“He leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name sake.” Ps 23:2-3.
Dear Friends and Family,
Sitting on the terrace of an old castle with a view over the characteristic hills of Tuscany, I felt myself recovering just like that. Enjoying a good book, visiting beautiful cities like Florence and Sienna, a delicious meal in one of the numerous little restaurants, playing the exciting game “The settlers of Catan” with my nephew Alexander (who always won), catching up on all the news and the occasional dip in the swimming pool to cool off. That was needed because temperatures went up to 42 degrees Celsius! These were the ingredients of a fantastic weeks' holiday in Italy with my sister Corien and brother-in-law Marc and their children. The previous week, I had already had a great time with my other sister Willemien and her husband Jan and my four-month-old nephew Mattias, who came to Hungary on holiday. I was able to practice my skills as an aunt again. It really was a time to recover from a very busy period, and to recharge my batteries. 'He leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.'
I realised that after two really busy years without a proper holiday, I really needed one. You will no doubt know exactly what I mean.
Please pray that in the future I will be able to use my time wisely and will be able to distinguish between what is important and what is urgent.
The ins and outs of the Missions Institute
In the meantime, a lot of work has been done at the Missions Institute to work out the plans to extend the library. Every week Kati, the head of administration and finances, and Kati, our librarian, sat around the table with Veronika and the architect and his team. There is a great deal involved before everything has been discussed in detail.
Zita was invited to speak at a women's conference with several hundred participants in the Hungarian-speaking part of Romania. An ever-recurring theme in her talks is how women can study the Bible together in their congregations, and how these Bible study groups can be instrumental in the work of evangelism. Hilda led a seminar at a conference for Christian students about how the gospel can be communicated in a comprehensible way to the unchurched and those on the fringes of the Church.
Ready for the off
The summer period was also used to prepare for the coming academic year. For the first time, a sixth year group will be started at the Reformed Theological Academy in Papa. As the chairs in Practical Theology and Missiology are responsible for this year with a special focus on placements, there is a lot to do to get this up and running for the first time. The students have a period of practical work of ten weeks in a local congregation, followed by a week's placement in a deaconal (social care) organisation. It is unique that there is also the opportunity for a week's field work in a cross cultural setting. Between the placements, intensive study weeks are held, in which, besides an evaluation of the placements, there is also room for teaching in the subjects of missionary church development, evangelisation, diakonia etc. The aim of this year is to help the students take the step from theory to practice, so that they are able to clearly proclaim the Word of God, and to help their churches to take on the challenge of missions, evangelism and social work (diakonia), and to also equip their Church members to be witnesses in today's world. All together, it will be an exciting year, not only for them but also for us as teachers.
At the Theological Faculty of the Karoli Gaspar University and the Lutheran Theological Faculty, a course about missions to gypsies will be given by Eszter Dani, who has personally worked for years among gypsies (Romanies) in the Lower Carpathians. Please pray that many students will enrol.
A new initiative is the evening class in Gospel and Culture, which will be led by Dora Bernhardt for interested Church members and students. The credit system, which has recently been introduced in the universities, requires that all students obtain 10% of their credits in another subject. This provides a great opportunity for the Missions Institute to provide courses about missiological subjects for students from other faculties.
And of course, we are also continuing the postdoc course in Missiology. These students, too, will also have to do field work. We hope that it will be possible to find practical placements outside Hungary as well, so that the students can be exposed to the challenges of missions in another culture. If you know of any opportunities please let us know!
Long-term plans
In June, we started making long-term strategy plans. The first step was to evaluate our ministry of the last few years. What was successful, what are we good at, and what less good?
Please pray for wisdom in this respect and that we are able to spend sufficient time on the process of evaluation. There is always a great danger of being too busy putting out fires, so that there is little time left to quietly consider long-term policy.
“VIP” visitor
Last week, I received a pastoral visit from the president of the Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church, Rev. Arie W. van der Plas. The purpose of his visit was to strengthen the ties with one of the members of his national 'flock'. His years of experience in Eastern Europe before the 'changes' made it particularly interesting to talk about the blessings and concerns of today and the challenges linked with the new situation, as many countries of the former Eastern block will be joining the European Union on 1st May 2004. What will be the consequences for the Churches? It was also good for me to catch up on the Church situation in the Netherlands, the deep concerns regarding the unification process of the three main protestant churches, but also to talk about the challenges of the future, how the new unified Church could fulfil its missionary calling in the secularised Netherlands. It was very encouraging to note that the work that I am able to do on behalf of the Dutch Reformed Church in Hungary is also prayerfully supported by the 'higher echelons' of the Church.
Thankfulness
With great thankfulness, we recently heard that one of the board members of the Missions Institute, Rev. Peter Gancs, has been elected the new bishop of one of the three Church districts of the Lutheran Church in Hungary. His grandfather played an important role last century in the Hungarian revival in the twenties and thirties (see my dissertation). His mother-in-law Veronika has been working at the Missions Institute for many years, and Peter too has made a considerable contribution in the almost ten years that he has been on the board.
Pray for him as he is granted this office, for wisdom to lead the flock entrusted to him.
Finally
At the end of June, I received my professors degree. It was good that family and friends from the Netherlands were represented on this happy occasion. We celebrated with a garden party with famous Hungarian goulash soup, cooked in an iron pot over a wood fire. Members of my Hungarian 'home Church' took care of this. There were lots of people present. It was really heart-warming!
It is my prayer that you too may experience the truth of ps. 23 in your personal lives. Thank you for your faithful support and prayers.
Yours sincerely in Christ,
Anne-Marie Kool
