At a different time than usual, but in August, the Szárszó Conference of the Reformed will be held again. The event revived by the Reformed Public and Cultural Foundation year after year starts a discourse on public issues among the Reformed intelligentsia. This year, the theme is focused inwards: We, the Reformed - the Hungarian Reformed national strategy, the conference will be held between August 11 and 14 in Balatonszárszón.
The Szárszó Conference of the Reformed has almost a century of history. The Soli Deo Gloria Reformed Student Movement organized conferences in this place during the summer between the two world wars, where the future of the country was discussed. The most famous meeting in Szárszó was the one in 1943, which became a concept, where the best of the cultural life of that time planned the post-war future and national unity.
The conferences were banned by the communists after the Second World War, but even before the regime change there were sporadic attempts to renew them. The Reformed Public and Cultural Foundation finally restarted the conference in Balatonszárszó in 2017, so that the Reformed intellectuals could enter into dialogue with each other and not only analyze, but also shape public life in the church and the world.
WE, THE REFORMED - HUNGARIAN REFORMED NATIONAL STRATEGY
This year, the conference in Szárszó focuses on how we, as Reformed Christians, approach matters affecting our country today, and how we can be worthy heirs of the Reformed tradition that thinks in terms of national strategy. The organizers see that for a Reformed person, his faith does not only define his personal life: he also looks at his family, church and nation based on this.
At the conference, they will therefore try to analyze this tradition, and think about what new elements can be called in
into the reformed approach focusing on the nation, and what tests Hungarian Christianity will face in the future. I would like to summarize what the Reformed community needs to strengthen in the 2020s in order to be a community that provides real support and guidance in the life of our country.
Each year, the need to get to know each other appeared among the participants, so this year not only the date of the event is changing (August 11-14), but also the structure of the conference is being renewed. In small groups led before and after the main lectures, it will be possible to delve deeper into the topics raised.
The day begins with a joint, small-group Bible study, then continues with a presentation and a round table discussion. The afternoon will be spent with small-group discussion of the theme and a closing devotional, and on the last day of the event, Sunday morning, according to tradition, the participants will be able to join in a common, closing service in spiritual communion.
Source and image: reformatus.hu
