Census: We Cannot Deny Our Own Responsibility

The religious affiliation data for the 2022 Census were released just over a week ago. Although 40 percent of respondents did not answer the question on this issue, the available information suggests that the number of Reformed people has decreased by 209,472. How has this affected you as a church leader?

The Reformed population had already declined in the previous census, and I would have been surprised if we had maintained our numbers. The general population is also decreasing, from which we could also infer the decrease, and our internal numbers, our church statistics, also showed this result close to one million. I think this number is now close to reality because probably the 2001 and 2011 figures did not give the true picture of us.

What is the real picture?

To me, these figures tell us that those who previously called themselves Reformed for some reason have dropped off, but those who now claim this as their religious affiliation should be taken very seriously. My hope is that they have an important conviction in their Reformedness; that they have not only been baptized at some point but they may be very close to a church membership that can be measured by the strictness of our church laws. The voluntary declaration gives anyone the opportunity to show their commitment but also the opportunity not to reveal information or claim to belong where they do not. I am confident in the figures that have just come out, and I hope that these 944,000 people have the strength to stand by us. This is a responsibility, but I am glad that so many people have put this imaginary X next to Reformed.

András Máté-Tóth, theologian and religious researcher, has stated in several forums that the results of the census in many ways mean the end of the people’s church framework. What comes next?

I think that the dissolution of the people’s church and the end of the Constantinian era came much earlier. This figure holds up a mirror in which, looking into it and following the events, we must honestly say that the people’s church is now only a trace of a tangible reality. Indeed, there are some ecclesial landscapes where it is no longer present at all. We must acknowledge this and not delude ourselves - but it also encourages us to face up to what we have not dared to face up to.

What does the church have to face primarily?

The state-church situation that has been in place since 1895, when state registration was introduced on the French model, is now amortized. We have had a tumultuous 120-130 years for the Church, with social reorganization such as the loss of land, nationalization, and increasing social mobility, in which the ground has literally been pulled out from under important layers of our Church. We are also seeing that our natural decline is not being replaced, and demographic indicators are also showing negative trends. Our congregations here in the Transtibiscan Church District are also aging, and we must therefore address the future of these outposts.

The census data also show that the aging process is taking place. How does this affect our church structure?

Current trends suggest that self-sustainability is becoming less realistic. According to the classical idea, the status of a mother church is given to a church that can support its pastor, cover its ministry to a decent extent, and pay the rent of its buildings, which of course, is a very big effort in today's energy prices. The various church districts are helping in different ways to meet the requirements of the status of a mother church, but we feel that more and more congregations are not able to meet them. The time is approaching when we need to adapt this structure to today's reality. With our current system, we send a message to the outside world - and sometimes to ourselves - that we have hundreds of stable parishes. Faced with the numbers, we must also start a dialogue on how the internal proportions between dioceses are evolving.

The numbers in the ecclesiastical category are indicative, but they should not overwhelm us, nor should they discourage us. Our strength is not in the number of congregations but in how strong our communities really are. The basic mission of the church is to fulfill the Great Commission and it has never been about numbers, but about living the Christian way of life consistently. This dilemma is expressed in dogmatics by the need to speak of both the visible church and the invisible church. The invisible church includes not only those who have already gone the way of all living, but also those who simply cannot be expressed in numbers because we cannot see into their hearts. But the church's mission to proclaim the gospel is a mandate that would be binding even if there were only five of us Reformed in Hungary, and certainly even if there were five million.

The question is whether the current numbers will sober us up, whether they will spur us on the path that leads us from window-dressing or celebration Christianity to Christianity lived in everyday life, becoming a way of life. The key is the same as it has been for two millennia: discipleship, if it is authentic and has an impact, but if it is not, it not only takes its revenge, but can even make a mockery of Christianity. The authentic lifestyle behind the numbers is also an important area.

Are the declining numbers an indication that this way of life is not credible?

What is certain is that the expectations towards church members are higher from those who do not belong to the church, and if this does not show, it can be disappointing. I perceive several components. It is a fascinating question, for example, how much authenticity is visible, and whether those who are authentic are given more space. At the same time, the exposure of our church institutions, bodies and ministers is very high. More of us see them when they do it well, and more of us see them when they fail to live up to expectations. Time and expert analysis are also needed to examine this. We need to look, for example, at what is being done differently in areas where the decline in numbers is below the national average. From a Reformed point of view, it is also interesting that a large number of non-respondents were from some rural areas in the southern and eastern part of the country. Here again I suspect historical reasons, these are areas that have suffered a lot from the vicissitudes of the 20th century - and they will not pass away without a trace. That is why I also believe that we need an in-depth study, which we must not spare.

It is interesting to note that the figures show a proportionally larger decline among those aged 30-39 who identify themselves as Reformed than in other age groups.

