Martina Wasserloos-Strunk has been serving as president of the European Area of the World Communion of Reformed Churches for eight years. The Area Council in Budapest was her last official meeting which she moderated. An interview about her ministry.
The World Communion of Reformed Churches European Area Council met in Budapest to prepare for the General Council in October and to elect new members to the steering committee for the upcoming term. Delegates from seventeen countries across Europe gathered in Budapest from June 11 to 12.
Volunteering is a vital component of our mission. Whether through local service projects or international partnerships, volunteers play a key role in how we live out the Gospel together.
In 2025, the Refugee Ministry of the Hungarian Reformed Church Aid is implementing two significant projects to address the needs of refugees, asylum seekers, and other beneficiaries of international protection residing in Hungary.
A large number of people attended this year's Hungarian Reformed Unity Day in Debrecen, despite the cool weather. The Great Church and its surroundings hosted the event, which included various church services, music, youth and children's programmes, and a women's association conference.
A team of the Hungarian Reformed Church Aid (HRCA) dispacthed for Transylvania with two tons of humanitarian aid and water pumps to help flood victims and displaced families. HRCA also launched a donation campaign inviting members of the Hungarian reformed community in the region.
Three hundred and fifty years ago, thirty Hungarian Protestant preachers were sold into slavery in the port of Naples. Now, centuries later, Hungarian pilgrims commemorated them in the same place. They discovered the legacy of their religious ancestors up close.
The 8th of May marked the 350th anniversary of the arrival of the Reformed and Lutheran pastors and preachers in the city of Naples, condemned by a special court in Pozsony (Pressburg, today Bratislava), sold as galley slaves.
The initiative launched by the Women's Association of RCH benefiting families in great distress in Transcarpathia, Ukraine, is now in its eighth year. According to the vice-president of the association, Márta Juhász, not only financial help but also spiritual support is indispensable.
In a worship service, the Christian congregation in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, whose seventy members were abducted and murdered for their faith in February, thanked the Reformed Church in Hungary and the Hungary Helps Agency for their joint support.
On April 3-5th, women from Syria, Lebanon, Ukraine, and Northern Ireland came together to share their stories of faith and perseverance in conflict. The conference, entitled “The Unheard Voice: Women’s Persevering Witness in War,” served as a space for testimony, reflection, and solidarity, offering a powerful witness to the strength and hope found in the face of hardship. Though each woman came from a different background and context, their voices echoed a shared resilience grounded in their faith and communities.
"For us in Hungary today, martyrdom, the witness that we can lay down our lives for the cause of Jesus Christ in a given situation, is unknown, and that is why we have great respect for those Christians who remain believers in Christ even in the most difficult circumstances," said Bishop József Steinbach, Ministerial President of the Synod, on Wednesday, 9 April, at the Ráday House in Budapest, where the Presidium of the Reformed Church in Hungary met with a delegation of Congolese Christians helped by the Church and the "Planetrise" (Földkelte) Association for Culture and Environmental Protection.
"We are the heralds of this Good News even though we live in a world where our hearts are filled with sorrow day by day seeing the triumph of the powers of war and devastation." Joint Easter greeting of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Ecumenical Council of Churches in Hungary.
"With the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God made life triumph, so we believe in the victory of life." Easter message of the Presidium of the General Convent, the governing body of the Hungarian reformed community in the Carpathian Basin and worldwide.
Institutions which have provided outstanding work in the field of health promotion and prevention were awarded. In the category of ‘urban hospitals’, Bethesda Children's Hospital of the Reformed Church in Hungary received the most prestigious recognition.
The first truly ecumenical Bible translation in Hungarian is being prepared. Protestant and Catholic biblical scholars are working together on the ambitious project. The ecumenical publication is not intended to replace existing Bibles, but to produce a text that is more dynamic and accessible translation.
The Hungarian Reformed Church Aid is preparing a humanitarian aid shipment to Myanmar, the country hardest hit by the earthquake. HRCA has also launched a countrywide fundraising campaign and seeks cooperation with the service and development department of the Myanmar Council of Churches.
Martina Wasserloos Strunk, President of the European Area of the World Communion of Reformed Churches paid another visit to the Reformed Church in Transcarpathia in the spirit of Christian solidarity, with a focus on women’s role in war. Highlight of the program was the preparatory meeting with women to represent the RCT at the women’s retreat in Beirut.
Global Ministries, an international partner of the Reformed Church in Hungary, featured the efforts of churches and communities in Transcarpathia, Ukraine, in its winter newsletter 2025. In her winter newsletter, Emma Perry, current Global Mission Intern writes about her experiences.