Magyar Egyház, 2004 (83. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)

2004-07-01 / 3. szám

8. oldal

MAGYAR EGYHÁZ

For those congregations that provide bilingual services and activities, I fully support the use of the Hungarian Language for those who need or desire it. But, at the same time, it cannot neglect nor alienate its English-speaking constituency.

Finally, there are congregations that no longer have any Hungarian language activity. This may be due to the lack of a Hungarian speaking minister or the fact that the congregation has evolved into entirely English speaking body. If there are members who still have a limited use of the Hungarian language, they do not have a large enough vocabulary to make it a viable choice for conversation or church services. For future growth, these congregations must attract members of Hungarian background or neighborhood members who find the Reformed faith as the one that satisfies their religious needs.

Regarding the declining membership, two main themes came out of a recently held Eastern Area Elders Association meeting.

First, those charismatic denominations that are growing today are doing se because of their member’s deep conviction that their particular brand of Christianity is the one true religion. They know the nuances of what makes them unique and different from the others. Unfortunately, most of our members, while they know the basic beliefs of the Reformed faith, believe that they are the same as those of most other Christian denominations. This leads to the attitude: ’’What difference does it make whether I belong to the Reformed Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Church or some other church that seems to have the same basic beliefs?”

We must do a better job of educating our members!

Secondly, we are not a friendly church. We tend to isolate ourselves from outsiders. If strangers attend a service, we often shun them with the attitude that they are not one of us. What are they doing here? And what do these strangers do? They do exactly what Christ instructed his disciples to do in the books of Matthew chapter 10 verse 14, Mark chapter 6 verses 10-11 and Luke chapter 9 verses 4-5. You do not have to believe me. Read it for yourselves.

Both of these conditions have to change.

For the first step, I ask the Bishop to generate a Hungarian and English language STANDARD RECOMMENDED LITURGY so that, as we visit from church to church, we are not distracted by variations in the Lord’s Prayer, Apostle’s Creed, Communion format, etc. I would also ask the Bishop to encourage our ministers to devote more sermon time to teaching the precepts of the Reformed faith.

Secondly, I will communicate with the various church Chief Elders to work towards creating a more friendly and inviting attitude toward strangers and visitors, so that they would feel more comfortable among us and have the desire to return and become affiliated with us.

I believe that both of these actions are necessary for success. One without the other will not do. It is like faith without works or works without faith (one of our Reformed Precepts). One without the other is not enough.

In closing, the most important questions remain. How well will I carry out the challenges I have made for myself? How well will the Bishop carry out the challenges I have recommended to him? How well will all of you support the two of us?

Anthony C. Beke, Chief Elder

HUNGARIAN REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA Eastern Classis Chief Elder’s Report

Greetings to the Bishop, Ministers, Elders and Guests.

I thank God for the opportunity of being able to be here today and for bringing us all safely together.

We are fortunate to live in the greatest country in the world. It has been said that although we must live in this world, we should not be of this world. We live in a world where things are changing more rapidly than ever. But we are not always ready for such rapid change. In fact, some may not be ready for change at all. The questions may be: Change ? Change what ? Should we give into pressure to change with the times ? Should we now accept the killing of the unborn for the sake of research ? Do we redefine the definition of marriage ? Should we close our eyes to sin ? Of course not ! We must never compromise our core Christian values. What we may need is to reinforce those values in a loving way. In a loving way to all of God’s people.

We look at other churches that have growing congregations and wonder what their secret is. Are they compromising something in order to achive such growth ? We look at our own congregations dwindling or stagnant memberships and complai that we don’t know what the secret is. No one seems to have a definite answer. We ask God in our prayers for help, guidance and wisdom before starting our meetings, but do we truly let God help and guide us or do we depend on our own wisdom for answers to the secret ? Does anyone have the answer ? Will we allow God to give us the answer ? Is our faith strong enough to allow for God’s guidance ? Will we give prayer a chance and accept the answer in God’s time, nor ours ? God gives us many answers, but do we recognize them as such ? I believe that He will give us the answers. Maybe not the worldly answers that many seem to be looking for, but answers that do not compromise our fundamental Christian beliefs.

We can strive to build great buildings in new locations to worship in, but we must also build up and strengthen the spiritual element in our churches. What good are great buildings without a strong focus on the teachings of the Father and Son ? If it is God’s will, the church can and will survive without great buildings, but it needs people of faith. A strong faith in God and a determination to do His will is what has always been needed. Can the Christian churches work together to achieve the goal of spreading the Word and building our congregations ? We know that united we stand and divided we fall. So are we willing to put forth the effort to not only stop the bleeding, but to work toward a truly united Universal Christian Church ? With God’s help, we can work together to achieve this common goal.

If we maintain our focus on God and give all the glory to god and diminish ourselves to the proper and relevant level in comparison, than we can achieve the great things we strive for in our churches. Faithful congregations in a friedly, loving and caring environment can only result in strength and growth.

May God be with us all and give us the wisdom, courage and strenght as we meet together taking a small, but very important step in building up His church.

Frank B. Király, Chief Elder