Westminster Biblical Missions

Dear WBM Family,

My name is Dr. Clinton Szekely Foraker. The board of Westminster Biblical Missions appointed me interim field chairman for Central and Eastern Europe. I am also pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Rising Sun, MD and a founding member of the ERPC (Evangelical Reformed Presbyterian Church).

I have served on the WBM board for ten years. As you can tell from my middle name, Szekely, I am from Hungarian descent through my maternal grandparents, who came from the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. My “Nagy Papa” (grandfather), Andrew, was from devout Reformed stock, and one of his brothers was a minister of the gospel. From my earliest recollection, I have been interested in all things Hungarian. I can still remember sitting on my Uncle John’s knee and asking him, “What are we?” His reply, “Clinton, we are Magyars.”

When I was converted at eighteen years of age, I immediately began to pray that God would do a great work of grace among my people. For over twenty-five years I prayed, never imagining that Communism would fall in my lifetime. After the collapse of Communism, WBM went to Hungary to reestablish fellowship between Reformed people in the West and those in Hungary. Since that time, I have made at least ten mission trips to Hungary, teaching in our seminary and preaching in churches.

I come to my position with over three decades of experience as a pastor, professor and missionary. My years in the pastorate and my work as Chairman of the Pastoral Studies Department at Philadelphia College of Bible uniquely prepared me to guide men called to the pastoral ministry.

Let me introduce my family. My wife Olga, formerly a teacher, and I have three children. Dr. Andrew Foraker is a chemical physicist, working for a Washington DC think tank and currently on assignment in Japan. Daniel Aaron, a graduate of the University of London, is a banker working for ING: he is the husband of Rebecca and the father of two and a half year old Gideon. Tanya was seriously injured in an auto accident some years ago: she was a teacher and hopes to be well enough to complete her research at Cambridge University (UK) for her second Master’s degree. We praise God that all of our children are devout and spiritually astute believers.

My goals are simple:

1. To reestablish contact with all true believers in Hungary. Over the past five years our work has become more and more isolated.
2. To work toward the establishment of truly Presbyterian churches. To our knowledge, we do not have, as yet, even one particular church with an ordained minister, plus two ruling elders and deacons.
3. To correct, or make amends, to abuses of authority, which have come to our attention in recent days.
4. To convince the Hungarian masses that we are in the mainstream of historic Protestant orthodoxy and not a cult.
5. To train and encourage our men to engage Hungarian society and not withdraw from it.
6. To reestablish contact and bring back to our mission as many of our former students as possible.
7. To love the Hungarian people to Christ, by respecting their ancient heritage and honoring their remarkable achievements as a people.

Beloved, God has given me a new vision:

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” —Isaiah 43:18, 19

In order to accomplish our goals, we must have your prayers and we need your financial support. Will you help us? Can we depend upon you. For over thirty years, many of you have stood with us in the gospel ministry. Please do not stop now. We need your help now more than ever. Please note our new address and send your support today:

Westminster Biblical Missions
P.O. Box 212
Rising Sun, MD 21911

May the Lord bless you as you seek to honor Him,
Dr. Clinton Szekely Foraker

Posted on March 17th, 2007 by Rev. Dennis Roe
Filed under: Biographies, Eastern Europe