From the July-September 2008 Issue
60 years on and God is still active
Istvan and Tunde Salanki
Hungarian Reformed Church meeting place‘Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.’ (Matthew 28:19-20)
God’s command to go is very important and we as believers must obey it. There are no two ways about it. Either you go and obey or not. If you obey you will be very surprised to see God’s almighty hands upon you as he saves sinners and gives grace in abundance, far above your expectations. That is what happened at the Hungarian Reformed Church in London. The church celebrated its 60th anniversary at the end of March; 60 years of grace and undeserved blessings that the church has seen over the decades.
Let us have a look at these blessings. First of all, the church was founded on 15th March 1948 by a group of refugees who had a spiritual need for a church where the Word of God was preached in their native language. The church met at different places for ten years, but after that the Lord gave them a property at 17 St. Dunstan’s Road, London. The people were generous in their giving, although they themselves had hardly anything. The Lord sent them a helping hand through the Presbyterian Churches in Northern Ireland and provided for the building that we are using today. The church itself has seen thousands of people travelling through and many of them found forgiveness for their sin and started believing in God.
Most people come to our place today only to hear a Hungarian word and to meet people. Some come for help with jobs and accommodation. Nevertheless, some do come out of spiritual need. It is wonderful to see that God provides these people not only with the things that they ask for, but gives them grace and saves them. That is the most wonderful thing to see. Usually a few weeks later they return to their homeland and they become members of the local church; sometimes they become youth workers, or train for the ministry. So the Lord is gracious. At the anniversary it was nice to see people who were saved here more than twenty years ago speaking to the new converts who were saved just a few months ago, and to see the love of Christ shining on their faces as they shared their testimonies with each other.
These 60 years are a sign from God that he keeps his promises, and that he is with us to the end of the world. This fact should encourage us to go on preaching the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and to see his kingdom growing all the time.
The Lord has allowed us to serve in this church for the last eight years and even we have seen many people saved by his grace. We see them leave, too. The great lesson from this is that we do not build our own church but the Church of the Living God which has no borders or customs; his Church includes every believer in every country. He said this in his command to go and preach to every nation. That includes us, Hungarians. Please pray for more people to be saved and for revival among Hungarians living in London. Our desire is that those saved would share the gospel with all the nationalities that they live and work together with here in London, and with their family and friends when they return home.