News from around the world

Changes among the Apostles

On Sunday, 15 January 2017, Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider celebrated a divine service in Lomé in Togo. In the course of the service, he placed three Apostles into retirement: Apostle Kodjo Simon Anika from Togo as well as the Apostles Benjamin Mkethia and Afutu Kotei from Ghana. Chief Apostle Schneider wrote in his weekly letter to all Apostles: “We wholeheartedly thank our friends and fellow Apostles for their longstanding and blessed work, for their faithful and devoted ministration on the souls entrusted to their care, and for their serving in the Lord’s work.”

In the same service, he ordained new Apostles: the hitherto Bishops Sédjro Kodjo Amevoh and Kossivi Edo Kloutse for Togo; and the hitherto District Elder Amos Osei-Du and District Evangelist Benjamin Ohehe-Saffo for Ghana.

Children raise funds

Nico, Kevin, Perci, and many other children from the Barcelona and Igualada congregations in Spain started a fund-raising campaign. They had asked the members in their congregations to donate for a fund drive. After the service on 8 January they opened the donation box and were delighted to find several hundred euros. They donated the money to NAK Diakonia, a relief organization of the New Apostolic Church Switzerland. The funds will be used to help children in need.

The children also designed a symbolic cheque, which they presented in a ceremony. Children helping children … This is living the gospel as Christ taught.

Successful crisis management

District Apostle Leonard R. Kolb apologised for the difficulties experienced by some congregations with the webcast of a service he held last Sunday in Bethpage, New York (USA). He addressed his brothers and sisters in a letter on the website of the NAC USA: “Please accept my heartfelt apology for the difficulties with our webcast last Sunday. … It was my idea to transmit from a different place, our new location in Long Island for the Chinese district, but unfortunately, this created a number of issues that hampered our transmission.”

Already a few hours later, in an effort to share the message, the District Church uploaded a transcript of the divine service and a service outline with notes, and shared a link to the service videos in English and Spanish. The District Apostle wrote that the webcast strategy had been reviewed and that some changes would be made to ensure better webcasts in the future. The brothers and sisters were amazed at the quick response. “No need for an apology” and “Thank you for the transcript” they wrote in the social media services.

A new website in India

Clearly structured and with many images, that is how the website of the New Apostolic Church in India greets its visitors. The Church there has just relaunched its website. The information about the local Church, religion, and life in the congregations is presented in an attractive design.

The New Apostolic Church in India is led by District Apostle Mark Woll of Canada, who is assisted by the local District Apostle Helper David Devaraj. They are supported by eight Apostles, six Bishops, and 800 ministers. There are 500 congregations in the country with 45,000 members.