New World. The elder position used in the Old Testament as an under shepherd role as described in Numbers 11:24-30 and Deuteronomy 7:1. In the New Testament the elders/presbyters were called shepherds and overseers as found in IPeter 5:1-4. Some of the elders were teachers and their job was to help others develop their spiritual gifts. Also, elders were to have a mature stable Christian character and a well ordered personal life as stated in Titus 1:5-9. Mr. Tegze reminded us that God had a plan for our life from the moment we were born. He will take care of all the details with the help of the Holy Spirit, so that we will not only do his will but also receive a tremendous blessing in the process. After a short break, a lively discussion was held on the topic. One question asked was: “Why is it so difficult to find elders for our churches?” A few answers were: we need to convince people that they are needed; they need to be loved backed into the church; we need to ask them to join and show them that we value their ideas and commitment to the church. After the discussion Mr. Tegze mentioned the 21st Century Committee, and asked Mr. Les Martin to tell us about the Committee’s work. He explained that the Committee is willing to go to any church that is interested to facilitate discussions about the church’s future. Mrs. Helen Dodge advised us that the Hungarian Reformed Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania has offered to host the next meeting of the Presbyters’ Association of the Eastern District in the spring. No specific date has been decided. She invited everyone to Fellowship Hall after the meeting for dinner and thanked those who prepared the food. Rt. Rev. Dr. Francis Vitéz closed the meeting with prayer and the Lord’s Prayer, after which the hymn “God be with You ‘till we Meet Again” was sung. Pamela S. Lovász, Secretary IN MEMORY OF REV. DR. LAJOS NAGYBACZONI NAGY Professor Nagy was born in Erdély (Transylvania) what was Hungary before World War I and is now part of Romania. He was educated in Hungary and in Scotland. During the Second World War, because of his fluent English, Dr. Nagy became the leader of the Scottish Presbyterian Mission in Budapest. After the war, he became the member of the Hungarian Diplomatic Service, and was sent to represent Hungary in London. Years later he emigrated to Canada and the USA and became the minister of the Cliffside Congregation in New Jersey. After an early retirement he went to work at Kean College, in Union, N.J. where he was a professor and director of the library. During the last 20 years he lived in a garden apartment of the same city. Central New Jersey’s daily The Star Ledger gave the following accounts of the tragedy: Authorities said the Rev. Dr. Louis Nagy was crossing North Broad street in front of St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church just after 5 p.m. Sunday when a late model Nissan struck him and sent his body into the side of another vehicle traveling nearby. The hit-and-run driver slowed momentarily before speeding away from the scene, police said. The driver of the other car, a 17 year old girl, who graduated from Elizabeth High School stopped immediately. Rev. Nagy was rushed to University Hospital in Newark and was believed he was going to survive the head and other injuries he suffered. “His condition was listed as stable around 6:15 p.m., but at 7:10 p.m. he went to critical and then he died at 10:42 p.m.” said Edward Wald, an investigator with the Elizabeth Police Department. Reverend Nagy survived by his wife and by his three daughters: Réka, Ann and Kati and by a granddaughter. He left all of his Hungarian books to the American Hungarian Foundations, Hungarian Heritage Center, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
