Pray for Hungarian Open Bible Churches

Open Bible Church in Ibrány

Please pray for Hungarian Open Bible Churches this week.  Wednesday Field Director Mihály Gulyás and his lawyer daughter Mirjam will appear before the national court to determine whether Open Bible Churches will receive recognition from the government as an official church.

Here are more details: Four years ago, the Hungarian Parliament passed a measure that allowed only 14 large denominations and religious groups to receive the special status granted to churches.  This included the Roman Catholic Church, the Reformed Church, the Baptist Church, the Pentecostal (Holiness) Church, Jewish organizations and others.  It did not include any smaller denominations such as the Church of God, the Mennonites, the Free Christian Church, Open Bible Churches and many, many others.  All those organizations that were not allowed to continue to receive recognition as churches, were allowed to file as "religious associations." This change means that small denominations no longer have the privileges of church organizations.  One important privilege is Hungary's 1% tax designation.  Instead of charitable donations being tax deductible, citizens may designate a charitable organization on their personal income tax forms to receive one percent of the taxes they pay that year.  Churches may participate in this programs while religious associations may not.

Soon after this new law was passed, there were objections to it from all quarters including from the European Union, who said that the law did not comply with the EU's religious freedom standards.  It was decided that an appeal be made to the Hungarian Constitutional Court and Open Bible Churches was chosen to be the plaintiff.  The Constitutional Court took more than two years to give a ruling, but finally decided that the law was not constitutional and that a new law had to be passed.  Last September, Parliament made revisions to the law, but the revisions still do not allow Open Bible to be a church.  So, please pray for Open Bible Churches in Hungary and for all the other churches affected by this law.  The Lord reigns and we pray that His Kingdom comes and that His Will be done in Hungary as it is in heaven.