Since the Fidesz party came to power in the last parliamentary elections in 2010, they have been working on a new constitution for Hungary.
One of the things which will change in the new constitution will be the law regarding churches - which groups can legally be called a church (egyház) and what requirements a religious group must meet in order to be registered as a church, among other things.
A few months I wrote about the concern that the change in this law would have serious repercussions for Calvary Chapel in Hungary, and how there was a chance that we would lose our status as an egyház, and would therefore not have the legal rights of a church, e.g. we would not be able to operate any institutions, such as schools, homeless shelters, etc. This would have serious implications for the Bible College in Vajta, which received accreditation last year, and for the soup kitchens run by the Budapest church.
Well, after a lot of speculation over the past few months over what the new requirements would be (i.e. how many members a group must have and how many years they have existed in Hungary) and who the government would allow to keep their status as an official church, the official proposal for the new law was submitted to parliament, and can be downloaded here: http://www.parlament.hu/irom39/03503/03503.pdf
Over the past few months reports were going around, that the new law would require that a group have at least 10,000 members and have existed in Hungary for at least 100 years. Later, the number was said to have increased to 50,000 - but the official proposal lists the requirements as roughly 20 years and at least 1000 members.
Most importantly, Calvary Chapel is included in the list of groups which will retain their status and legal rights as a church.
Thank you to all of you who joined us in praying for this issue!
Please continue to pray for Calvary Chapel in Hungary to have a great impact on this country for Christ.
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