He loves sports, gardening, art, but most of all, life. From a young age, he trained to be a minister, and after thirty-five years as a minister and sixteen years as a bishop, he was planning to retire. But the Lord had a new chapter in store for him: Bishop József Steinbach of the Transdanubian Reformed Church District was elected as ministerial president by the Synod of the Reformed Church in Hungary at its spring session.
It is a Pentecostal miracle; we come out of the pit of selfishness and conceit, of self-obsession, egotism, and despair, and we become not only witnesses but instruments of God's saving love.
"A congregation is not alive because it organizes programmes, but because what happens there points to Christ,” says Levente Zoltán Hajdú Hajdú, head of the Missionary Service of the Reformed Church in Hungary. The aim of the Reformed prayer chain, which begins in 2024, the Year of the Living Word, is to pray for renewal, because in living congregations the community of Christ can be present in such a way that it then has an impact on the whole organization.
On April 20th and 21st, Martina Wasserloos, President of the European Area of World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC), visited Transcarpathia to meet with pastors and church leaders of the Reformed Church in Transcarpathia (RCT). The visit also included a meeting with the Diaconal Coordination Office (DCO) and a tour of one of its projects.
On 13 April, the Reformed Church of Káposztámegyer, Budapest, and its surroundings bustled with community life early in the morning. Roma and non-Roma people from all over the country came for the tenth edition of the prayer day. All had come for an exceptional opportunity to give themselves freely to the Word of God, the joy of encounter and their often challenging identity, the Roma culture.
The Diaconia of the Reformed Church in Hungary has become the country's largest afterschool operator after the Directorate-General for Social Inclusion deemed the operation of fourteen Reformed afterschools worthy of support for the next three-year period. The afterschools, which serve local children from typically difficult circumstances, include some that have been in operation for nearly a decade, but two newcomers will start operating in 2024.
The staff of the National Reformed Roma Ministry will continue to organise a variety of events, meetings, and trainings in 2024 to promote the Gospel values and the importance of reconciliation between peoples.
The Refugee Ministry of the Hungarian Reformed Church Aid wrapped up a busy year full of events and activities fostering fellowship within the refugee community. Global Ministries, an international partner of the Reformed Church in Hungary, featured in its winter newsletter a summary of community events in 2023 and upcoming events in 2024.
The Refugee Ministry held a workshop in Budapest on the experience of its international humanitarian programmes and the opportunities for applications now being announced for the third time.
The Refugee Ministry of HRCA recently hosted two community events to bring its clients together for Christmas. The events were open to clients of the Refugee Ministry and featured various activities, from building gingerbread houses to crafting decorations.
Lieutenant Colonel Szilárd Sajtos, a Reformed military chaplain, has visited the Middle East several times as a member of various military missions. In a recently published study on Eastern Christianity, he explained that the survival of the church in the region has been in serious danger due to massive emigration.
On September 2nd, the Reformed community in Hungary supported two gatherings to bring awareness and affirm its support for the Christian community facing persecution in Pakistan. A gathering hosted by the Érdliget Reformed Parish included powerful testimonies, and another, a prayer group hosted at the community center for the Refugee Ministry, honored the victims of the persecution.
RCH Delegation attends Partners' Consultation hosted by National Evangelical Syond of Syria and Lebanon
“Reserves are dwindling both spiritually and physically; women left at home are facing more and more tasks, families are torn apart, and peace is still a long way off,” - this is how the Reformed people of Transcarpathia sum up their current situation.
The Reformed Church in Hungary has declared 2024 the Year of the Living Word, which is closely linked to the Year of the Pastoral Profession, proclaimed in 2023. Interview with the Head of the Mission Service of RCH, Rev. Levente Zoltán Hajdú.
According to census data published last week, 943,982 people in Hungary declared themselves Reformed last year, which is 200,000 fewer than ten years ago. On this occasion, we spoke to Károly Fekete, Bishop of the Transtibiscan Church District about the reality of our congregations, the role of institutions, and authenticity.
