Dear Brothers and Sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ,
"This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces corn - first the stalk, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear." (Mark 4:26-28)
"From everywhere to everywhere"
About ten years ago, a book was published with this title about the great changes which were taking place in missions worldwide. Countries which used to send out missionaries have become mission fields, and the former mission fields in the non-Western world are already sending out more missionaries than the Western countries.
The Brazilian missiologist of Dutch descent, Tonica van der Meer, is a living example of this new development. This colleague in a double sense is at present visiting Hungary and tells from her own experience how much the interest in missionary work has grown in Brazil in recent years. For years, she was herself working in very difficult circumstances as a missionary in Angola, establishing Christian work among students.
Now she is teaching at a missions institute in Vicosa, Brazil. The students show a great interest in mission work among Muslims. All sorts of special courses are given in the area of missionary training. Much attention is paid on training courses in spiritual formation, prayer and pastoral care for the students. Each year as part of their training as missionary workers, the students go on a field trip abroad lasting about a month. We in Central and Eastern Europe can learn a lot from the passion and enthusiasm of these Christians from non-Western countries! The way they organise missionary training courses is also very instructive!
More special visitors!
Another high light of last month was the visit of Dr. Raymond P. Seven and his family from America. In 1997, Ray and his wife Dottie worked for six weeks as volunteers in the Missions Institute. Their contribution in establishing the organisational structure represented a great step forwards at that time. Since then they have been part of the faithful circle of friends of the Missions Institute. Now they came with their children to show them some "precious places" in Hungary and Europe. Even though they can really be referred to as senior citizens - both of them are about eighty - I noticed that there was a great temptation to come and help again! And we would not have refused!
New members of staff
The period of reflection and self-evaluation of the last months appears to have been particularly useful. All sorts of obstacles in the functioning of the missions institute are being revealed. How can we help the Churches in a more structural way to become missional or mission communities? How can we better involve in our work those who have already gained experience in this trainings ministry? How can we improve the functioning of the board so that it can be more involved in matters of content? In this process, we have also had to take some difficult decision, especially with regard to the functioning of our financial and administrative coordinator. With mutual consent, we came to the conclusion that his capacities lie in a different area than that of the post which he is now filling.
It was a great miracle that within a few weeks, we had found a new member of staff for the task of financial and administrative coordinator. Her dedication to this task is revealed by the fact that she is willing to carry out this task for a much lower salary than she has been receiving hitherto. Kati started work yesterday. I have known her since she was a student.
Another reason for much thankfulness is that at last the vacancy for a part-time member of staff for PR and fundraising has finally been filled. About twelve candidates applied for the job. After many discussions, it was unanimously agreed that Agnes was the most suitable. She will be starting work in September.
Actually, I have the strong impression that you have been praying a lot about finding new members of staff considering the fact that we have made so much progress this month.
For a number of you, Dora Bernhardt is an old acquaintance. In the past, we worked together on setting up the Christian Student Work in Hungary. She studied several years at Regent College in Vancouver, CA. She is going to join our team in the area of missiological teaching and program development.
Give thanks for these new appointments and pray for wisdom regarding finding the missing pieces of the jigsaw for our team. We have been talking to a few people about the job of missionary church development. We hope to take a final decision at the beginning of September. Please pray also that the new members of staff will quickly feel at home in our team. And pray for the required funds to fall through.
Closing of the academic year
The months of May and June are always particularly busy because of the end of year exams and the entrance exams. The more than twenty students of the theological academy in Papa had to write a final paper for to the introductory course in missiology on the theme of which elements they would want to emphasise in a new paradigm or model for missions in a context chosen by them. As the students came from five different countries, the papers showed a very interesting picture of the present Church situation in Serbia, Romanian, Ukraine, Slovakia and Hungary. One of them wrote about the importance of city missions, another about how the tiny Hungarian minority in the north of Serbia could fulfil its missionary calling. A third wrote about strengthening the Ukrainian speaking Reformed Churches in Carpathukraine. Part of the task was to discuss these topics with their local pastors. Some of the students reported that the pastors were so surprised by the questions of their students. They never thought about church life different than just the maintenance mode. During the oral exams, we discussed further the themes of the papers. These were fascinating discussions. Pray that we will soon find new staff people to help in the follow up of these discussions. Several students showed a great interest to invite the staff of the Mission Institute to help in training their home congregations to become open mission communities. Unfortunately the papers were teeming with grammatical mistakes!
In order to be admitted to the theological academies, the candidates have to take an oral and a written exam, followed by an admissions interview with the Church commission for theological education. Of the twelve candidates, ten were admitted. It strikes me time and again with what a sense of responsibility this Church commission carries out this task. People are really aware that the decisions can have a great influence on the future of the Church. After all, it is about the admission of future leaders of their congregations! In general the interest for theological education in the whole of Hungary seems to be diminishing. We wonder what could be the reason for this.
How far have you got? A serial with/without an end...
After the above, you will not be surprised to know that despite my good intentions, I have not been able to make much progress with my second thesis. There were just too many current affairs to which I had to attend. I have again been able to get several deferments for the date of submission. However, this month it really must be finished, so that the commission can examine it by the end of August.
But I have made some progress. Last week I had to give a lecture at a particularly interesting conference about "Believing without Belonging" in Breklum, Germany, on the theme of my research. I had accepted this invitation already in December, not knowing then that there would be so many obstacles in the way of finishing it off. It was a great encouragement for me to hear the predominantly positive responses to my presentation.
Please pray for peace and concentration during the coming weeks, so that next time I really can report that I have finished.
This summer won't be much of a holiday for me. I am going to try to take a bit of a break at the weekends. There are no two ways about it, my second thesis must now really be finished! Whether this will happen "all by itself", I don't know!
We have now decided that the decision about continuing the renovation of the lecture hall and the extension of the library must be postponed until the end of August.
Please pray that by this time we will have received sufficient pledges to be able to take a positive decision.
I sincerely wish you all a good holiday period, a real Sabbath time of physical and metal rest and relaxation. May it be for the comfort and strengthening of us all, so that the growth of God's Kingdom will take place "all by itself" (Mk 4:27).
Yours sincerely in Christ,
Anne-Marie Kool
