30 August 2012 Pécel, Hungary [tedNEWS] On Wednesday 29th August 2012, leaders from the Christian Advent Community (KERAK), Hungarian Union Conference (HUC) and the Trans-European Division (TED) met at the headquarters of the Adventist Church in Pécel, Hungary. The meeting took place as a response to a request by Pastor János Cserbik, the newly elected president of KERAK, to Pastor Bertil Wiklander, TED president, to initiate a preliminary process to settle a 37-year schism between the KERAK Community and the Adventist Church in Hungary. The meeting was attended by Bertil Wiklander and Raafat Kamal from the TED, Tamás Ócsai , Ern? ?sz-Farkas, and Géza Hegyes-Horváth from HUC and János Cserbik, Zoltán Bodolai, József Végh and István Stramszki from KERAK.
The seven-hour meeting chaired by Pastor Wiklander commenced with worship and prayer and the spirit throughout was cordial, friendly, constructive, sincere and positive.
Some of the points agreed to and noted were:
1. The representatives from TED recognised and appreciated a remarkable commitment to unity in the KERAK and HUC delegations.
2. All affirmed that the goal of continued dialogue to organisational unity must be based on biblical principles and should agree with the GC Working Policy.
3. All recognised the need for sharing openly their respective concerns as we thrive towards unity.
Pastor Wiklander commented on the meeting with the following words: “I was blessed and pleased with our meeting and sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit. We are eager to continue this dialogue that has begun so well. I ask all brothers and sisters in our church worldwide and in the KERAK Community, to pray for this process and that God will give us the wisdom to take the right decisions. What matters is that God wants us to be united (John 17:20-23) and to achieve His will we need to make the right sacrifices.”
The 37-year schism between the KERAK Community and the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Hungary has a long history and is complex in nature. Numerous reconciliatory attempts were carried out over the past 37 years by three General Conference (GC) presidents, three GC vice-presidents, three division presidents and five HUC union presidents that did not lead to healing and unity.
The Hungarian Union Conference comprises the Duna and Tisza conferences with 105 churches and a membership of 4,630. The Christian Advent Community comprises 6 geographical regions with 79 congregations and a membership of 1,620. [tedNEWS]
tedNEWS Staff: Miroslav Pujic, director; Deana Stojkovic, editor
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