Reformed Presbyterian Church of Central and Eastern Europe

An Overview

by Dr. Robert S. Rapp

Director of Károlyi Gáspár Institute of Theology and Missions (Miskolc, Hungary)

Westminster Biblical Missions was founded in 1972 to fulfil the Great Commission by teaching and training nationals in the Reformed faith so that they might teach and train others, plant churches and be God’s instruments to spread the faith in their own lands. Our mission was first led to work in South Korea and Pakistan. Schools of theology were developed. In South Korea, the fruit of this effort has been the Chang Shin Presbyterian Church with its 15 presbyteries and 300 congregations. In Pakistan, a country 98% Muslim, the fruit has been the Lahore Church Council with its 100 congregations led by 25 of our graduates. Recently a work has been developed in Mexico where Tarascan Indians are being trained in Reformed theology and missions to reach their own people with the Gospel of Christ.

It is the conviction of WBM that, in order best to fulfil the Great Commission, the emphasis ought to be on training nationals to reach their own people. The nationals, after all, are best qualified to do this. This is, in fact, what our Lord commanded when He instructed us to “make disciples of all the nations.” As a result, when the Soviet Empire collapsed in 1989 our mission sensed there could be a great opportunity to start a school of theology and missions for the training of nationals somewhere in that vast region. More and more, our attention was drawn to Central and Eastern Europe and, as we looked at this area, Hungary seemed to be the place to begin. One reason for looking to Hungary lay in the fact that, of all the countries in the former Soviet Empire, it had the strongest historic connection to the 16th Century Reformation. That connection still existed in the form of the Hungarian Reformed Church. True, this church was much involved in liberal theology and ecumenical worship, but, here and there, because of its heritage, there were a few who wanted to see a revival of the Reformed faith. A second reason for locating our school in Hungary was that, in addition to Hungary itself, there are large numbers of Hungarian people living in the adjoining lands of Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia and Croatia, making Hungary, in effect, the gateway to the rest of Central and Eastern Europe.

It was with this vision that our mission began to explore possibilities in the region from 1990 onward. Two years later, we were able to open the Károlyi Gáspár Institute of Theology and Missions in Budapest, Hungary, on a property earlier used as a Hungarian army base. The Lord also provided, in a wonderful way, our first students and teachers. Two years later, we moved the school to Miskolc, Hungary, where we have trained 19 students and have 14 men on the field working as evangelists and church planters. As a result, we now have 12 new congregations being organized in the region. Without the Lord’s help we could not have done anything, but with His help we are seeing the beginning of a faithful church, THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE.

In the earlier years, we knew that our school, to be true to the Word of God, could not be run by the liberal leadership of the Hungarian Reformed Church. Since this church still professed adherence to its historic Reformed creeds, we attempted to have a friendly relationship with it and had no specific plan to begin a new church. Our attitude was something like that of the Apostle Paul when he went into the Jewish synagogues of his day to preach the Gospel. Our goal was to present the truth and let the Lord direct us in this matter. As it turned out, the leadership began to block the efforts of our students to preach the Word within the church. Eventually, they put a ban on our school in 1997. Nevertheless, by this very act of putting us out of their “synagogue,” God made known His will to us to start a new church, one that would be faithful in the preaching of the Gospel, the administration of the Sacraments and discipline within the church.

The last several years have been especially difficult, for there has been great pressure on our students and teachers. It has even come to the point that, before a student comes to study here, he may be excommunicated from his church. Some have not continued with us. But our students and new congregations are now free from the problems which dominate every aspect of the Hungarian Reformed Church. Ours is not a perfect church--there is no such church on earth--but we seek to preach the Word faithfully and require that every area of the life of the church be tested by the standard of Holy Scripture. Further, our people do not have to depend on ministers who have been trained in liberal, ecumenical schools or have to support those schools. The church can also be a place of loving Biblical discipline where the Sacraments are properly administered. In a few words, it is possible to proclaim the “whole counsel of God” and thereby have the Word of God be, as it ought to be, the “power of God unto salvation” to every one who believes.

We would be wrong if we said we enjoyed this conflict, but we are not wrong in saying we enjoy--indeed we are full of joy--at seeing God's Word freed from liberal interpretations in such a way that it speaks for itself, as it is indeed, the living Word of God. We are so encouraged to see what the Lord is doing in the hearts and minds of our young men, first as students, then as church planters. They have become capable teachers, pastors, reformers and apologists--worthy of the name of Károlyi Gáspár, Hungary’s great 16th Century reformer, Bible translator and educator whose life and work led to the formation of the Hungarian Reformed Church.

Pray for us that God would raise up many more like Károlyi Gáspár to study at our school, then go out as great preachers and teachers of the truth which was once revealed to the prophets and apostles and which continues to be the power of God unto salvation! This is our hope and vision for the future, that Christ's name would be hallowed and His kingdom come to this part of the world even as His name is now exalted in heaven. We know that the time for this depends on our Lord, but until He is pleased to bring about that time when righteousness will prevail “as the waters that cover the sea,” we pray for His grace and strength to be faithful in all things.

“Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev. 2:10).