Letenye Part Three: Our Stained-Glass Window
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV
The first thing people notice when they walk into the church in Szentmargitfalva, Hungary is the red, cross-shaped window forming the front. The pure, vibrant tone of the red window invites them inside. The arching beams framing the inside draw the viewer’s gaze upward and toward the cross.
People of all ages and different backgrounds file in and take their seats in the wooden pews. A choir lines up below the window while the pianist organizes his sheet music. After a greeting from a woman in the choir, the music begins. The church fills with jubilant praise as the choir sings. The audience sits surrounded in melody listening to the words generations before them have spoken. The red-tinted light beams upon their tear-streaked faces.
They are overcome by the beauty of this moment. It’s beautiful not only because of this moment – it is because of the culmination of everything before it.
In January 2024, Erika Kovács joined the Seven Houses Gospel Choir, a music performance group based in Balatonboglár, Hungary. The group consists of singers and musicians from across Europe who speak many different languages. Often, not all of them speak one language in common – they are united by music. Erika contacted Laci Khaled, a local Methodist pastor, and asked him if the choir could perform at the church he helped build in Szentmargitfalva.
The small village of Szentmargitfalva didn’t have a church building, but the people desired to have a place to gather and worship. They approached Laci about the possibility of building a church. With the help of volunteers from One Mission Society, they were able to build the church in Szentmargitfalva – currently the only all-wooden church in Hungary.
The church became a bridge to the larger adjacent town of Letenye and a partnership with a school where an English camp is hosted. OMS staff and other volunteers from the U.S. teach English and share the Gospel with 50-60 kids every summer. This summer a group of education students from Asbury University served at the camp.
“Our methodology is that we want to be working alongside the local community and the local church and pastors so that these kids that come to the camp are being shepherded all year long. We want to supplement and contribute to what’s already happening in their community,” said Shannon DePue, OMS Hungary field director.
During the afternoons of the camp, the OMS staff, Asbury volunteers, and the students at the camp clean and repair the church. This year, the work they did benefited both the church community and them through the concert.
Cross-cultural missions requires great sacrifice and acceptance of the unknown. The long-term OMS missionaries cope with constant uncertainty that prods at the wounds left by the sacrifices they’ve made to follow God. The team from Asbury overcame many challenges to serve at Letenye English camp. They endured flight delays and worked through personal struggles, hoping and praying God would use their short time of ministry. The short-term interns sacrificed their summer vacation time for an opportunity to gain clarity on God’s calling for their lives.
All these groups recognized the need for surrender – what it means to give up control and let God use their weaknesses. They all learned what it takes to see God be glorified.
Peace overwhelms those gathered in the church as the songs continue. The choir proclaims words that resound in Hungarian, English, and many other languages, uniting all those in the space with the sound of heaven. They’ve glimpsed what one day will be when they worship with God’s community across the globe. The picture is deeply moving in a way that cannot be expressed in words. The people clap and sing along, joining the celebration that is happening in heaven.
As the choir sings the last song, they lift their hands in front of the cross – the symbol of the God who makes all our broken pieces become a beautiful picture.
In the stained-glass window at the church in Szentmargitfalva there is a constant remembrance of death and life – one most gloriously shown in Jesus’ own death and resurrection. It is in the fragments of pain and loss that God can create something new – something that more perfectly reflects him. Something that more brilliantly shines his light to the world.
