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