Scripture Union Hungary Newsletter 2018 June

JUNE 2018

Szentírás Szövetség Scripture Union Hungary

Dear Praying Friends, We have had many challenges in SU Hungary during my 10 years here. Some were bigger, some smaller, but none of them could be compared to the change that is Erzsebet’s departure. A new chapter in the life of SU Hungary, for sure.

Her departure was not what I hoped, waited for, not even something I expected. To be honest, I somehow thought she would be the last one to leave, so her decision came as a big surprise. After she shared how God led her to this decision we were faced with a big challenge: who would fill her shoes? Certainly not me – I thought. I’ve never considered myself leadership material and many things I enjoyed in my position as camp-organizer I knew I would not be able to continue in the new role.

The Board formed a committee and they started the selection process. Of Tamás Daxner course we were also very excited about this in the office. It is no small matter who SU Hungary would make decisions in SU Hungary in the future! It was not easy, because the selection process really dragged out, and only two possible candidates remained National Director for December. Then the big news struck: one of them withdrew her application and the other was deemed unsuitable to lead by the committee. What now? I think that was the point when Erzsebet asked me to consider to apply for the position. At first I was hesitant I truly hoped that God would send someone more capable, but at the end of January the Committee shared that I was the best candidate out of the applicants. At that point I decided to give it a go.

The new role came with many new challenges, especially that I have to do the camps still (hopefully this will change before the next camp season in 2019). Still, it is good that I can shape a bit our future, use my ideas in our work here, hopefully for the better.

Of course Erzsebet will remain a member of the SU family and a Board member and since she only moves one floor up to her new office within the very same building, so we can contact her if there is a problem. So we do not say good-bye to her completely!

So, this is our situation now. My hope and prayer is that God will make it absolutely clear if I should be the one who leads SU ministry here, and if so He will make me the leader I should be. Please pray for that!

With love and blessings, Tamas Daxner SUMMER PROGRAMME – GROUNDBREAKERS Since we already had our hands full with all the changes, and because we We need MORE ENGLISH had some great material we used in SPEAKING VOLUNTEERS in the past, we decided to use GROUNDour English children's summer BREAKERS again for this year’s theme clubs for 7-14 and 14–21 July for our camps. The programme Contact: taborok@gmail.com focuses on those heroes of the faith who really broke new grounds for the gospel. We selected Jonah, Elijah, the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet, Jesus Himself and Nehemiah. Our hope and prayer is that the kids would see and imitate the example of these heroes and understand what it means to trust God despite our circumstances, to leap out in faith and obey the Lord and even against our own desires.

From participant to leader It is always our joy when we can see someone come to Christ in our camps. Only one thing can surpass it: when he or she becomes a volunteer, and in time, a leader. We would like to introduce you to such a person, Boglarka Hovan, who may lead her first camp this year.

My name is Boglarka Hovan, and I would like to let you know how I transferred from kids camp participant to leader.

I have lived in Monor (a small town near Budapest) since my birth. When I was 10 I participated in a Scripture Union English camp. This is when I first heard about the organization.

You should know that though I lived in Monor I did not go to primary school there, but to a nearby village, Benye, because my mother worked there as a teacher. So when the Benye church held an English camp in cooperation with Scripture Union Hungary I joined it again (naturally). I was 12 at that time. I enjoyed the programme a lot, and befriended the camp leader, Gabor Keleti. Next year Benye did the camp again and I was put in Gabor’s small group again. He asked us to read the gospel of John which I did but only told him about it years later when I became a local helper. At that time I was already going to a confirmation group at Monor Reformed Church and God was working in my life continuously. During the camps I understood more and more that I only had lexical knowledge about God but didn’t really know Him. When I turned 14 I went to help in another English camp at Benye. The title of the week was “God’s Big Plan”. The Lord assured me that He had a big plan for the world which He lay down even before the foundation of it, and I could be a part of it too! I also understood, that it was a part of this plan that He sent his Son to the earth to die for our sins. This act bridges the gap that we made between us and God with our sins, so we can be in a relationship with Him again. Finally, I did not only know things about Him, I had a personal relationship with my Saviour! I realized that we are here not by a mistake! The Lord has a plan with each of us, and He wants to use us in it. Of course at that point I didn’t know what he had in store for me. After the camp I started the high school in Monor, and every week I attended the youthclub in our church, seeking what plan God has for my life.

When I turned 17 I helped in another camp in Monor as a local volunteer, and Gabor visited us on Thursday. It was great to see him again! At the end of the day, he asked me if I want to be an “official” Scripture Union volunteer? I was overjoyed and naturally said yes. Since then by the grace of God I served Him with Gabor with whom we became very good friends. I made new friends among the Hungarian and English volunteers as well. I learned that there are no boundaries when we follow and love God, since we are all one in Him (Gal 3:28)! God showed me that His ways and thoughts are far higher then ours (Isa 55:9), and He knows much better why things happen the way they do. I used to smile when Gabor shared with others that I was in his group as a kid until I understood that you do not see everyday a planted seed grow up. Now I understand why it means so much for him. I would like to be a part of Gods work of planting and although it is not certain that I would take part in the harvest, it is enough for me that I can testify about His grace and love.

“Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2) BE A PART OF OUR MISSION - APPLY TO BE A CAMP LEADER! We are in a big need for more UK helpers for our English kidscamps in Hungary. Can you help us?

We are looking for people for the following weeks: 7-14 and 14–21 July!

Since the application throught SU England&Wales is closed you can contact us directly at taborok@gmail.com.

