Nigel, Rachel and their family moved to Pécs, Hungary, in 2021 to plant a church in Kertváros. In 2023, they returned to the UK, and a new leadership team was appointed, including Peter and Dorina. Peter described ongoing activities, such as children’s clubs, parent meetings, and home gatherings. Anita, a long-time resident, detailed Kertváros’s socialist-era housing. Timi shared personal stories and emphasized the goal of transforming the area. The team seeks a larger venue and prayers for stronger faith and community growth. Their vision is to create a vibrant, faith-based community in Kertváros.
Introduction
(Rachel) Hello everyone. I’m Rachel, and I just wanted to say just a few words about the beginnings of mission Pécs.
So back in the kind of summer and autumn of 2021 so my family, which is me and Nigel, plus our two children, Emily and Joseph, we traveled out to Pécs. And we had the task of planting a church in in a small in an area of Pécs called Kertváros.
Our two children were adults at the time, our youngest child actually went to university in Pécs while he was there, so it was kind of a project which involved our entire family. And so we moved there, and we started to build relationships and to do things in that area, in Kertváros.
(Nigel) In 2023 we came back to the UK. And I was delighted that earlier this year, in June, we appointed a new leadership team and this new leadership team are all present tonight in this Zoom meeting.
So we will hear from Timi and Anita, and we will hear from Peter and his wife, Dorina. And now I’d like to ask, I’m going to invite Peter and Dorina to speak, to introduce something about themselves, to help us understand. So thank you, Peter. Thank you Dorina. Welcome. Please introduce yourself.
Peter and Dorina
(Peter) Hello everyone. I’m Peter. I was born in Transylvania, Romania. I come from a third generation of believers, many of believers, and I was brought up with them. I have lived most of my life, although in Hungary and seekers, because God brought my parents there.
We got married in 2017, and that’s when we moved here to Pécs. Initially, we were meeting at another congregation here, but by the leading of the Lord, we joined last year to the congregation, and since last December, we have joined the work of the of the Eden community.
On the regular basis, I will work in the IT area and that would be about me very shortly.
(Dorina) I come from a smaller village near our capital city, Budapest. I started going to college or university in Budapest first, and then in Edgar, and then by in my marriage, I came to Pécs. So moving was not such a big thing for me anymore. I have accepted Jesus into my heart, and I was four and a half years old.
And we have been through a lot of Storms by the Lord by my side, but it’s very good to feel Him here in Kertváros, and it feels amazing to be a part of this team here in Kertváros. And that would be it shortly.
Activities at Eden Church
(Nigel) Thank you, Peter and Dorina. And it’s lovely for me and Rachel to work with this team and to share a heart for this area of Kertváros. The motivation, of course, is making Jesus known, for people to discover him as the Good Shepherd. And now I’d like to ask Peter to describe some of the activities that are currently happening. Thank you. Peter.
(Peter) Around until the end of the summer, we were able to hold our events in a building that’s owned by [name], who we have a very strong connection with. But we start to feel like that, that space wasn’t enough, and we started to be on the lookout for something bigger. And it doesn’t seem to be easy to find an appropriate place here in Kertváros. But for now we have a there is a community house here in Tolstoy Street, and that is where we can do our events.
So and in every two weeks, we have programs for children. But since there were some other programs happening during it was our second time that we could do the children’s camper event, there. And since the children are there and the parents are there. With the children, we started to organize meetings for the parents, also after the children’s clubs, But for now, unfortunately, we were only able to reach the people for these parents clubs who were already somewhat part of our group or who we already had a connection with it.
For this reason, we are looking into other types of programs where we can reach other people who are not just like parents or parents with young children, but other groups also.
The last weekend, we had our first like date meeting, where, which was for couples, where they could come together to this event. For this one, we did not have new guests because we didn’t have enough time to advertise it properly yet.
But the next event will be at the end of November, and we are planning on doing this continuously. So the children’s clubs are still being done regularly every month, which is done or multiple times a month which is done by Anita. But these are going to happen, some simultaneously, once every month.
Next to these we have home meetings every week. We have had these at our place and at Anita’s place up until now. And in these meetings, we Meet with the people who we already made a connection with, and we are trying to build a strong foundation for their faith, and just to give them like, yeah, the cornerstones and the Foundation for their faith and religion.
And these are our programs on a regular basis.
