Baptistic Theologies, 2009

io megjelenese 1846-1873 [The Emergence of Baptist Mission 1846-1873], in Krisztusert Jarvan Kovetsegben, p. 21. Revival among Hungarian Baptists in Transylvania 61 BFBS employed them both, although employing a woman as a colporteur was not their general practice. Thus they both became devoted colporteurs, starting their work with the BFBS on 26th May 1865. 30 At this point they were not yet Baptists. Later that year, leaving their children behind in Budapest, the Novaks moved to Gyoma, in the south-east of Hungary. Seemingly this happened because the local Reformed Church minister asked for a colporteur for people in the region of Banat. The leader of the BFBS in Vienna, Edward Millard (who was also a leader of the Baptist community), proposed the Novaks for the job. They developed a good relationship with the Reformed minister there and from Gyoma they were able to visit other settlements such as Nagyszalonta, Bekes and Beretttyoujfalu, where several peasant Bible study groups had been established. These would form the basis of Baptist congregations. Five years later the Novaks travelled to Vienna (an expensive journey) in order to be baptised. The baptisms took place on 30 th April 1870, and the service was led by Berzinger, a Baptist preacher in Vienna. Obedience to what they saw as the teaching of the Bible is an evident characteristic. One of the strategies of Antal Novak in his mission was to keep returning to the places he had previously visited, in order to reinforce the Christian witness and to sell more Bibles. He often visited a group of people who were regularly gathering for prayer and Bible study in Nagyszalonta, a small town in the northern part of Transylvania. The group regularly met in the house of one of the members, Janos Lajos. These people came to the conviction that the local Reformed Church could not meet all their spiritual needs. Antal Novak first met with them in 1871, and as he got to know them during his subsequent visits he explained to them not only issues related to personal repentance but also believer's baptism. This might appear to be at odds with the BFBS’s non-denominational rule, but the group was in fact asking questions about baptism. The background was that Peter Balogh, the Reformed minister, in one of his sermons, explained to the congregation that in the first Christian churches only those people were baptised who had experienced conversion, and baptism was officiated by immersion in water. This sermon had a major impact. Janos Lajos and others had even asked the minister to baptise them - as had happened in the Bible. Naturally, he had refused to do that, 30 Ibid., p. 33. 31 Kalman Meszaros, A magyarorszagi baptista misszid vdzlatos tortenete [A sketch of the history of the Hungarian Baptist Mission] (Budapest: Teologiai Jegyzef, 1985), p. 32. 32 Meszaros: A Baptista Misszid megjelenese , p. 34. 33 Laszlo Kiss : Lajos Jcinos az elso baptista z