This will also require a wider study, but most likely these are the grandchildren of grandparents who were no longer close to the church, or who suffered greatly during the political period when they had to move away from church, from the congregation, from their faith in God. There were no grandchildren to sit them on their knees and tell them Bible stories and teach them to pray. We suffer this absence as a church, and it seems to be statistically demonstrable today. But the big question is whether those who became parents after the regime change can reverse any of these trends. Addressing them as the generation that grew up after the regime change is a challenge and an important mission for us. In the same way, our aim is to reach out to graduates of church institutions because they can be the links in the broken chain of tradition. According to the synod-presbyteral principle of our Reformed Church, it is not only the mission of pastors to reach out, but also the mission of an individual or family who authentically lives their Christian life, they too can have a particularly great impact on their environment.

Our institutions are a priority area, with an increasing number of so-called "board-exchange" social and educational institutions, but we must also mention the new ones: for example, the Carpathian Basin Kindergarten Development Programme, which ended in September, created 2,900 new kindergarten places and 450 new jobs - through which our Church can reach even more people. Why does it seem that Reformed faith has not yet been able to become a strong alternative?

Looking for a job or a place to stay, whether in a social or educational institution, is not the same as seeking the Gospel. Taking on a social role may be an opportunity to share the Gospel and reach people, but the reality is that parents are looking first and foremost for a school, the elderly for a place of peace in which to spend their last years - and so their relatives entrust us with their parents, grandparents and the care-dependent. And those who are looking for a job are primarily looking for a livelihood, and we must know that it is very difficult to go from being a bonded laborer to a disciple.

I would venture to say that where a school or a nursing home is being incorporated in the Reformed institutional system, it is necessary to wait until we see the actual effect of this change. It takes a lot of pastoral work and remarkable professional performance - and the two should go hand in hand. In the institutional field, professionalism is expected of us, and indicators must be produced in accordance with the law, but also because it is worthy of the church. It is a different question whether the message that we as Christians can deliver is willing to be heard and received. This cannot be guaranteed either by normative regulations or by well-equipped buildings. It is therefore worthwhile to give even more attention in our internal church communication to how schooling and social and diaconal work can become missionary tools. We should not have rose-tinted glasses about this, because it leads to vain illusions, as if the growing number of institutions were in direct proportion to the growing number of church members.

What is the purpose of state aid if not to increase the number of Christians?

For church institutions with a public function, the provision of services. In the case of operating aid to churches, the basic situation is that churches were partially compensated in the 1990s. The Hungarian Parliament granted the buildings that could be returned, and the compensation amount for the buildings that could not be returned, as an annuity, and passed a law to this effect. However, until the Second World War, the Hungarian state never fully compensated the property, assets and land used to run church institutions and congregations. And when it comes to the renovation of our churches, we often find ourselves in a situation where there is no working capital, which was a natural part of the previous centuries. This is why the state, regardless of denomination, helps to renew common values according to its talents.

What does individual giving mean in this context?

Sacrifice first and foremost. Sacrifice always appears where there is a need. It is a very beautiful experience when church members come together around a cause and feel a shared responsibility to enrich their community. This is when reserves are revealed that were not there before. At the same time, it can be said that if people find that their sacrifices are not needed because the situation is somehow solved, for example with the help of the state, a grant or the church, then the self-effort does not show.

This brings us to the issue of political Christianity, which is also the subject of much criticism of our church. Analyses published last week see this as one of the reasons for the dwindling numbers.

I could not estimate the distancing power of political Christianity to be as severe and large in number as the decline in the numbers of our churches that the data show. Nor could I attribute the 40 percent non-response to this alone. I would find it very cheap to blame political Christianity for the state of affairs. That may be a component, but we cannot spare to face our own responsibility. I see the danger of political Christianity most in the destruction of our own souls when biblical concepts and creedal content are emptied or discredited. Every speaker at a church event should reflect on what it means to be a Christian and what it means to follow Christ, to imitatio Christi. There are two tempting paths for the public speaker who is 'Christian in his own way'. The first is the temptation of a reduced notion of Christianity, lacking the public vitality of living the spirit of Christ, and leaving a reduced, simplified, clichéd realization. The second danger is the preaching of a selective Christianity, which arbitrarily selects from the range of Christian values but refuses to take account of the full context of Scripture. The words of reductive and selective Christianity always lose the sense of God carrying us in the palm of his hand.

A few weeks ago, the Hungarian press also covered the speech of Tomáš Halík, a Catholic theologian and philosopher of religion from Prague, at the General Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation, in which he said: "Nostalgia for the past, the rewriting of the marriage of church and state, robs the church of its future. When the church engages in a culture war with its secular environment, it always comes out defeated and distorted." In the light of current figures, have the historic churches in Hungary chosen the wrong path in recent years?

