From a Power-Centred Church to a Christ-Centred Church

Abstract

Apart from the personal issues of the recent scandal that affected the Hungarian Reformed church, there was hardly any mention of the centralized church organizational structure, which enables the formation of centers of power in our church, which can then attract persons with power ambitions. These centers of power are apt and tend to make pacts with other, especially secular, centers of power. I am convinced that, for the sake of our spiritual renewal, now it is time to conduct the debates related to the organizational renewal of our Reformed Church, which have been renewed since the 1990s, which can help us reach – or return to – organizational and decision-making structures that are more in line with our creeds. My ideal is a transparent and accountable, self-restrained, Christ-centered church made up of church members, mature in faith, where pastors and non-pastors are at eye level with each other, in equal proximity to God, and serve for each other’s benefit. The congregational communities maintain a close relationship with the publicly functioning church management structures that have been cleared of power centers and are limited to the most necessary, in which the boards are the actual decision-makers. In other respects, the church organization is powerless and inactive. The positions are filled through community selection and are not affected according to loyalty-centric interests. The church services do not undertake more tasks than the services coming from the parishes themselves. Church bureaucracy is as small as possible. Management and maintenance of our institutions are separate. Our communities are not held together by interests, but by the love of Christ. The focus of the church’s activity remains spiritual growth, service in the world, and following the mission command.