Last week, I was in the country of Hungary with a contingency of Reformed Church in America pastors. We are partnering together to launch congregations on the campuses of the University of Debrecen. We strategically chose this country because it already has the largest reformed presence in all of Europe. There are actually more reform congregations in Hungary than in North America. The planting team of pastors in Hungary are highly gifted and relational in their approach. They have a gathering of approximately 160 students on the main campus, 30 students on a second campus, and 20 students on a third campus. Our hope is to start these groups out as Bible studies and then morph them towards weekly worship. Our visit with the church planters was very encouraging for them as well as for us, but there is so much to do in order to reach the nations. People in Hungary generally think of a building when they think of a church. They think building, and the buildings are very old and dilapidated, except for the ones that are historic landmarks in which the government has helped sustain the structures. We have a 6-year commitment to this project.
On the last day of our adventure, we went to the historic city of Budapest, home of some 2 million people and much larger than any other city in the country. We saw some of the historic sites and were joined by an RCA missionary in Budapest who was able to serve as our tour guide and we were able to encourage him in his work there.
Gang, I'm really fired up for this Sunday's message. I have so enjoyed preaching on the book of Nehemiah and we will again ask the question, "What is your wall?" Join us and bring a friend!
Blessings,
JP
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