Slap-bang in the middle of it

Slap-bang in the middle of life: what is life like for a New Apostolic Christian today. Depending on where you live, the answers differ. Join us on a little tour around the world.

Charity on the needle

How can we serve the interests of society as Christians? For example, by donating blood. That at least is what young New Apostolic Christians in Sri Lanka did. With flyers and posters, by email, and with megaphones they advertised their blood drive in Mattakkuliya. Seventy-five people came. The youth also helped the National Blood Transfusion Service with setting it up and carrying it out.

It was their first drive of this kind, but certainly not the last one. The youth, all under the age of 18, have decided to do a blood drive once a year from now on. The Mattakkuliya congregation is the main congregation of the New Apostolic Church on Sri Lanka and is located in Mattakkuliya, a suburb of the island’s largest city, Colombo.

Harvest time after a drought

Bringing in the harvest—this is what took place recently on Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippines, and the country’s breadbasket. In April 2016, several areas on the island had been declared a state of emergency following a drought brought on by the El Niño phenomenon. Farmers were particularly hard hit.

Together with help from NAK-Humanitas from Switzerland, NACSEARelief of South-East Asia responded and helped affected families. More than 370 families received food packages at the height of the crisis and nearly 90 families received corn seedlings and fertiliser. Early in January now the corn was ready to harvest, NAC SEARelief reported: “Today we have good news. Harvest time.”

Industry goes religious

This is the story of a building in Worb in Switzerland, a former industrial building, that has been converted to a church. As a contrast to the cold cement, an extension has been built from wood. In the church hall with its high ceiling the steel structure is still visible. The altar is literally rock-solid. The wood and exposed cement merge almost seamlessly.

The new church was dedicated in mid December 2016. At the beginning of January 2017 the congregation welcomed guests and organised an open house and a divine service especially for the general public.

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