Dear Praying, Helping Friends:
We are grateful to the Lord for
steady growth in this, His work. None
of the 22 congregations our men are building are fully organized or, except for
a few, can fully sustain themselves. But
they are moving in this direction. In
2 Timothy 2:2, Paul tells Timothy: “And those things you have heard me say in
the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will be qualified to
teach others also.” Note the
process. First, Paul refers to the
truth that God had revealed to him as an apostle (1 Cor. 15:8).
Then he refers to Timothy, a man he personally chose to train when he saw
God’s hand on him. (Acts 16:1-3). Now
he reminds Timothy to entrust that truth to “reliable men”.
Finally, he refers to “others” that these “reliable men” must
teach. It has been my privilege in
life to learn the Word from godly men like Allan A. MacRae and now, in the
Hungarian lands, to entrust it to “reliable men” – 15 of them – men who
are teaching and training others in congregations in Hungary, Romania, Ukraine.
In Mt. 28:18-20 our Lord made it clear that this “discipling” process
is the heart and soul of missionary work.
And what is the great end of this work? Our
Lord made it clear when He said: “I will build my church, and the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it.” (Mt. 16:18)
You see, God’s purpose is much more than winning the elect; it is
gathering them into congregations that have the marks of a true church.
So if “missionaries” are not training nationals who can teach and
train others, they are not missionaries at all.
The Lord may use others – and often does - to help missionaries and be
crucial to the work. But unless the
word “missionary” is watered down, it should be reserved for those who are
on a mission, called of the Lord to carry the divine Word to other lands, and
doing it by entrusting that Word to “reliable men” who can teach others, all
with the aim of building the Christ’s church in that land.
When we read the words of our Lord Jesus in Matthew 16:18, it would be easy to
think, since He is the almighty Builder and Protector of His church, that He has
no need of men. But the Apostle
Paul, while careful to give the Lord all the glory, did not view his work as
insignificant. Rather, he saw
himself as God’s servant, God’s fellow worker, an “expert builder”. (1
Cor. 3:5-10) Here is the biblical
balance. Our Lord does all the work
that we cannot do. We can count on
that! At the same time, He uses men
to build His church. They must, in
fact, be “expert builders”! And,
so, we must be about the Master’s business until He comes, and that business
is building His church!
In 1990, the Lord called me to the
Hungarian lands. In 1992, He opened
the way to begin a school to teach and train “reliable men.”
Later, as these “reliable men” graduated, the Lord led them out to
teach and train “others”. We now
have 22 small congregations and four preaching points in four countries.
And because all our congregations (with one exception) began at zero,
they are not yet self-governing or self-supporting.
However, we hope that some of them will not only be able to support
themselves and their pastors soon, but also govern themselves (ruling elders).
We are also praying about the possibility (this summer) of sub-dividing
the work in
Romania
and in Hungary/Ukraine into two presbyteries.
Presbytery meetings would be held in each region, probably spring and
fall, while a synod (of both presbyteries) would meet, probably in January and
July. These developments reflect the
progress being made by the RPCCEE (Reformed Presbyterian Church of Central &
Eastern Europe).
In Miskolc, Hungary where our school (Karolyi Gaspar Institute) is
located, our two men there, Imre Szoke and Gyula Bagoly, are doing
many things, not only building a congregation there, not only running the
school’s Distance Education program, but also helping to build our work in
Ukraine and other parts of Hungary. In
addition, they are spearheading our publications ministry for the entire church.
The latest in
Hungary
is God’s call for Gyula to go in September to be resident pastor of our
congregation in Balaton Almadi. The
people there are full of joy. Moreover,
they now have their own building, with enough room for the congregation, Gyula
and his family, and guest rooms for regional conferences.
We made the final payment just last week, and now it is ours.
It is no small thing, too, that in recent evangelistic meetings, new
people were out, hearing the Gospel. The
work in
Budapest
guided by Mihaly Siko is also surging forward.
Misi and Zita have not yet been given children of their own by the Lord,
but they have a growing family of spiritual children, and Zita is a really
precious helper to Misi.
In
Ukraine
, the most important thing of late is our effort to help our three men (Bertalan
Lorinc, Istvan Gal, Geza Demeter) improve in their ability to
give good pastoral care and reach out to people in the field the Lord has given
them. Of the three countries where
we have congregations, the work in
Ukraine
has been the slowest. But even
there, the pace is quickening. The
children’s ministry is growing. The
care of the flock is improving. New
things are happening such as a recent excursion to a nearby lake area where 30
people, including some who are not yet members of our church, had a great time
of fellowship and spiritual intake. Our
men are planning to put up a book table at the annual “city day” in
Beregszasz. They also want to start
a hospital visitation program.
In
Romania
, Ferenc Kovacs is busy preparing for another big camp season.
He also reports they recently started a new Bible study in the nearby
town of
Parajd
. Four of our members wanted it, and
last week, in addition to our four members, six people, not our members, came.
Kalman Kovacs (not related to Ferenc) helps Ferenc in many ways,
including leading this new group. I
am especially encouraged when I see our members working with our pastors like
this. Attila Szasz is seeing
nice growth in his work in Kolozsvar (Cluj).
Even a year ago, the Lord’s Day worship had only three or four people.
But we knew, even then, we were doing things the right way.
And, so, Attila’s Friday evening evangelistic meetings now average 12
to 20 people, and the Lord’s Day worship 6 to 12 people.
Sandor Molnar is really getting a “handle” on his ministry.
Not only does he have a nice new building, but he is becoming competent
in his work as a preacher, evangelist, pastor and counselor.
Lehel Laszlo’s work (two congregations) is blossoming.
So is Szabolcs Simon’s (three congregations).
Sandor Tamas (single) continues to be a fine assistant to Gabor
Curcubet. Gabor has two
congregations, directs our home schooling in
Romania
, and is increasingly engaged in promoting creationism.
A month ago, he spoke to 120 high school students, bringing in the Gospel
as well. The students, so used to
atheism, were greatly moved. And two
weeks ago, Gabor held a big exhibition in the city of
Szekelyudvarhely
. Several hundred people came and
paid a lot of attention. Csaba
Zolya and Ibolya were married May 10 and are now on their “honeyweek”
before returning to Vulkan where they have a new building and growing
congregation.
Pray, then, for God’s ongoing blessing in all these efforts, including
Gabor’s efforts to influence the Romanian government to legalize home
schooling. He is now in touch with
the Committee on Alternative Learning Methods in the Ministry of Education and
hopes to testify before them soon. Thank
you, too, for your prayers for Clara and me.
We need daily strength from Him. Thank
you also for praying for me in recent cataract surgery (right eye).
It went well, praise the Lord.
Financially, we are in great need
of your continued help. The reserve
we had in
Hungary
has all been spent to buy the new property in Balaton.
We now need $7,000 to refurbish it and $9,500 to pay the transfer tax.
In
Romania
, Csaba’s car is 20 years old and a veritable rust-bucket that no longer can
pass inspection. We need $12,000 for
this. We are also coming into the
summer months when our Medicare secondary insurance needs paid (annual premium
$3,800). Please, above all, pray for
this ministry, then ask the Lord to show you how you can help.
Yours in
His glorious service,
Bob and
Clara Rapp
