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Cartereten 2015-ben elindult egy missziós munka, amire növekvő tendenciában érkeznek önkéntesek és a közösen elvégzett feladatok közben és után történik az evangélizáció, ami a mi Urunk kegyelméből talán megalapozza majd a gyülekezet jövőjét. Egyházunkál szerepet kapott a különböző egyházi feladatok delegálása, ami a havi rendszereséggel megrendezett lelkészgyűléseinken is több keleti parti egyház lelkipásztora szerint eredményesen működik a híveink körében.Úgy gondolom, hogy ez igazolja a Szentírást és emlékeztet bennünket küldetésünkre, hogy szolgáljunk és leljük örömünket a szolgálatban, ahogy Péter első levelében (9-11) is olvashatjuk: ,,Legyetek egymással vendégszeretők zúgolódás nélkül. Ki milyen lelki ajándékot kapott, úgy szolgáljatok azzal egymásnak, mint Isten sokféle kegyelmének jó sáfárai: ha valaki prédikál, úgy mondja szavait, mint Isten igéit, ha valaki szolgál, úgy szolgáljon, mint aki azt Istentől kapott erővel végzi, hogy mindenkoron az Isten dicsőíttessék Jézus Krisztus által, akié a dicsőség és a hatalom örökkön-örökké. Ámen.”
Nt. Devecseri Tamás, lelkipásztor |
Thy people here in Carteret turned to the Lord the same way as their leader; Mr. Leonard Sendelsky was received in God’s heavenly home on December 6th of 2014. Mr. Sendelsky, who was the chief elder of the congregation for more than forty years, left the church in an excellent financial condition and in the hands of the Reverend Tamas Devecseri, who was serving the church as a full time, interim pastor since September 2012 and became installed on October 24th 2015.
Looking back a year later to examine the life of our congregation it is fair to say that the year of 2015 was about looking forward in Carteret and trusting God to lead us. During the year, we worked together with our church council to make our church a welcoming, loving community of Christ Jesus. We encouraged each other to be not only listeners, but doers of the Word of God. Throughout the year we organized fundraisers to help our church and our community financially and by delivering love and the message of hope in many shapes and forms to people close and far. For the fourth time in 2015 we celebrated our Hungarian Heritage on May 16th and we also organized our 4th Annual Advent Concert. |
We adopted a needy family for Christmas from our neighborhood to make them feel loved in their period of gloom. Our congregation hosted the Church Women United Conference on May 3rd inviting a speaker, Ms. Sandie Beresford to enlighten us on modern day slavery and human trafficking. The church welcomed also the Hungarian Ministerial Association for their monthly meeting in November.In the year of 2015 we kept our traditional 9:30AM English and 11:15AM Hungarian worship services. We had several ecumenical gatherings with the local Presbyterian and Lutheran congregations. The congregation had two picnics in the summer months, one in our church yard and one in the Carteret Park with an ecumenical worship service. We have raised the Hungarian flag in commemoration with the 1956 Hungarian Revolution at the town hall of Carteret. In the year 2015 we had one adult baptism and one wedding in our congregation. Our church membership has grown a little bit despite we had two families moving out of Carteret, from our church family. We held two bible study series, one during Lent and the other one during Advent.
The congregation, under the leadership of the church council formed several committees in the year of 2015, which did not exist before. The Mission Committee and the Property Committee became the most essential source of delivering physical and spiritual work in our church. The Mission Committee helped the dreams of advancing towards reality in helping our community, while the Property Committee ensured the constant need of renewal of the manse and the church building. In the year of 2015 our social hall received the new windows; the new light fixtures that we planned to change for many years. In the church tower one of the facades was rebuilt after many years of deterioration. A new computerized church bell system was installed and dedicated on Easter Sunday, which was donated to our church by our beloved member, Ms. Lydia Comba. During the summer months the church manse was renovated on the main floor and on the second floor with new windows installed. A backyard shed was built at the time of the manse’s renovation, so the garage of the manse could be cleared out and to be used for its original purpose, for the minister’s car.
The congregation, under the leadership of the church council formed several committees in the year of 2015, which did not exist before. The Mission Committee and the Property Committee became the most essential source of delivering physical and spiritual work in our church. The Mission Committee helped the dreams of advancing towards reality in helping our community, while the Property Committee ensured the constant need of renewal of the manse and the church building. In the year of 2015 our social hall received the new windows; the new light fixtures that we planned to change for many years. In the church tower one of the facades was rebuilt after many years of deterioration. A new computerized church bell system was installed and dedicated on Easter Sunday, which was donated to our church by our beloved member, Ms. Lydia Comba. During the summer months the church manse was renovated on the main floor and on the second floor with new windows installed. A backyard shed was built at the time of the manse’s renovation, so the garage of the manse could be cleared out and to be used for its original purpose, for the minister’s car.
As a conclusion allow me to testify to that, when the Lord leads you and you follow you will not be alone. At the beginning of the year in 2015 many of us had the notion that this is going to be a hard, cold and lonely journey, but God comforted us with each other. The Lord has provided miracles along the way, such as our volunteer organist Marianne Wilson. Her beautiful music mad our many Sundays oozing from God’s love that we could touch as we were inspired by his grace. With Marianne’s direction our small congregation received another gift from above that we never even dreamed of, a church choir. Who can ask for more? May our journey continue with asking God to search us, know us, test us and lead us to his eternal life and glory.
Respectfully submitted by Reverend Tamas Devecseri
Copyright © 2016, by Rev. Tamas Devecseri, all rights reserved.
Respectfully submitted by Reverend Tamas Devecseri
Copyright © 2016, by Rev. Tamas Devecseri, all rights reserved.