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Dear Brother and Sisters in Christ and His Ministry,
Greetings to you from Phoenix, Arizona, where Jeannie and I are spending the winter in the US. This newsletter is a tale of Four Fronts where our Community Health Evangelism (CHE) ministry has been thriving over the last three months.
The Home Front
Jeannie and I flew home just before Thanksgiving to spend the holidays and January with our daughter, son-in-law, and three grandchildren before visiting NAB churches in Canada and the US. The latest COVID invasion prevented us from getting together on Thanksgiving, for birthday celebrations, Christmas, and New Year’s. It has also postponed our church visitation tour until May. This has become common experience during this ongoing pandemic and re-enforced the lessons of James 4:13–17 to us.
We have been able to use the time at home to reconnect with many of our neighbors and get involved in some significant community-building activities. Then, there are always numerous medical checkups to take care of before we return to Europe in March. So far, we are both healthy. PTL! Ministry-wise, we have conducted virtual board meetings, connected with churches, and done advance planning toward our return.
The CHE/MEK Hungary Front
Lots of new developments happening on this fr
ont! Our CHE/MEK Hungary staff has now grown to six workers, not including Jeannie and me, with the addition of Hessel Keuter. Hessel is Dutch, a former pastor, and a CHE worker living in eastern Hungary. He is joining us two days a week to help launch our outreach in the village of Apc.
A growing team meant restructuring around each person’s spiritual gift profile, strengths, training, and experience. What a difference it has made in our teamwork, efficiency, effectiveness, organization, and productivity!
In November, CHE/MEK had the grand opening of its new English/Hungarian website, mekmagyarorszag.org. Visit the site, click on “English,” take a tour, and let us know what you think and what you would like to see included. The MEK Ministry Journal, a monthly email newsletter of happenings from Hungary, was also launched. If you would like to get on the mailing list, contact Sandi at sandi@mekmagyarorszag.org.
We are very pleased to announce that Feri Oláh, who has long-demonstrated strong gifting in leadership and teaching, is the first Hungarian Roma to be leader of a CHE development project! He is heading up the team working in Apc, about 15 kilometers from our MEK office in Hatvan, and doing a great job.
In counseling, sometimes a client reaches a plateau. They still have more work to do to become healthy, but they are comfortable with where they are and not motivated enough to move on. This appears to be the situation in the village of Boldog right now. The MEK team continues to visit once a week to meet with the village leaders and participate in the weekly clothes market and children’s club. Laci continues to teach at the Sunday worship service.
The big news is that MEK has formed a partnership with the Gödöllõ Baptist Church and begun work with them to start an urban CHE program in the city of Gödöllõ. Door-to-door visitation is producing many opportunities to share the good news of the Kingdom of God. In February, MEK will be training 10 volunteers from the church to lead this project. Entrance in Gödöllõ has also led the MEK team back to the village of Csörög, about 15 kilometers from Gödöllõ. Seven years ago, we surveyed Csörög and concluded they were not yet “white unto harvest.” Recent visits there show that they are now ready and hungry for the Word of God.
Laci and Eszter Daróczi-Csuhai, our NAB national missionaries and directors of MEK Hungary, are enjoying their new daughter, Lois, who was born in September. Progress on their housebuilding has been slow due to COVID and supply chain issues but should pick up in the next few weeks.
The Serbia Front
Marijana Čizmanski and her ZZ Serbia team, working in Donji Petrovci, have been slowed down over the last several months because of flu and COVID issues, which have hit many Serbs. In November, we were able to travel to several potential ministry sites in Serbia with Marijana and saw one Roma village that has been substantially transformed through CHE ministry there. In another village we were privileged to see several adults who were witnessed to before making personal commitments to Jesus and asking for a church to be planted in their village. Marijana, her husband Emil, her sister and coworker Tamara, and her mother have all had serious cases of COVID. Please pray for their complete recovery.
Our REZ Serbia team had a wonderful Christmas breakthrough in their village of Nadalj, where they have been laboring voluntarily and faithfully for three years. The Roma family they have been working with invited many neighbors (Orthodox and Muslim) to a Christmas gathering where Emil and Klara Kisgeci shared the Christmas story and gave gifts from Jesus. Afterward, a father, mother, and son prayed to receive Jesus. The Roma couple who invited them were so excited and encouraged they are now sharing their faith more openly and all of them are showing a strong appetite for the Word of God. January has been a joyous month for Emil and Klara!
The Balkan Front
In the last three months, NAB churches and individuals have made huge contributions to the advancement of our CHE work in North Macedonia. Another NAB church started exploring an exciting and challenging opportunity in Kosovo.
For His Kingdom Come in Central Europe and the Balkans!
Ron & Jeannie Seck
3023 N 17th Ave., Phoenix, Arizona 85015, USA