Dear Praying, Helping Friends:
Last month the pastor of
Covenant Reformed Church in
Carbondale
,
PA
(William Boekestein) went over to
Hungary
and
Romania
to minister the Word to our men and their families.
Earlier I was so blessed with a commentary Pastor Bill had written on
Jonah that I felt our men needed to hear these messages.
He went over and our men were blessed indeed.
But he was also blessed. When he came home he posted an article about his
trip on his blog site and said: “Here is a blog post about my recent
trip to
Hungary
and
Romania
. I have come to believe very
strongly in the ministry there and would like to introduce it to as many people
as possible. Please forward this to
those who might be interested in learning about a dynamic, unique, reformed
ministry in Central and
Eastern Europe
.”
“Come over and (be)
help(ed)!”
During the
last week of June I had the privilege of traveling to
Hungary
and
Romania
and fellowshipping with an exciting group of young pastors and their families.
The pastors are shepherding the 22 new con-gregations of the Reformed
Presbyterian Church of Central and Eastern Europe (RPCCEE) in
Hungary
,
Romania
and western
Ukraine
. This denomination is unique in that it had its roots in a state Reformed
church that was less than Reformed even when it began as a Protestant church in
the 16th century.
Although
almost all the pastors were members of this church (Hungarian Reformed Church)
when they were seminary students (at a mission school pioneered by Dr. Robert
Rapp), they were banned from ministering in that church upon graduation and
eventually excommunicated when they did not renounce their biblical faith. This
left them no choice but to begin a new church founded on the final authority of
the Scriptures and the guidance of Reformed and Presbyterian confessions (The
Heidelberg Catechism and the
Westminster
standards.)
I was asked
to give a series of talks on the book of Jonah at an annual co-workers camp in
Romania
and preach and lead Bible studies for four congregations in
Hungary
. It soon became evident, however, that God sent me over also to be a student.
Here are a few of the things I learned about the Christian life and ministry
from my new Hungarian co-workers.
1/
Pastors should be hard workers.
The pastors with whom I fellowshipped took very little time for personal
recreation (they wouldn’t be able to compete in a game of golf with most
American pastors!) Their vacations
typically consist of gathering with other Christian families for a week of
edification. They are diligent
workers, collectively publishing a practical theological journal, republishing
Reformed books in their Hungarian language and maintaining a wide variety of
ministries both inside and outside their local congregations.
2/
Success in the ministry is about faithfulness, not numerical growth.
I was often asked about the size of my own congregation. “Well,
it’s quite a small congregation” I answered at first. “We
have only about 60 people.”
After learning that this is about twice the size of their largest
congregation, I began to give a more positive answer.
I confessed that one of the struggles in my ministry is a desire for
personal recog-nition and popularity (I suspect this is one of the common
occupational hazards pastors face.) I
was humbled by how little these pastors could expect in the way of public
recognition – a helpful reminder that our greatest goal is not the smiles of
men but the smile of God.
3/
The ministry is a sacrifice. Since
Hungary
is a member of the European Union, the cost of living is comparable to what we
would find in the Midwest of the
United States
. Despite this similarity, the
pastors’ salaries come to around ten percent of my salary.
One pastor explained that if he took his family out to dinner at a
restaurant about five times in a month, his entire salary would be used up.
How easy it is in wealthy countries to forget Jesus’ admonition to
“count the cost” of discipleship (and ministry pay – Luke 14:28).
I was startled to learn that the entire church exists on an annual budget
of $200,000! (Half of this now comes from the church itself, the rest of it from
its mission here in the
United States
.)
4/
Maintaining convictions comes with a cost.
One of the discouragements that this young group has faced is that very
few of the pastors in the state Reformed church have stood with them, much less
come out to help them. In fact, very
few have been willing to call for real reform within the church even when they
agree it needs to take place. Most
of the older pastors in the state church are concerned about losing their
prestigious and comfortable positions (they are paid much more than those in the
RPCCEE). It would be very easy for
these men to exchange their convictions for a far easier ministry.
5/
Spiritual disciplines are crucial for a vibrant Christian life.
One of the pastors paraphrased Spurgeon as saying, “I am concerned that
if a man does not keep regular times of prayer, he is probably not praying at
all.” We tend to think of
schedules as restrictive. Actually they free us from the “tyranny of the
urgent” (to quote Mark Dever from The
Deliberate Church, a book I greatly enjoyed reading while on my trip).
The pastors with whom I spent my time gave a great example of the kind of
prayer and Bible reading regimens that I so often lack.
I could go on
and on talking about lessons learned in hospitality, frugality and Christian
camaraderie. So the next time
someone asks you to “Come over and help us” (Acts 16:9) they might be
saying, “Come over and (be) help(ed)!” // For more from Pastor Boekestein,
visit his blog at www.lifereformation.org
Let
me give you a few prayer requests. 1) We are in the midst of our summer camp
season in
Hungary
,
Romania
and
Ukraine
. The Lord has been greatly blessing
all the camps so far with many coming to be instructed in the Word of God, some
of them learning about Christ for the first time.
Pray God would continue to pour out His Spirit and open hearts as He
opened the heart of
Lydia
to believe. 2) Mihaly Siko is getting off to a wonderful start with his new
church plant in
Debrecen
,
Hungary
’s second largest city. 3) Sandor Tamas is also seeing good progress in his
new church plant in
Csikszereda
,
Romania
. Pray for God’s continued
blessing on Mihaly and Sandor’s work, and pray for Sandor’s site where we
hope to begin construction in ten days. 4) Pray for all 16 men and their 22
congregations. And 5) for our home
schooling efforts in four countries (
Hungary
,
Romania
,
Ukraine
and
Slovakia
).
And now our financial needs. Summer
is normally a slow time financially. Pray
it would not be so this summer. First,
we have an ongoing need to provide half of what our men need to evangelize and
build their congregations until they are strong enough to be fully
self-supporting. (This takes $8,500 a month.)
We also have two special projects at this time.
Lehel Lazslo’s 17-year car in
Erdoszentgyorgy
,
Romania
is on its last legs. We need $7,000
to replace it with a two-year old Romanian Dacia.
Our other project is the construction of a parsonage and meeting hall in
Csikszereda
,
Romania
. We had $15,000 on hand and used it
to buy materials for the foundation (first phase of the work).
We still need $60,000 to finish the project, but only $25,000 of it at
this time to keep going into mid-September.
You probably cannot go and do what our men are doing, but you can go in
your prayers for the work and in your sacrificial giving.
Let us remember the words of our blessed Savior, “While it is day, we
must do the work of Him who sent me. For
the night is coming when no man can work.” (John 9:4)
Yours in His faithfulness,
Bob and Clara Rapp