About Kertváros, Pécs, Hungary
(Nigel) Thank you, Peter for that great description. And this project is focused on a certain area, a distinct suburb. And now I’d like to invite another member of the leadership team, Anita to describe the actual area for you. Thank you, Anita.
(Anita) I am Anita. I’m 56, years old and I have been a part of the children’s service from the start.
My child was also brought up in Kertváros, so I’m very familiar with how children live here.
So when we think about Kertváros, it’s what we think about are like family homes and white picket fences and children playing outside. But our Kertváros, she’s not like that, because it’s, it’s like a huge park with blocks of flats everywhere. This is one of the biggest areas where there are lots of blocks of flats in all of Hungary. And these were, these buildings were all built during the socialism in the 1960s and was finished in the 1990s.
Even the name came from Soviet, like “brother city”, and it was called Kertváros before, which is like Wolf Garden City, to try to translate. Most of them are like a 10 story high blocks of flats, but there are also some that have only four stories. And this is kind of the most cheap to buy a house or a flat here, other than the like the very outside area of Pécs.
Personal Stories
(Nigel) And now I’d like to invite Timi, another of the leadership team to give us some personal stories to help understand the work a bit more. Welcome Timi.
(Timi) I’m Timi. I’m 52 and I have been living in Kertváros for over 30 years now. I have been living here since I got married and my daughter, Dori has been born here.
But I have already lived here as a child, when I was just a few years old, when this part of the city was just being built. And back then, three quarters of this part of the city was just like meadows and everything filled with weeds.
And it really touched me to think about this, because we just put concrete on top of these, these weeds and meadows, and that’s how Kertváros was started to be built. And the idea of being able to put flowers on top of like weeds and concrete, and how hard of a job it is, but it really touched me and how that is our aim, to bring flowers forth in such areas.
I joined this group around two, two and a half years ago. And the Lord, has called me for this service after some very strong illnesses. And I never thought that I could be a part of such a group and to have such good memories already.
I’m 100% sure that Eden is the plan of the Lord, and not just our plan. It came from the Lord. And Kertváros belongs to the Lord.
I started talking to the leadership team that I started writing up on a paper, all the people who we have connected with, who have helped us, who have supported us here, and who we have built connections with, and their paper just kept filling up. So it’s already so many people who have a connection to Eden and who have supported us in some way.
It’s a very important picture before me that if we grab people by the hand, and they grab other people by the hand, and we can build huge chains who are connected to Eden and people here in Kertváros who need these connections.
I could say many, many names like Nora, Cindy, who already have connections with us, and who spend times with us and really cherish this connection. They are not really part of the congregation, but their connection to us is already so strong, and they they need us, and we need them.
During the first time, when we gave out packages, we prayed for multiple people with Nigel and someone told me that no one has ever prayed for me, and this sentence will, will always stay for stay with me. And someone heard this communication, who was a helper there, and who also asked for us to pray for her.
I just want to say a few last words about the community garden that we got access to, which is fully concrete, and we want to create a garden on top of a concrete football field. Please pray for us so that this community garden can happen, because we get messages every week that this we will get the support and it can happen.
Vision and Prayer Points
(Nigel) Thank you for what you’ve shared, but especially thank you for your work in Kertváros. So we just have a few seconds, maybe one minute left and maybe Peter can just say his heart, his vision, and Dorina can share some ideas to pray for.
(Peter) We talked about this together, and it was an interesting question that, what is our vision and what everyone envisions when we talk about Eden, I will just list them quickly. So it was young people who are praising the Lord at one place. So Eden will be the tree of life, and its leaves will give health to the people.
So that in Eden there was the Lord for the people there, and we want it for to be the same here in Kertváros. This is a community, place where everyone can come and they can rejoice in the love of the Lord and that this is a light for Kertváros. and for the people that and after they can go outside and bring this light to other places that they get here.
(Dorina) And our main, main prayer aim is for the Lord to give us a place where we can meet and where we people can come and be with us, and where we can make what the Lord wants to happen happen.
Please pray:
- for the people who we already have a connection relationship, for their faith to get stronger, for our connection to get stronger, and so that they can become stronger Christians through these discipleship and through teachings.
- that the Lord grows the number of people and the people who will be part of His kingdom every day here in Kertváros.
- for the community garden to grow and for the city to understand what is being built here in Kertváros and its importance.
(Nigel) I’d like to thank all of the four leaders. We’re proud of you, we’re supporting you and cheering you on.
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