I think that at some point the wheat has to separate from the chaff. Christianity has been in the minority from the beginning, from the era of pre-Christianity - because some things are not a matter of culture. The order of creation is not a matter of a culture but of our faith that we are conformed to and reconciled with and accept the order of the God who creates. This is not some opportunism but a serious acceptance of the fact that this world is a world created by God, with its own laws ordained by God himself. Therefore, the more important question becomes how we go forward. It is not a culture to be maintained but a divine expectation set out in Scripture. Christianity has often been stuck in cultural Christianity and thus devalued. Christianity can create culture; it has already proven this, but culture does not necessarily lead to Christianity. We must not confuse the two because it is not the same thing what we stand for. Peter and John point this out in Acts chapters 4 and 5: they wanted to silence those who spoke the name of Jesus with healing power, but they said, "we cannot help but speak what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20), and then, in response to the prohibition against witnessing, they reiterated, "we must obey God rather than men." (Acts 5,29) This is the great secret of pastoral authenticity: we must articulate and represent the gospel constantly - but in a way that is still understandable today.

There were analysts who said that if current trends continue, the Reformed denomination will be gone by 2072. In the interests of clarity, how can this process be changed or reversed?

Compared to the shocking decline between 2001 and 2011, the current figures are more favorable, suggesting that the decline of the Reformed population could slow down considerably. We must take conscious action to stop and even reverse this process. First of all, let us concentrate on the essentials that are the Church's own, that no one can say or do for the Church. We have to preach the Word of God, and we have to bend down to the fallen one who has not only a body but also a soul, that is, we have to protect the whole person and heal the whole of life. We can do the most to combat the secularization of our Christian life and to maintain a healthy life and ecclesial autonomy by paying attention to the filters in this age of the infiltration of secularism. Let us filter our actions and our lives by being guided by the Word of God, and let us conform ourselves to Jesus Christ in our thinking, with our minds renewed by the Holy Spirit! It can be a tendency reversal if we ourselves reflect: am I keeping the distinctiveness of the Church within me? Am I guarding it in my intellect, in my judgments, in my actions? The Apostle Paul pleads: if you are at the wrong point of alignment, change and align yourselves with Christ! (Rom 12:1-2)

The census has also confronted us with an age limit: of the nine million six-hundred-and-three thousand current inhabitants of Hungary, five million four hundred thousand did not define themselves as religious. This is the first time that the number of people who say they are religious has fallen below 50 percent.

This certainly calls into question the illusion of a Christian Hungary. Those of us who live in the church and know congregations have long seen the secularizing tendencies. In my experience, this is most noticeable at funerals, as the number of people opting for civil ceremonies is increasing. This has always been a sobering statistic in my career, because it makes me think about the way we give our loved ones their final respects at the end of human life. The fundamental question in our grief is what happens to the one we loved who is no longer with us - when the reality of the divine relationship and the need for spiritual consolation is not awakened here, it is a signal. Many of our church and community occasions are like a festival, where the spiritual content is not important, but the setting. We can no longer and serve these superficial goals. Our task is to find a way to fulfill our ecclesial mission, but without being tempted by a Christianity of power, because we cannot believe out of compulsion, our faith is a gift.

What could be the first steps in this process?

Increasingly, we need to find forms, approaches, and new genres that can bring the inestimable value of the gospel closer to the people of today. We need our experts, for example, the Department of Sociology and Church Sociology at the Debrecen Reformed Theological University, to interpret the numbers and then formulate concrete directions for action. Unfortunately, there are areas where the church only does its work formally; we are weak, for example, in family visits, in personal contacts, and often our meetings are only formalities where everything can be ticked off, but their content is of little value. Our formal meetings are those where nothing is actually decided. Rules that we know will have no consequences are formal. There are a lot of small things, structural problems, which individually do not justify the decline in numbers, but we should change these too to ensure that the church is serious and to show that it is not some kind of putty convention where rules are changed flexibly or even tailor-made. For the moment, there are many banana peels that we are slipping on. Some people don't say it out loud, but they see it, and it's counterproductive. Recognising these mistakes and making them meaningful can be a good start to change.

That said, living faith will still not be a measurable category. What can show the change?

In the parable of the sower, it is also said that of the seeds that fell into the good soil, some produced "a hundred, some sixty, some thirty." But not because the cultivation technique was different but because it is the nature of the seed sown to multiply in different ways. Faith does not develop evenly. There are ups and downs in one's faith life; there are hard times, and there are highs, but that's the way it is. We must give thanks for the nearly 944,000 people who have declared their allegiance to our Reformed faith. First and foremost, we need to find ways to make them feel that they are important to us, that they are welcome in our congregations and in our worship services, and that they feel at home with us as Christ's redeemed ones.