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In a world of broken traditions where deaconesses are no longer existent, the culture of nursing has changed: it has become devoid of sacredness. Could church nursing homes find a way to revive any of the lost tradition? Could the teaching of Christo-centric diaconia be applied to the practice of nursing homes today, or is it merely an area for theological research? Focusing on everyday life in nursing homes, this study carefully considers the challenges of pastoral work, e.g., holding worship services for those suffering from dementia, and attempts to find a way for nursing homes to become God’s workshops and God’s households.

This paper is a revised version of a lecture presented on October 16, 2018, in a conference entitled “Diminishing Church, Increasing Responsibilities”, organised by the Union of Reformed Ministers in Transylvania. The author, general director of the Reformed Church District of Transylvania, sketches the new challenges awaiting the church workers of diminishing congregations in the fields of catechisation, bible study, youth work, diaconia, and leader training.

We are always seeking for the sense of the life, for ourselves and for the place in our family and community. Religion shows a new way to us, according to Jesus Christ’s principles. The son of God not only created a religion, but gave us an example how to live, and sacrifice himself for us. Sándor Karácsony reckons religion as a spiritual behavior, the base of our social contacts. We have to see into our lives and character according to the message of Jesus Christ. The right and appropriate personality can be evolved by individual training.

The views of Sándor Karácsony about religious education can be clearly discerned from his writings. The main task of reformed pedagogy is to activate continuously the divine notions in this continuously changing world. Protestant teachers must accomplish their daily work according to the Gospel of Christ. The Hungarian Reformed Church was a so-called “church of schools” for hundreds of years. This means that even between WWI and WWII it owned more schools than churches. The number of Reformed schools is significant even today. Sándor Karácsony claims that only Reformed people and communities are able to maintain Reformed schools by people who “are ready to serve and sacrifice themselves” for this cause (Karácsony, Sándor: A magyarok Istene. Széphalom Könyvműhely, Budapest 2004, 172).