Pray for Hungary on Sunday, March 27, 2011

Pray for Hungary on Sunday, March 27, 2011

Prayers for Hungary: John 4:5-42

All-knowing and compassionate Lord God,

In the spirit of Jesus with ‘the woman at the well’, we come to You in Spirit and in Truth.  We worship, we adore You!  And we join in force with all other Christians around the globe in praise of You.

Jesus, who did not suffer divisions as do our 33,000 some different Christian denominations*, knew from both the Old Testament and New Testament times that you and I spiritually thirst and hunger, and long mightily for the slaking of our parched days.  So, we pray for our own selves and for each other.

Also, let us pray this day for Hungarian Christians, – those both inside and outside the country’s borders.  May they remember to serve in Christ’s name as they band together to strengthen their unity.  May they realize and recognize the millions of brothers and sisters who walk alongside them in the Faith. May they be strengthened in their commitment to minister to and with the growing population of Gypsies in their midst.  May they find joy in their Worship and edification in their meditations.  We continue to pray that forgiveness may overcome the mistrust and abuses of the past that still undermine Christian congregations there.

Let each of us not be satisfied until we find that ‘well of living water’ which comes only from You, the Source.

This we pray in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord and our Savior, our Teacher and Guide.  Amen

*World Christian Encyclopedia, 2000                                           

(by Coralyn T. Medyesy)

Mission Stewardship Moment from Hungary: Jesus and Ecumenicity

The encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at Jacob`s well represents a turning point in His ministry. By stepping beyond the rigid borders of his own faith community he breaks through the many separating walls that stood between Jews and Samaritans.  In the course of a long conversation Jesus makes it clear that their faith in the God of Abraham inseparably joins these peoples together.  

This bold action of the Savior could be interpreted as one of the first “ecumenical” activities in the New Testament. Though the Greek word of ecumene originally meant ‘the inhabited world’, today it designates all positive interactions between diverse Christian communities.  Today’s “same faith” in the Triune God, revealed to us in the New Testament, presents an inevitable challenge to the followers of Jesus, – namely, to seek first the uniting and not the separating ties among themselves.

Obeying this call, the Theological Faculty of the Reformed University in Budapest (Hungary), recently approached me to offer a new course in the field of ecumenical studies.  This was to offer an act of healing in a Church that still remembers the sufferings of the Counter Reformation, the minority treatment of Protestants since her foundation, and especially the destructive effect of the forty year-long “captivity” of the Marxist-Socialist period. During this time ecumenical study was required and used only as a tool in Socialist propaganda to service soviet “peace offensives” and influence Western public opinion.  Although in 1989 a new era dawned, in most Hungarian churches and between faith communities old suspicions and mistrust planted by long decades prevails, and healing has begun at a snail’s pace.

In the outline of the course, participants (the future leaders of the Reformed Church) are encouraged to critically examine their own tradition in the context of other Christian communities. Outstanding guest lecturers are invited, from the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Baptist, Lutheran, Dutch Reformed and Scottish Presbyterian traditions. Our students also conduct research in their own local congregations concerning the openness and willingness of the people in the pew toward ways and means of engaging in ecumenical contact with other Christians.

What happened at Jacob`s well is happening again today.  Ecumenism is becoming a positive force in Hungary. That`s good news!  Hallelujah!

(by Laslo M. Medyesy)  

Video Resources for Hungary:

Zoltan Szucs – Hungary: http://globalministries.org/resources/multimedia-resources/index/video-mission-moments/zoltan-szucs.html

 

Global Ministries International Partner in Hungary:

  • The Reformed Church in Hungary is, in terms of numbers, the largest denomination in Hungary, after the Roman Catholic Church. The existence of the Reformed Church in Hungary dates from this Debrecen Synod of 1567. At present the registered number of Reformed Hungarians world-wide is about three and a half million. Of these, some two million live in Hungary. In consequence of the dismemberment of Hungary after World War I, many congregations—even whole church districts in Transylvania—were separated from the church and placed beyond the borders of this country. These believers continue to live in their old homes, but in alien linguistic and religious surroundings. In the United States there are some 70 Hungarian Reformed congregations in two separate church bodies. The Reformed Church in Hungary maintains close fraternal relations with Hungarian coreligionists living abroad, whether in neighboring countries or dispersed throughout the world, partly through the World Federation of Hungarian Reformed Believers, and partly within the framework of the Consultative Synod of the Hungarian Reformed Church. Reformed believers amount to about 21% of the Hungarian population of ten million. 1200 congregations live in four Church Districts and 27 seniorates. http://www.reformatus.hu/

For more info on Hungary: http://globalministries.org/mee/countries/hungary/

Global Ministries Missionaries in Hungary:

Coralyn and Laslo Medyesy are Global Ministries missionaries with the Reformed Church in Hungary, based in Budapest, Hungary. Coralyn is a Teacher of Social Work and Diakonia at the Nagy Koros School. Laslo serves as professor of theology in the Department of Theology of the Gaspar Karoli Reformed University in Budapest.

Barbara and Zoltan Szucs are Global Ministries missionaries with the Reformed Church in Hungary. Barbara works with the Roma (Gypsy) mission as an enabler and Zoltan serves as a Professor of Practical Theology at Karoli Gaspar University in Budapest.

Pray for Partners without Global Ministries Mission Personnel: France

God, we lift up the country of France and our partners there. We pray specifically for the French Reformed Church and their ministries. We ask that you would help us to be faithful partners as we walk together in your mission.

For more info on France: http://globalministries.org/mee/countries/france/