From the September-December 2011 Issue
THE HUNGARIAN GATE - London
Istvan and Tunde Salanki
The Hungarian gate“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
As children of the Almighty God it is our duty to point towards the narrow way that leads to life. There are many ways to do that. The most recent way our church used was to build a physical gate that people may have something unusual to see and talk about. The thousand-year tradition of the “székelykapu” reached London in 2011 and opened a gate for us in evangelism. The newly erected Hungarian gate got the Hungarian community in London talking. We had about 150 people for our grand Opening Ceremony, including the Hungarian Ambassador, our local MP, the Mayor of our borough and a representative of the Hungarian Press Agency. As always, our aim was to get the news of our church to as many as possible. With an ever changing congregation we need constant “advertisement”.
But what benefit would it be if there was no spiritual input?! The Hungarians visiting us can read the inviting words of Jesus: “Come to me all…” They look at the carving of the Lamb of God with the flag – who alone gained victory above the powers of darkness. Entering this traditional gate people often comment: “We just arrived home.” We pray that this may lead them to the heavenly home as well! This has proved to be the case on some occasions. God is still at work and He is saving people in mysterious ways. They found the narrow way because the Lord Jesus showed them by saying “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
This Pentecost we baptised four people: Veronika, Mónika, Lajos and István. God worked in their lives in different ways, which is very encouraging. We pray for more conversions to come as newcomers hopefully arrive in the autumn. We covet your prayers for those who are leaving us for good this summer, that they may be a good testimony at home and many may be saved by their witnessing.
I would like to share the testimony of one of the young men baptised, István, a Hungarian speaker from Slovakia.