Anne-Marie Kool
Mission Church-Planting Versus Mission-Church Partnership
According to many, often well-meaning, expatriate missionary
workers, the traditional churches in Hungary are dead. No signs of life
are present. According to their reports, traditional churches are not
capable of multiplying and are not viable. Therefore, they argue, it is
justifiable and even a calling to establish new churches alongside
Hungary's roughly 1,700 existing Protestant churches. One mission
leader involved in church planting recently underlined his perception
of my supposed ignorance of the mission situation in Hungary by voicing
this concern to me: "We need more churches in Hungary. I estimate that
the church buildings in Hungary could not hold more than 30 percent of
the population and most of the churches would not know what to do with
new Christians. But God wants 100 percent of Hungarians to have new
life in Christ so we better plant churches." He called on Reformed
Churches to "repent of their pride and be humble enough to think that
they do not own the world and control God" and he added, "I love the
Reformed Church in Hungary, but God is able to work without it also."
A few years ago, while I was in the United States, a friend gave me a flier for a mission couple bound for Hungary. I had met them a few days earlier and my impression was that they had a deep, sincere love for the Lord Jesus and a concern for the spread of the gospel. On the way home, reading their flier, I was deeply disappointed because it left the strong impression that they would be among the first to start churches in Hungary. Nor was reference made to the local churches in the city where they planned to minister, nor to the many churches around the country. Either these churches were not considered viable or were omitted in order to "advertise" the "niche in the market" this couple hoped to fill. I was surprised to learn from the flier that they would be working with one of the few Western missions in Hungary that seeks to partner with the country's historic churches. This raised a question in my mind regarding the integrity of this organization: Is it really taking partnership with Hungarian churches seriously? I wondered whether its mixed signals really would help in winning the trust of the historic churches.
Signs of Life
I am well aware that, of course, there are occasions that warrant
the planting of new churches within existing denominations. Also, in
the 13 years I have been living and working in Hungary, I have
discovered that Hungarian churches are far from perfect. But I came
from a far-from-perfect church in the Netherlands, so the difference
was not that great. Despite the shortcomings of Hungarian churches, I
have discovered very many small and often concealed signs of Life. Even
now God is working in His mysterious way in Hungary. Allow me to
illustrate. Recently I was riding on a train reflecting on the mission
conference at which I had just spoken. What a surprise the overwhelming
interest had been for everyone. Elders, pastors, and church members
came from far and wide. My audience was attentive and involved, asked
good questions, and engaged in profound discussion. One organizer had
warned me cautiously that perhaps not many people would come: The
weather was bad, etc., etc. But to our surprise between 120 and 150
people were present.
As another example, I was asked this past July to speak about the task and the calling of Reformed women's societies in mission and evangelization. I will not soon forget the concentrated attention and the diversity of the more than 1,200 in attendance in the large Reformed church in Debrecen. Some came from the rural areas of Hungarian-speaking Ukraine where a revival is underway. From the dress of others I knew they had come from Transylvania, the traditionally Hungarian-speaking part of Romania. Many had come from western Hungary with very small and scattered Reformed Churches. All are having to deal with great pressures in family life and many are the linchpins in their local congregations. At the same time, they expressed a strong desire to learn more about their role in evangelism and mission. For me it made for another sign of Life!
Recently I came across a strategy document for mission groups
working in Eastern Europe formulated almost ten years ago at a
conference in Budapest convened by the Lausanne Committee for World
Evangelization. To discourage "free-lance entrepreneurial approaches,"
it included a focus on "enabling churches and mission organizations in
eastern countries to undertake their own work of evangelizing their own
people." It is high time to revisit this mission principle and to take
it again as a starting point for partnership and cooperation.
Dr. Anne-Marie Kool is director of the Protestant Institute for Mission Studies, Budapest, Hungary, and professor of missiology at the Reformed Theological Seminary, Papa, Hungary.
Written permission is required for reprinting or electronic distribution of any portion of the East-West Church & Ministry Report.
© 2000 East-West Church and Ministry Report
ISSN 1069-5664