Magyar Egyház, 2008 (87. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
2008-04-01 / 2. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 3. oldal I am not going into details to give reports of the congregations. I request that the delegates give your reports using your time to inform us about your church life following this report. After the good news, I have to mention our Classis’ critical points, too. Since Rev. Barnabas Roczey’s retirement (August 2007), there is no elected Pastor in the New Brunswick congregation. He is the Supply Pastor and the Pulpit Committee has started its work but they have not reached the final result of their work. The representatives of the congregation are here, so they might give us a short report on this situation. This church should be the flagship of our Classis and even of our denomination according their numbers, possibilities, and the number of Hungarians in the area of New Brunswick. But in these days, it is a ship without a captain. The story is long and I will not go into details, and they are still looking for candidates. The other critical point is Carteret. According our Constitution and By-Laws, the congregation does not exist legally. They did not have Congregational meetings in the past seven years, the Chief Elder was not elected or re-elected, and the Elders’ terms have expired. In the last year, I started negotiations with the Chief Elder and we agreed on mutual terms to solve the problems. The first step was taken but no further actions. Rev. Torok, who is the Supply Pastor of this church, tries his best but there is no success. It seems to me we have to take more serious steps to reorganize the Congregation’s life on a legal basis. (1 am happy to inform you, since the Classis Meeting, all the problems has been solved in the Carteret Church. Dean Kocsis) The third point is Cliffside. We had two Congregational meetings in the recent past. In November, they decided to start a discussion to close the church because of their low membership and very few activities. The second meeting was held on February 24 in Passaic. Out of the 8 members, 5 were present, and they decided to close the Church and they also made decisions of what to do with their assets. The main concern was that the moneys should remain in the Classis and be spent on designated Classis mission activities. We are still waiting for the final disposition, and I do hope everything will be finalized to all parties’ satisfaction. On behalf of the Classis, I thank István Szabó, Lay Pastor, for his life-long service to this small Congregation. Dear Brother István, without your and your wife’s ministry this fellowship could not fulfill its mission. God bless you and may God return everything to you for your faithful services! Finally, some words about the future and upcoming events. Please encourage and support our youth to join the Summer Hungarian Reformed Youth Camp. It is important to send our next generation to learn, to have experiences, to build up new personal contacts with other believers and last, but not least, to deepen their faith in Christ. The date is July 27-August 2, so please contact the organizers. Our Denomination’s representative is Gabe Csapó of Trenton who can give you details about this camp. In line with this topic, I ask the Assembly to renew and refresh last year’s invitation to the Debrecen Classis’ Youth group to join our camp. The Rochester Church will celebrate its 50th Anniversary on June 22. Please give thanks to the Lord for their presence among us and pray for their ministry. I also have to mention here that Perth Amboy and Carteret will be celebrating their 105th Anniversaries this year. One more date that I want to mention to the Assembly is June 3rd'which will be the Rev. Dr. Imre Bertalan’s 90th birthday! From this place, we wish God’s blessing, patience and better health to our Dean Emeritus. We all know the importance and the impact of John Calvin upon our Protestant Churches. The 500th anniversary of his birth will be in 2009. We, as American Hungarian Reformed church members, want to celebrate, we want to celebrate together. I heartily recommend that the opening event of our churches’ Calvin celebration be on October 12, 2008, with a concert by the Choir of the Great Church of Debrecen here in this church. Bishop Gusztáv Bölcskei, the President of the HRC Synod, will be here, and I hope the Bishops of our two denominations will also join this event. The 49th Hungarian Protestant Ball will be held on November 14. Please help us organize this event and give a chance to your youth to celebrate. I will end my report with thanks to the Officers of the Classis, to the Pastors and Elders who served our Lord and His Church faithfully in the past year and to the 82nd Street Congregation for hosting us. In His Service, Rev. Dr. Attila Kocsis Dean Eastern Classis Membership 2007 Washington, 50, 5% Trenton, 107, 10% Rochester, 15, 1% Roebling, 41, 4% Staten Island, 21, 2% Poughkeepsie, 33, 3% Perth Amboy, 219, 20% New Brunswick, 325, 28% Miami, 81, 7% Cliffside, 8, 1% ' Carteret, 28, 3% Betlehem, 33, 3% New York, 142, 13% □ New Brunswick a Cliffside □ Carteret □ Betlehem ■ New York □ Miami □ Perth Amboy □ Poughkeepsie ■ Staten Island □ Roebling □ Rochester □ Trenton E Washington Total - 903
