Paying Respect and Giving Thanks
As a servant of God, I am humbled to be the pastor of our small, but faithful church family. I would like to thank my wife, you and our Church Council Members for their work to support our congregation throughout the year, which often appeared to be difficult in 2017. We have lost several good friends, whom God called upon to return to his kingdom. These good Christian brothers and sister will be missed and never forgotten. We honor and cherish the memory of William Legeny, Charles Fazekas Frank Alexai, Frank DiFuvio, Chief Elder, Michael Kovacs and Julia Legeny.
As a servant of God, I am humbled to be the pastor of our small, but faithful church family. I would like to thank my wife, you and our Church Council Members for their work to support our congregation throughout the year, which often appeared to be difficult in 2017. We have lost several good friends, whom God called upon to return to his kingdom. These good Christian brothers and sister will be missed and never forgotten. We honor and cherish the memory of William Legeny, Charles Fazekas Frank Alexai, Frank DiFuvio, Chief Elder, Michael Kovacs and Julia Legeny.
Non-Pastoral Duties Performed
In 2017 several families of our church community moved away from our immediate area in hope for a better future elsewhere, which means we have lost some active church members. The congregation felt this significantly during the summer months, when people also took off time for a well-deserved vacation and during the time when our social hall was renovated. This was a tremendous undertaking that I had to plan, supervise and put on the property manager’s hat. Of course, I was also the property manager throughout other smaller scale maintenance jobs over the year for the church building and for the manse. Some of these jobs included fixing the garage roof of the manse, removing shrubs and trees from the property of the church and manse and creating a safety pavement on the street side of our church building to prevent flooding. I managed to organize people to clean the church, maintain the lawn, shovel the snow and put salt on icy surfaces in the winter time.
As your pastor I also fulfilled the duties and all aspects of the church secretary, writing bills, opening mail, mailing bulletins, filing, records keeping and corresponding in all church businesses. I have responded to telephone calls and recorded telephone messages. I created email accounts, which I used regularly to communicate with members, clergy and other business associates of the church. I made all necessary purchases for the church, when it was needed. I created all printouts for all Church Council Meetings. For the fifth year in a row I completed the bulletins every week for our congregation in English and in Hungarian with small devotionals to provide spiritual care for all, even for our homebound church members. I have provided music for our worship services by building my musical library for the congregation both in English and Hungarian. I led the congregation musically during most worship services without an organist. For the fourth year I have managed the congregations’ website with weekly updates about the life of our church. I also created and managed the Facebook page of the church. Throughout the year, I documented and deposited the congregation’s donations. I have created different accounting documents in the church computer, which provides us analysis, reports and statistics about the congregations spending, banking and donating habits, which saves the church money by not paying an accountant. I opened the church and locked up the church for all church activities. I turned up and down the lights, heat or air conditioning and sound system before and after sanctuary use. I have purchased bread and wine for all Holy Communion services, organized and prepared the elements of the sacrament. After Holy Communion I washed all Holy Communion equipment before I put them away. I hung on the hymn number plates the English and Hungarian hymns for all worship services, I have provided prayer booklets for our membership throughout the year. Before the social hall renovation, I removed all furniture from the social hall with my wife and after the renovation I refurnished the social hall with my wife. I have purchased picture frames and enlarged current pictures to decorate our social hall. I hung all the pictures in the social hall with other decorations. I have stored the old pictures, so in the future they can be selected, framed and hung in the social hall.
Pastoral Services Performed
In my service as your spiritual leader, the year of 2017 was full of blessings. I conducted Hungarian and English worship services for our congregation on Sundays regularly. Seven times we have celebrated our God in a combined Hungarian and English worship service. I have organized and participated in numerous ecumenical worship services with the First Presbyterian and Lutheran congregation of Carteret, such as Good Friday, Ash Wednesday, Thanksgiving and New Years’ day service. With my leadership we have set the table for Holy Communion on all traditional Christian Holidays as our By-Laws require and also on each first Sunday of the month since the fall. I organized four Bible Study sessions throughout the year with continuity. These studies were well attended, averaging to eight people per study. I have visited and called homebound and sick members of our church weekly. I organized and chaired more than ten Church Council Meetings in 2017 and I supervised our congregation as the host of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America Annual Meeting of the Eastern Classis in May. I have represented our congregation in several meetings during the year, including township gatherings, ecumenical clergy assemblies and also in the Hungarian Minister Association gatherings, which I also chaired for the second year. I officiated five funerals and one marriage ceremony in our congregation in 2017. There was no Baptism ceremony in our congregation in 2017, nor Confirmations. Before Christmas and before Easter I have written and mailed out greeting letters to all of our members and friends with a request to pledge a donation to our beloved church. I initiated numerous missions for our Church Council and to our church membership with success, including the spiritual and physical help to a Spanish congregation (Iglesia Biblica De Rahway) for eight months during the year. Just like in previous years, in 2017, I helped out 3-4 times our neighboring Presbyterian and Lutheran congregations in providing pastoral care, while their pastor was on vacation.
