CRM Empowering Leaders

A Vision for Leaders in Hungary

Twenty-five years ago a group of CRM staff moved to Hungary and encountered a leadership crisis. Forty years of communism had ended, but it had left pastors alone and isolated; no one knew whom to trust. There were high walls between individual leaders as well as their churches and denominations.

The CRM team dreamed of one day seeing God bring together a group of Hungarians who would walk alongside Hungarian pastors, training and mentoring them to raise up new leaders. We longed to see the walls broken down.

Flash forward to the present. I recently had the privilege of working alongside two gifted Hungarians as we led a three-day coaching workshop for Hungarian pastors and ministry leaders. The group included two men from the Reformed Church, a Baptist church planter, the leader of a divorce recovery ministry, the leader of a Catholic renewal movement, and a Brethren businessman and church leader, not to mention eight pastors and seven other ministry leaders.

These Hungarian men and women, from a variety of diverse backgrounds and ministries, spent three days sharing openly about their lives and gaining new ministry skills together. New friendships were formed, walls were broken down, and trust grew. In the end, they were deeply grateful for the skills they acquired and for the opportunity to be with brothers and sisters from other traditions.

This was our God-given vision over 25 years ago, and God is making it a reality. Years of relationship-building and long-term ministry are bearing fruit as new doors of opportunity open before us. Today CRM-Hungary is led by a Hungarian national with seven other Hungarians on staff. Pastors, leaders, and church planters around Hungary are being trained, mentored, and assisted in raising up new leaders.

The walls are coming down, and we are so grateful to all those who have partnered with us to make this dream a reality.

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Bobby Booze
Barnabas Csoport (a Conext member)