The peace of Jesus is not like what the world can give, it is not won and kept with weapons, but the final victory is his, János Szemerei, the President-Bishop of the Hungarian Evangelical Church told MTI on the occasion of Christmas.
János Szemerei spoke about: with the birth of Jesus Christ, according to the Old Testament promises, the prince of peace will arrive. It is true, as Jesus tells his disciples, he does not give his peace the way the world does.
His peace is created and maintained with non-lethal weapons, but he also adds that " your hearts should not be troubled".
With his love, Jesus " pacifies " his opponents, who, although they even defeat him spectacularly with the means of violence, the final victory will still be his at Easter.
It is very important to see the whole story of Christ already at Christmas, because from the resurrection of Jesus it is possible to understand who was born at Christmas, who came to our world.
János Szemerei identified the most important evangelical event of the past year as the renewal within the church, stressing that during the whole year process there were elections for all positions except for pastors and bishops in the congregations, dioceses, districts and national church level as well.
It was a busy year - he assessed and called it joyful that during the general renovation many new people, " fresh energy " entered the church's bloodstream, who he hopes will bring a new color, a new perspective, new ideas and impulses, because the church always needs that there is
The end of this series was the synod at the end of November, where the national officials were given mandates. He also said: the position of president-bishop, to which he was elected for the next six-year term, does not represent a higher step in the hierarchy in the Lutheran Church, the president-bishop is " first among equals" and traditionally the bishop who has been in office for the longest time holds the position post.
He noted: they usually deviate from this only when the bishop who has been in office for the longest time is close to retirement.
Tamás Fabiny, the bishop of the Northern Evangelical Church District, whom he replaced as president-bishop, did not accept re-nomination for this very reason, due to his retirement in February 2026.
Speaking about his own president-bishop plans, he emphasized that he definitely wants to be the " voice of the countryside ". " I come from a village, I grew up in a small community, I was a pastor and a deacon in scattered areas", I worked a lot in the "outposts" of the church , he said, adding that as a bishop he leads the only church district with a rural center among the three.
This will not be an easy task, because many people do not see from Budapest that there are also valuable people in the countryside who can contribute a lot to either church or social life as a whole, he said.
János Szemerei considers the fate of small congregations, some of which are in a very difficult situation, to be particularly important.
The emigration from the villages affects the evangelicals particularly badly, since for a long time the village churches were their base. So much so, he noted, that for a long time even the episcopal offices were in villages, because they were not allowed to settle in the cities.
It is a big challenge how they can follow those who migrate from the churches of the villages to other settlements, especially since they often end up in places where there is no or a small evangelical community. Besides, of course, they don't want to leave those who stay in the villages alone either.
In the spirit of this process, the Lutheran Church launched its church planting program several years ago to organize into a community Lutherans settling mainly in the Budapest agglomeration, but also in the vicinity of other big cities, he recalled.
He mentioned barely used or empty evangelical churches in depopulating villages as an existing problem that is expected to become more serious in the future.
The church would rather find a new sacred function for these buildings than to sell them, because in the event of a change of ownership, it will not have any influence on what new purpose, which may not be compatible with its original function, is used for their churches.
Speaking about the decrease in the number of believers, he noted: the census data are considered to be informative, and since the percentage of those who did not answer the religious question was much higher than before, 40 percent, it can be stated that according to them, the number not only of those who belong to the church, but also those who do not practice their faith has decreased.
The other thing, which is indicated by the proportion of non-responders, is that people are now braver and more conscious about whether they want to answer something or not.
He also said:
compared to the census data, the proportion of those who donate 1 percent of their personal income tax to the Lutheran Church has been increasing for years, if not on a very large scale, while it should, in principle, decrease based on the age group.
Among those offering, there are obviously people who are not closely connected to the church, who once had and – given that they did not abolish the automatic offering – did not later become hostile to the church. And this is still positive feedback for the church.
János Szemerei also spoke about the fact that people often experience that people do not have a problem with Christ, but with the church. Of course, as a church leader, this is " not good to taste ", but " we see it with a good feeling and know that the one we are trying to testify to is important to many, including those who are either not yet in close contact with the church or have distanced themselves from it for some reason ".
„In fact, we are not to lead people to the church, but to Christ, and if the church can do this, then it has fulfilled its mission„
- said the evangelical bishop.
MTI