Overall, I served our congregation tirelessly in 2017, similarly to previous years to maintain a spiritually and physically balanced organization with the help of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, one true God of all. May the Lord give us strength and wisdom to be good servants of this small, but loving church for many years and decades to come.
With brotherly love,
The Reverend Tamás Devecseri
In 2017 several families of our church community moved away from our immediate area in hope for a better future elsewhere, which means we have lost some active church members. The congregation felt this significantly during the summer months, when people also took off time for a well-deserved vacation and during the time when our social hall was renovated. This was a tremendous undertaking that I had to plan, supervise and put on the property manager’s hat. Of course, I was also the property manager throughout other smaller scale maintenance jobs over the year for the church building and for the manse. Some of these jobs included fixing the garage roof of the manse, removing shrubs and trees from the property of the church and manse and creating a safety pavement on the street side of our church building to prevent flooding. I managed to organize people to clean the church, maintain the lawn, shovel the snow and put salt on icy surfaces in the winter time.
As your pastor I also fulfilled the duties and all aspects of the church secretary, writing bills, opening mail, mailing bulletins, filing, records keeping and corresponding in all church businesses. I have responded to telephone calls and recorded telephone messages. I created email accounts, which I used regularly to communicate with members, clergy and other business associates of the church. I made all necessary purchases for the church, when it was needed. I created all printouts for all Church Council Meetings. For the fifth year in a row I completed the bulletins every week for our congregation in English and in Hungarian with small devotionals to provide spiritual care for all, even for our homebound church members. I have provided music for our worship services by building my musical library for the congregation both in English and Hungarian. I led the congregation musically during most worship services without an organist. For the fourth year I have managed the congregations’ website with weekly updates about the life of our church. I also created and managed the Facebook page of the church. Throughout the year, I documented and deposited the congregation’s donations. I have created different accounting documents in the church computer, which provides us analysis, reports and statistics about the congregations spending, banking and donating habits, which saves the church money by not paying an accountant. I opened the church and locked up the church for all church activities. I turned up and down the lights, heat or air conditioning and sound system before and after sanctuary use. I have purchased bread and wine for all Holy Communion services, organized and prepared the elements of the sacrament. After Holy Communion I washed all Holy Communion equipment before I put them away. I hung on the hymn number plates the English and Hungarian hymns for all worship services, I have provided prayer booklets for our membership throughout the year. Before the social hall renovation, I removed all furniture from the social hall with my wife and after the renovation I refurnished the social hall with my wife. I have purchased picture frames and enlarged current pictures to decorate our social hall. I hung all the pictures in the social hall with other decorations. I have stored the old pictures, so in the future they can be selected, framed and hung in the social hall.
Pastoral Services Performed
In my service as your spiritual leader, the year of 2017 was full of blessings. I conducted Hungarian and English worship services for our congregation on Sundays regularly. Seven times we have celebrated our God in a combined Hungarian and English worship service. I have organized and participated in numerous ecumenical worship services with the First Presbyterian and Lutheran congregation of Carteret, such as Good Friday, Ash Wednesday, Thanksgiving and New Years’ day service. With my leadership we have set the table for Holy Communion on all traditional Christian Holidays as our By-Laws require and also on each first Sunday of the month since the fall. I organized four Bible Study sessions throughout the year with continuity. These studies were well attended, averaging to eight people per study. I have visited and called homebound and sick members of our church weekly. I organized and chaired more than ten Church Council Meetings in 2017 and I supervised our congregation as the host of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America Annual Meeting of the Eastern Classis in May. I have represented our congregation in several meetings during the year, including township gatherings, ecumenical clergy assemblies and also in the Hungarian Minister Association gatherings, which I also chaired for the second year. I officiated five funerals and one marriage ceremony in our congregation in 2017. There was no Baptism ceremony in our congregation in 2017, nor Confirmations. Before Christmas and before Easter I have written and mailed out greeting letters to all of our members and friends with a request to pledge a donation to our beloved church. I initiated numerous missions for our Church Council and to our church membership with success, including the spiritual and physical help to a Spanish congregation (Iglesia Biblica De Rahway) for eight months during the year. Just like in previous years, in 2017, I helped out 3-4 times our neighboring Presbyterian and Lutheran congregations in providing pastoral care, while their pastor was on vacation.
Overall, I served our congregation tirelessly in 2017, similarly to previous years to maintain a spiritually and physically balanced organization with the help of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, one true God of all. May the Lord give us strength and wisdom to be good servants of this small, but loving church for many years and decades to come.
With brotherly love,
The Reverend Tamás Devecseri