The General Convent of the Hungarian Reformed Church expresses it gratitude to God for the chance to be together and meet each other regularly. The power of our exemplary joint consultations came to light in a special way in the last year, when the Reformation Jubilee offered several occasions for us to gather in different parts of the Carpathian Basin, and ultimately strengthen each other.

The General Convent is the operational body of the Hungarian Reformed Church (HRC), a unity of Hungarian speaking Reformed Churches in and around Hungary. It consists of all the bishops and lay presidents of 10 church districts, and of the deans and lay presidents of the 64 presbyteries of the so called Part Churches of HRC in the Carpathian Basin. It is the consultative body of the Hungarian Reformed Church, meeting each year at the invitation of one of the 10 Church Districts. As the common representative body of the Reformed churches in Hungary and its neighbouring countries - Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia -, it has an important role in the coordination of common issues and works to achieve unity through e.G. harmonizing liturgy and Hymnbook, the cooperation in mission and diaconia and joint representation in the ecumenical movement in Europe and worldwide. Its presidium meets every two months and is composed of the bishops and lay presidents in office.

 

On the occasion of the centennial of World War I we lament and condemn every form of violence, whether it targets us, Christians, or anybody else in the world. At the same time we call all those whose words and deeds fed violance and hostility, instead of decreasing them, for humbleness and repentance. We Christians know that God’s words to Cain are valid still today: “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4,7). We believe and confess that Cain’s rage and murderous anger can be overcome by Christ’s power and the help of the Holy Spirit, also today, if we ask for it and believe.   

This is why we ask and urge all those who use the term “Christian” today, but are voiding it of the original meaning, without committing to true and actual imitation of Christ, to repent likewise. They should, instead, through their life praxis, strive to correct their ways, truly and not just nominally following Christ.       

We know that our churches just like us, we are in need of the renewing presence of the Holy Spirit, who only can convince us to persevere in confessing and living out our faith, day by day. We pray for God’s pardoning grace upon us, on our colleagues in ministry and on the members of our churches, because we all failed, at times, at serving the peace and love, and at following Christ truly.

We believe and hope that the tone and the hostility of the spring national elections will lead each political party involved to regret and pardon, so that they are ready and able to serve building a country where to life is possible and worthwhile, independent of political affiliation. We encourage all elected representatives of the Parliament, wholeheartedly and in prayer, to fulfil this duty. At the same time, we warn them to remember that actual virtue and power belong to God. According to the prophet Daniel, God is namely the one who “deposes kings and raises up others” (Daniel 2,21).      

We express our gratitude to all our fellow countrymen who supported and signed the Minority SafePack initiative, in the hope of promoting peace and equal opportunities for all.

We are thankful for the invitation of the Cistibiscan Church District of the Reformed Church in Hungary to gather the delegates of the Reformed community from the Carpathian Basin in Miskolc-Lillafüred.

We implore our sisters and brothers to prayerfully prepare for the 10^th Anniversary of the re-unification of the Hungarian Reformed Church, which we will celebrate next year in gratitude at the very place of the Constituting Synod that took place in Debrecen in 2009.

Today, as always, we dedicate our countries, our nation and our churches into God’s grace.

25 May 2018.