Pray for Hungary Sunday, January 18, 2009

Pray for Hungary Sunday, January 18, 2009

Lectionary Text and Prayers for Hungary: John 1:43-51

Hear our prayer this day, for the numbers of your people who are in recovery from oppression or spiritual unhealth brought about by powers opposed to You.  Help such congregations to overcome the malaise and blunted nerve that is a sign of victimization.  May the Reformed Church of Hungary (and especially the third of them who remain marginalized just outside the borders of the country), we pray, know that they are part of a prayer and practice koinonia much larger than themselves.

As we grow in our believing, help us to connect the ancient and the present (as John does for us today), made vital in the life-gifts and messages, the very presence, of the Son of God, the Son of Man, our Jesus the Christ – For in his Name we pray.  Amen.

  • The declining birth-rate in Hungary, true of many EU countries at this time, means that the national education office intends to close 2/3 of all higher education institutions, with particularly the religious colleges and universities feeling targeted.   Pray for the worth of the Church’s presence in Hungary  in higher education. 
  • Again, now, a list of clergy has been activated from State/Party Archives, identifying church leaders who “informed” on their fellow church members during the 1948-1989 ‘Soviet’ years, often only to safeguard their homes, families and jobs.  Pray that this process can be accompanied by forgiveness and internal healing rather than by political manipulations within the Church.
  • Be with the populace of Hungary as it is battered by EU integration requirements and immigrant incursions, – from the East (ie., the current President brought in 4000 Chinese nationals early in his term of office, and now we are importing Chinese police candidates to supervise them), – from the South (ie., Iraqis, Pakistanis, and Afghans “wash” through Hungary in their desperation to find a safe home in the West, and a surprising number choose to stay), – or more locally, the minority Roma are enjoying some consciousness-raising and a phenomenal birth-rate increase!  This diluting puts a great strain on Hungarian identity too early in the re-finding process.
  • Praise God for the present and future faithful, hopeful, Christian leaders who are not daunted by the many challenges they face. Strengthen them in their efforts to meld the several theologies being practiced in the Reformed Churches here in these days, so they can allow a genuine Christ-centered vitality to emerge from historic Church-ness.

(Prayer by Coralyn and Laslo Medyesy )

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/

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.