Magyar Egyház, 2010 (89. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
2010-07-01 / 3. szám
18. oldal MAGYAR EGYHÁZ trying to find their way home at night. The Church is like a disorientated person when it is without clear vision of its mission. Without a clear vision of mission there can be no unity. What then is our mission? Firstly to proclaim that Jesus is Alive! And Secondly, in light of the Resurrection, our mission is to continue Jesus’ work of liberation and salvation. God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him (John 3:17). This mission fired the early churches. The mission was about establishing churches in order to transform communities and individuals with the love of God, though Jesus Christ. In the early decades of the first century, with a clear view of its mission, Christianity spread like wildfire from Jerusalem to all the way to Rome. A clear vision of mission had the effect of a unified cause. Certainly it was never a completely unified cause; there were plenty of struggles even in those early days, for example, between Paul and the Jerusalem Church. In the life and service in the early Christian communities the mission of Jesus was clearly in focus! This call to Jesus’ mission will always require strong, Jesusfocussed, Spirit-led leadership. Unity can only truly come through a God-breathed focus in the mission of Jesus. On the basis of Hebrews 13, Jesus’ mission is the same today as it was in his earthly life: to bring about salvation and a new way from the sin in all the world. Mission demands Unity in Diversity So now we have our Mission in focus — does that mean we all have to think the same, be the same, talk the same, and worship the same? Clearly not! We have all been created different - to be free in God. Indeed the mission of Jesus depends upon difference! Look at the first Church of Christ; Jesus brought together 12 disciples and amongst them was a tax-collector, a fisherman and at least one zealot. Following the time of Pentecost a constant mark of the Christian communities continued to be diversity and the appreciation of diversity. Yet, Christian mission also demands unity - for how can we be about the salvation of the world unless we are united? Indeed, Jesus in John’s Gospel prays a great prayer of unity for his disciples, (John 17:20). It seems that we are called to use our diversity for the One purpose! We must be unified in our mission: our purpose must be crystal clear. We exist to seek the salvation and transformation of persons and communities everywhere in Jesus’ name! Jesus met every need, so must we. The Church is called to be the continuation of Christ’s activity on earth, meeting the same needs, economic, political, social, spiritual, medical and so on. But this mission demands unity! A unity of mission; but a diversity of gifts and strategies to get there. It requires nothing less than a total unity in the Holy Spirit. We are, through the power of the Holy Spirit, any kind of people we are Christians, we are One in Christ. If we are not, then Jesus strongly implies: the world will not believe! In word and deed, spirit and truth: we are to be people of One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. Let us celebrate God-breathed diversity, but let us use that diversity to be united in the mission of Jesus Christ! These are my emphases for our services, through various ways of keeping our eyes focused on inviting and forming disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the church. I leave "how" to carry out these emphases in your local church to you because each one of our locations of ministry throughout this state is different...but I invite you to renew your faith, ministry and church through them. They are foundational, time-tested, and eternally rewarding! I invite you and invite your local church to join others in renewing its commitment to Christ in the world so that we will be a denominational treasure, built on 85 years of faithful "Calvinist" Christian witness with all our locations of ministry like hope, love and joy. Let it begin with you...and your site of service and ministry! In my Bishop’s report, I would like to guide your attention to a few important issues. Let me mention one more time for the beginning of the unity: I had the opportunity to attend the Diaspora conference in Budapest in November 2008, and meet the leaders of every Hungarian church from around the world. This was the first time and possibly the first event that brought together and facilitated the elders of the Hungarian churches outside of Hungary. The conference addressed many questions and forwarded our collective plans to the mother church. We become the center of attention and everybody would like to learn the multifaceted nature of our American-Hungarian reformed service in two separate denomination. Our history and formation is known, along with separation and the current efforts for reuniting. We spoke many time about the issue in the last eight decades, in small steps but the long talks resulted in definite progress. I would like to list these achievements. 1 .The Calvin anniversary year was opened jointly on the East-Coast at the two New York congregations in Oct of 2008, and later in many local churches and the closing service was held on the Reformation Day, October 31, 2009, at the Ontario congregation, in California. 2. In honor of the Calvin anniversaiy, the two church bodies will edit a joint publication during the year 2010. We are waiting for it. 3. The elders of the two church bodies came to an agreement and ready to establish a Ministerial Qualifying Committee to allow for better job placement for the pastors arriving from abroad. 4. There are discussions about to hold a joint Synod meeting, where both entities can discuss issues related to service, mission and church politics. 5. Thru a common decision both church bodies were represented at the Diaspora Conference in Budapest, on November 17 -18,2008. These steps are greatly responsible for the possibility of the American Hungarian reformed unity, which has to be the number one issue in our duty of mission. During my Bishop’s visitations I always inform our congregations of the possibility of this union, which our leaders endorse and promote as well. The promotion and support of the Hungarian reformed union is our future. We have an other task in this unity, which started 15 years ago by the World Federation of the Hungarian Reformed Churches and the Consultative Synod of the Hungarian Reformed Churches and is being continued by the General Convent of the Carpathian Basin. We have to know that how dispersed we are in the world and how little we know of each other, Hungarian reformed people in the Diaspora. We need to encourage each other, pray for one another, because we are all one in Christ. We have waited a long and were finally able to experience the embrace of the mother church on May 22 in Debrecen. The first anniversary of this very historical event will be tomorrow. Our church has officially voted to join the Hungarian Reformed Church. At the historic meeting of the Constituting Synod, the Rev.Dr.Attila Kocsis, Dean and I represented our church and declared our intention to join the Hungarian Reformed Church with our signatures. The decision has to be confirmed by the 2010 General Assembly of course. During my nine month service from September to May, I
