New Signs of Life from Central and Eastern Europe: September 2011

Friday, September 30, 2011

Third Good News for the City Consultation Budapest

On 19th and 20th of September the Third Good News for the City Consultation was held in Budapest. More and more people realize that Europe is a tough and hard mission field. This is in particular true for urban settings. Pastors in urban ministries are often overworked and lonely. This consultation offered a platform for vision casting for church planting and church renewal in the context of Central and Eastern Europe as well as for honest sharing to work towards cooperation and for sharing the load and to come to personal renewal for those involved in urban ministry. Around hundred church planters and urban pastors from Hungary and neighbouring countries as well as urban ministries specialists from all over the world attended the consultation, which was co-sponsored by Bakke Graduate University in Seattle and the Central and Eastern European Institute for Mission Studies of the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary, the Danubian and Transdanubian Reformed Church District, the Baptist Church in Hungary, and the Churchplanting network of the Evangelical Alliance. Especially honest and personal sharing of Challenges and Opportunities in Church planting and Church renewal by Rev. Eszter Dani, Pastor of Rákoskeresztúr Reformed Church, Budapest, Rev. David Illés, Pastor of Szilágyi Dezső téri Reformed Church, Budapest and Rev. András Harmathy – Pastor of Szigetszentmiklós Ref. Church struck a cord with many participants. Probably one of the greatest achievement of the consultation was to create an athmosphere where participants could share their joys, questions, struggles, and difficulties with each other and with urban scholars and reflective practitioners belonging to the Board of Regents of BGU. One cannot exaggerate the importance of such koinonia for those who work in urban mission and church planting. For the pastors working in urban ministry in Central and Eastern Europe, it is very important establish international connections, and to get feedback from those who have experiences in urban mission in another country and context or had been involved in such ministry for a longer period. The consultation draw attention to urban ministry and church planting, as a very important issue for the present Spiritual life and for the future of the Church. One of the presenters concluded his presentation: “Looking at the Hungarian churches, establishing new congregations is not an option but crucial issue.”