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Christian Schools For many generations, the Hungarian churches have been committed to education. Prior to communism their were over 500 schools, dedicated to teaching their children in accord with the Reformed faith. These were all confiscated by the Communism and turned into state schools; and once Communism collapsed, one of the first thing the Reformed Christians did was to commit themselves to restore this educational system. This TRAC has sought to support from the beginning in whatever way it can. There are three areas in which we have been able to be particularly active:
Very early it was recognized that there was a need for teaching material; and TRAC received an offer to have a book by Mr. James Beeke, a long time Christian school teacher in British Columbia, Canada, entitled, Bible Doctrine for Children into the Hungarian language. This has been accomplished, and the books have been adopted as an official publication for teaching Reformed children in the churches and schools throughout Transylvania.
Bible Doctrine for Children Manual
In the late 1990s the Hungarian government, in an effort to help the Hungarian people who had been put under the control of other countries, such as Romania, agree to finance the building of a Hungarian school in the village of Felor, on the northern edge of the Mezöség. Plans were to make this a model school, serving the sizable Hungarian Reformed area surrounding Felor, as a means of restoring the Christian culture that was so severely damaged under Communism. The old parsonage on the church property was torn down, and in the summer of 2002 construction was begun. But the course of construction proved to be much more difficult than was anticipated.
Another approach to much the same problem was taken in the village of Marosbogát (Bogata), when the former Reformed bishop, KáImán Csiha, discovered that their were a number of Hungarian children in a nearby state orphanage, who were being kept without adequate care or provision for their spiritual lives. He approached Rev. Karoly Monar and his wife Eszter, with the request that they do something to proved for these children, with the result that they mustered what recourses they could, obtained the use of one of the church building, and started an orphanage, called the Emmaus House. Gradually through the years this has grown to where they now provide for 25 children, who are kept in a surprisingly pleasant atmosphere and a strong Christian instruction. |