We are so excited to let you know that our next publishing project: LIFE-EXPLORED is gaining momentum! We have already gathered a quarter of the needed funds for our this great project!

Publishing something that could help Churches in their outreach is always a great joy for us. Life Explored is a great tool to do just that. As the latest member of the Christianity Explored family, LE specifically aimed for people who do not have any knowledge about the Bible or Christianity, who God is and what Christianity is all about.

Its main theme is happiness. We all want to be happy, but why is lasting happiness so hard to find?

The course highlights the reason: it exposes the little gods we worship – they promise so much, yet deliver so little. As it explores the Bible story (creation, fall, redemption, new creation), it shows how our deepest desires for happiness can only be satisfied in one person: Jesus Christ.

The material includes a Handbook, a Leader’s Handbook, and a DVD. You can find out more at: www.ceministries.org The basic production cost is 1.400.000 HUF (~4100 GBP) Funds gathered so far: ~250.000 HUF (~1025 GBP) We know we are still far from our goal but we trust that God will provide the rest. We ask you to prayerfully consider supporting this worthy goal.

If you would like to support us please send your donation to: Szentiras Szovetseg Alapitvany, IBAN: HU58 1174 2001 2005 8328 0000 0000 SWIFT: OTPVHUHB

Christianity Explored in Ujpest-Belsovaros Reformed Church I believe CE is a great tool to sum up the main message of the gospel. A kind of starting point that helps you to focus your thoughts about it and helps you find new questions. In my experience the an average person has very limited and weird ideas about the gospel or about Jesus. During the course you can start with zero knowledge or you can ask the questions you always wanted but never dared. You can get to know new people and find connections to the church family. There is not much social pressure.

You are definetely not lost in the crowd, and can even create opportunities to bring up hot topics or discuss hard questions about faith. David Lang

New plans in publishing?

We are always looking for useful new books to publish but for a long time was not on our list of priorities the German bestseller: Schlunz. The reason: we prefer books that can be directly used in the outreach by the Hungarian churches. Recently however we started to think about it, as it is very hard to find something that we can recommend or give to kids in our camp to read.

Schlunz is an orphan boy, who gets adoped into a Christian family and together they have many adventures. We hope to get the main part of the first chapter translated until the end of August, so the Board members can take a look at it before we decide to publish it or not.

GDPR statement In accordance with the recent changes in EU law we made changes in our privacy policy. Soon the whole policy will be awailable at suhungary.net but we wanted to assure you that we are commited to store and handle your information with extreme care, and in line with the new European regulations.

Anyone who no longer wishes to receive our newsletters can unsubscribe at the bottom, or (in case of mails) you can write to us at taborok@gmail.com or to our address (Szentiras Szovetseg, 8. Kalvin ter, Budapest, 1091, Hungary) and simply write: please cancel newsletter.

Our new team-member: Adam Misley This year a new camp coordinator assistant joined the Hungarian team. Adam Misley will help Tamás Daxner in the camp coordination tasks.

What should the readers know about you?

My name is Adam Misley. I was born and grew up in Budapest. I attended primary and secondary school not far from us, in the suburban area. Though I went to university later I didn’t take it too seriously, computer games were more important to me. I had a relationship too, but my life was worldly. Eventually it all collapsed, and at that point I started to seek God for a solution. He blessed my search and as I turned to Him He gave my life meaning. It happened almost eight years ago, but the reshaping of my life still goes on. :) What is your work background?

I have already worked as an animator, travel organizer, driver, but in my freetime I always liked organizing different kinds of programmes for Christan communities.

Why Scripture Union?

When I checked the list of skills required for the job, I have found that I fullfilled most of them. Later on I had to fill a questionnaire about my faith; I really liked the idea that an organization takes this issue so seriously. It seems I have a chance here to use many of the skills and experiences I have received from God. What else do you want to share?

Throw me a ball and you significantly raise the chance to become my friend. :) I am up for a chess party, table-tennis or board games too. For a good movie I don’t mind going back to the thirties. I like going on holidays as far as possible, near natural water.

Training for childen workers On the 12th of May we held a training in our office for child workers. Our speaker was Anette Osborne from SU New-Zealand, who is also involved in international SU work.

Coming from a Primary teaching background she is passionate about the role churches can play in their local communities. Among many other things her role is to develop and share good quality resources and training opportunities, network with children's ministry leaders and participate in the Global Children's Forum.

We spent a great and very beneficial day with her and hope to work with her in the future.

Our next plan is to invite Terry Williams, the Children’s and Family Ministry specialist from SU International to do a training with us in September.

SUPPORT A CHILD

many families!

Give thanks for...

This is your chance to help a  For all the childen and young people who already signed up for the camps. child to apply to one of our camps. For many kids it is still  For our key volunteers, Moira Goddard (UK), difficult to come, especially in Gabor and Ildiko Keleti (HU) for all their help in the rulal, undeveloped areas of organizing the camps Hungary. 50 GBP (the price appr.) could be a big help for  For the enthusiasm of the Hungarian team preparing the camp material

 For the timely publishing of the Utjelzo Bible If you can support us in this please get in touch with SU reading guide England&Wales or visit our English Website: Please pray… suhungary.net  For more summer camp volunteers. We still need 8 Szentírás Szövetség - Scripture Union Hungary Hungarian and 9 English helpers.

Office: Tel/Fax: e-mail:

1091 Budapest, Kálvin tér 8.

0036-1216-5115 http://szentirasszovetseg.net/ iroda@szentirasszovetseg.net

 For all the camp preparations (Tamas and Adam)  Publications: that we would be able to raise all the funds we need to publish Life-Explored.