At home worldwide – Step by step to the goal

Brick by brick in self-help

Our members gather in church buildings of all shapes and sizes, in makeshift structures, hired school classrooms and halls, and even under trees. And some of the churches are self-built, which is nothing unusual either. But when a church is built of self-produced clay bricks, it is just a little unusual: the mastermind behind this is Abraham Moreeng from Thaba Nchu (Free State Province) in South Africa.

After the congregation in Thaba Nchu Zone 4 lost its place of worship, Priest Moreeng and his wife, Belinda, made some land in their yard available for a new church. The Priest spent many hours after work to manufacture bricks out of clay and sand in his yard. Soon he started with the construction of a clay structure, which became the congregation’s new place of worship. The first divine service in the small building was conducted by District Evangelist Cicilie in August 2015.

Thanksgiving activities

“Give us this day our daily bread.” This petition from the Lord’s Prayer was the focus of two Thanksgiving activities in the District Church Southern Germany. At an activity at the Forum Fasanenhof, a kind of community centre operated by the New Apostolic Church, bread was served that was made by a New Apostolic baker who put together a recipe from various Bible passages. Among the ingredients was barley as well as flour made from beans, which had to be especially made.

In Freiburg/Tübingen it was not the bread that was used to convey the thanksgiving message but the packaging. The words from Matthew 6: 11, “Give us this day our daily bread,” were printed on 50,000 bread bags and distributed free of charge to bakeries in the area. The bread bags also carried a QR-code which, when scanned with a smartphone, takes the user to a specially created website.

Guest status in Luxembourg

The New Apostolic Church in Luxembourg will be awarded guest status this year by the Council of Christian Churches in the Grand Duchy. The presence and input of the New Apostolic Church in the Council of Christian Churches is meaningful and desired, the chairman had written. In the third quarter of 2017, the experiences made will be evaluated and any further collaboration discussed.

This invitation is a big step for the ecumenical work of the New Apostolic Church in Luxembourg, it says on the Church website. This had been preceded by regular meetings with representatives of other denominations and religions. These had begun in 2014 as a result of ongoing renegotiations between the Churches and the State for public funding. A milestone was also set in a divine service celebrated by Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider on 11 January 2015 in Luxembourg. Many high-ranking officials had participated in the divine service.