The Life of the Szekszard Methodist Church
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Transcript of The Life of the Szekszard Methodist Church
Our Congregation, our community
January – June 2011.
1
January
In January the congre-
gation took leave of
two brothers and sis-
ters of us. One of them
was Etelka Szeplaki’s
father in Bataszek. Our
pastor, Zoltan Kovacs
preached the word of
God about the man
who was paralysed, and
was carried by his four friends. “Where are our loved people
safely? In the presence of Jesus” – sounded the Gospel. After
the ceremony the bereaved family has received the participants
in their house. Two weeks later was the burial ceremony of
Gyorgyi Szabone’s mother in Szekszard. The testimony was
from the book of Job: “As for me, I know that my Redeemer
lives, and that as the last he will stand upon the earth. And af-
ter my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God,
whom I will see for myself, and whom my own eyes will behold,
and not another.”
2
Between 17-
22th, January,
2011. was hold
the Ecumenical
Prayer Circle in
Szekszard and
Gyorkony too.
In Szekszard –
traditionally –
we were mov-
ing from
church to church in every evening, to hear the Good News, that
were preached our pastors. On Thursday the Baptist pastor
served in our Methodist Chapel. The theme was the Holy
Communion. Our pastor was serving in the Reformed church on
Tuesday, in the Lutheran church(Sarszentlorinc) on Wednesday,
and in an other Reformed church(Bogyiszlo) on Saturday by the
Gospel.
3
February
Our three congre-
gations hold their
Charge Conference
on 10th February in
Szekszard. Above
the reports from
the last year, the
future plans were
mentioned as well.
Our pastor remem-
bered back with the following Bible verse to the very hard last
year: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who
weep.” (Romans 12:15). The conference was led by superinten-
dent Istvan Csernak. It was the last year as a supervisor pastor
Jozsef Gyurko, to who we give thanks for his generous work.
The meeting was closed with an Agape.
4
March On 3th March in the
Lutheran church was
organized the Ecu-
menical Women
Prayer Day, in Szeks-
zard. In this year the
prayer requests
were for the Chilean
Christians. From our
community there
were women to participate in this event, Gabriella Kovacs and
Gyorgyi Szabone were reading Scripture readings in this after-
noon.
On 8th March, the
Szekszard Blue Cross
Group and the Paks
Group hold a com-
mon meeting in
Paks. After the
greetings and sing-
ings Jozsef Racz reformed pastor was telling the Bible message.
In the end of this occasion we were talking about this reading
an having some cookies brought by the participants.
5
Between 11-14th March, Youth Camp was organized in Dombo-
var – near Szekszard. For this meeting young people come to-
gether from all the congregations in Hungarian Methodist
Church. On Saturday, our Pastor Zoltan Kovacs gave a lecture,
what the Bible says about the families. The pastor family and a
young men – Zoltan Horvath – from Paks joined this group too.
The UMC in Hungary
hold the 79th Annual
Conference from 13-
16th April in Kaposvar.
Etelka Szeplaki was
our lay, and Zoltan
Kovacs our clergy del-
egate in this confe-
rence. Friday was a very jo yful event for all of our communities,
because Bishop Patrick Streiff ordained Zoltan Kovacs as an
Elder in the UMC, in the evening worship service. We wish
God’s blessing for his
service and for his
family’s life as well.
Our congregation
greeted the newly
ordained minister on
Sunday.
6
From 20-22th April, Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday and
Good Friday were three preparation day for our communities
to Easter Celebration. On Wednesday in Gyorkony, on Thursday
with a supper in Paks, and on Friday with the Good Friday mes-
sage in Szekszard remembered of the passion and death of Chr-
ist. And prepared for Easter Sunday, when with Holy Commu-
nion celebrated we the Resurrection of our Lord.
In our worship service in Szekszard we started a new ministry
for the children, named “Wiggletime”. In the opening of the
service the children can hear a short story from the Bible, be-
fore the congregation by our pastor. All the community wel-
come with joy these little participants.
7
May
From 20-22th May was
organized the Teenager
Camp in our Church
Centre, Obuda. Three
teenagers participated
in this meeting, who
were escorted by our
pastor. Barnabas, Do-
nat and Timea were
very happy to join the
other 50 teens, from all over the country. The topic was the
Psalm 139. How God thinks about us, how He knows us. So we
can get to know Him too. Singing many songs, playing many
games, going for a trip to an Island, and finishing with a joyful
worship service. The congregation were keeping in prayer our
trip to this camp.
8
June
In the begin-
ning of
June(4th) our
Etelka and her
family invited
the three con-
grega-
tions(Szekszard,
Gyorkony, Paks)
into their home
in Bataszek. The local Reformed Church and the reformed pas-
tor also joined this meeting. The topic was the “Witnessing”. In
the morning there was a study about this theme by the re-
formed pastor, completed by a witnessing. After the lunch in
two small groups were deepened this theme, with conversa-
tions. Late in the
afternoon the
people left for
home. We are
very grateful for
God to have an
opportunity to
meet with each
other, and the
other denomina-
tion too.
9
Our Plans for Summertime
24-26th June, Camp for teens from Szolnok UMC in Gyorkony
18-22th July, Summer Camp for Roma Children in Gyorkony
1-7th August, Spiritual Retreat for Youth in Gyorkony