The Council was established in 1943. Currently, it has 11 member churches (Reformed, Lutheran, Baptist, Pentecostal, Methodist, Anglican, Romanian Orthodox, Bulgarian Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox) and 22 churches and church organizations with observer status. The Roman Catholic Church is an observer at the Council. 

The Hungarian Government last year established a governmental and church committee called Reformation Memory Committee. The committee is composed of representatives of the Reformed, Lutheran, Baptist and the ECCH, and includes the Dutch, the German, the Swiss Ambassador, the President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the State Secretary for Church relations, the Minister of Human Resources, and the Prime Minister who is the President of the Committee. The Committee meets twice a year and will prepare programs for the 500 years anniversary. 

Work of the Committees of the Council

The Christian Theological and Unity Committee together with the Roman Catholic Church published the common massages for Easter. This committee made a good conference about the topic: “Confirmation”. They also organise the “Ecumenical Week of Prayer” and the translation of its booklet into Hungarian as well.                       

The Committee for Social Ethics organized a conference on “Remembrance-Reconciliation-Renewal”. This conference was reminiscence of the 100 years First World War, the 70 years Holocaust and the 25 years System Change in Hungary. They also organized a Roma Conference that included those pastors, whose work connects with the Hungarian Roma families. The government took great interest in this Roma Conference, and had sent several official representatives. This committee arranged the “Week of Creation” which is held in Autumn. This program is run in congregations during one week. The topic was energy, climate justice and role of the churches in protecting God’s creation. During this week the European Christian Environmental Network  (ECEN) had its conference in Hungary that was co-hosted by ECCH. 

The Committee on Religious Dialogue deals with relations with other religions, like Islam, Buddhism or Krishna. They organized an open session, Prof. Dr. Miklós Maróth - who is Vice President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and one of the most famous Arabic expert in Europe – with a presentation on “Islam and Theoretical Politics, Islam and Democracy, The Possibilities of the Christian Missions”. The Council later paid a visit to the Muslim Community in Hungary in Budapest and where they met the leaders and had theological discussions.

The Theological Review Committee meets several times a year. The Council publishes this theological scientific review quarterly every year. In 2012 the Hungarian Academy of Sciences gave the edited title to this review, which contains ecumenical-theological topics. It is important, because professors, PhD students and Pastors can present their scientific thoughts in an official way.

The Women Committee is a strong committee in our Council. They organize the World Prayer Day in Hungary which means to translate a booklet and to prepare a conference for the activists of the World Prayer Day. The committee organized two conferences one whose main theme was “The Role of Christian Women in Family”, and the second conference’s theme was “Get to know me! Learn with me!” The second conference was about the life of Roma and Hungarians together.

The Mission Committee arranges Ecumenical Pastor Conference at Lake Balaton in Révfülöp every year. This is a good opportunity for pastors from the member churches to be together for one week and have spiritually uplifting and intellectually faithful discussions. Last year the theme of the conference was “Evangelism in today’s Reality and Possibilities of Mission”. The members of the committees take part in pulpit exchanges during Sunday worship which meant that a Lutheran Pastor preached in a Roman Catholic Church, a Baptist Pastor preached in a Reformed Church or a Reformed Pastor was preaching in Baptist Church. In the afternoon there was an ecumenical forum for parish leaders. This committee has another project which is called “BalatonNet” summer evangelism and mission event that was co-financed by the Council. Approximately 1000 people came together at Lake Balaton. This committee publishes an online monthly newsletter called “The Lord is Around Us”.

The Youth Committee has organized an ecumenical conference for youth leaders and an event called “Pentecostal Vigil”, a time for music and reflection. It consists of prayer, singing, and preaching of the gospel by one of the leaders of the Council’s member church. About 80 youth participated in this spiritual event.

The Month of the Reformation Committee is arranging about 8-10 events each year in October. The highlight is the Reformation Gala Evening, which is a cultural event with 500 participants. A Church Secondary School presents a high level program during the course of the evening. Normally, a well-known protestant personality gives a lecture on the subject of the reformation.

Dr. Vilmos Fischl

Budapest, 12th of May in 2015.