Preaching in Hungary 2015 Brethren Church

Biatorbágy

This morning I left at 8:15 am (I arrived here in Hungary at Word of Life, Tóalmás at about 10:30 pm) for an hour and half drive to a village of about 10,000 people called Biatorbágy. The Brethren Church in this village was founded just after WWII in the late 1040's. 

The gate into the Church (held in the basement of the house at the far right). 

Today it meets in the basement of a home (in the picture the home on the far right, behind a landscaping business; the white sign to the left in the picture is the church information) and consists of a large room for the main service, a nursery, kitchen/Sunday School room for kids and restroom.

This morning the main room was almost filled to capacity (maybe 70-75) and the singing just lifted my spirit. Led by a keyboard and 5 guitars, the people sang in parts and with real spirit. When prayer was announced everyone stood as the praying took place and then returned to their seats. 

The Lord's Table (communion) was celebrated with two pieces of sliced bread (each person broke off a small piece) and then two cups of wine were passed. Before the bread and wine were prayed over, something was said in Hungarian and only those desiring/ready to

take communion stood. We remained standing until we had received both the bread and the wine and then were seated again. Not everyone stood.
My sermon on Trusting God in the Testing Times was translated and after I spoke I greeted the people, a few of whom could speak English with me – especially the younger people. The Lord seemed to bless His Word as I shared it this morning from some of the gracious comments.
After church we spent lunch and fellowship with the Csikós, Mihály (Michael) and Kati. Mihály is one of the elders at the church and though retired still works with Child Evangelism of Hungary. (His son is the President of Word of Life in Hungary.) We had a wonderful time around a meal of cold fruit soup (super), chicken, baked cheese, potatoes, mixed vegetables, and onions. Followed by dessert pastries and hot tea the time with the
Csikós was a real blessing. Before I left I had the honor to pray for Kati's 90 year old mother who was resting in bed.
Tonight I'm off to have dinner with Paul and Jill Weaver (Paul was one of my students at DTS and is the Director of the Bible Institute). Then off to bed at about 11 pm (that's 4 pm Dallas time) and up for a great week here at the Bible Institute.