“The District Apostle has confidence in you and I have confidence in you,” Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider said to the latest member of the international Church leadership.
“I have one last thing to do. Time is moving on and we must prepare for the future.” This is how Chief Apostle Schneider announced a ministerial act in the divine service on 15 September 2024 in Kinshasa (DR Congo). “The District Apostle and I prayed a lot, and after many prayers and a lot of wrestling with God we both came to the same conclusion. And today I am going to appoint a District Apostle Helper for the DR Congo West. It is Apostle Élie Mukinda Mudinganyi.”
The future of Congo West
Elie Tatien Mukinda Mudinganyi was born on 1 June 1976 in Lubumbashi, in the eastern part of the DR Congo. He is married and has three children. He said yes to his first ministry in the New Apostolic Church in 2006, when he was ordained as a Deacon. He served as a priestly minister from 2008 to 2021. Nine of these years he carried various leadership functions.
In 2021, when the Chief Apostle was unable to travel because of the Covid pandemic, he commissioned District Apostle Michael Deppner to ordain Sheperd Mukinda as an Apostle. Since then he has served the brothers and sisters in the Kinshasa-West district, which comprises around 120 congregations.
Together with District Apostle Deppner he now has the task of setting the course for the future of the Regional Church Congo West.
“I can confirm before God and the congregation that this is something you did not want and did not seek,” Chief Apostle Schneider said in his address before assigning the Apostle. The Chief Apostle explained that the District Apostle Helper will give up his profession, which he loves, in order to be able to work for the Church full-time.
The newly appointed District Apostle Helper is a medical doctor and most recently worked with the US Embassy as a doctor and epidemiologist in the field of disease control and prevention.
New Apostolic Church Congo West
Of the 9.3 million members of the New Apostolic Church worldwide, around a third live in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the second largest country in Africa in terms of area and is divided into two District Apostle Areas. There is the DR Congo South-East, led by District Apostle Tshitshi Tshisekedi, whose predecessor was Jean-Luc Schneider. And then there is the DR Congo West with over 1.3 million New Apostolic Christians, who have been cared for by District Apostle Michael Deppner since 2010.
Constant change in the District Apostle Areas
Over the past two years, the course for the future has been set in many District Apostle Areas. In addition to a change in leadership in the District Apostle Areas USA and South Africa in 2023, two further regions will have new District Apostles by the end of 2024. The New Apostolic Church Western Germany received a new District Apostle in the person of Stefan Pöschel . And this coming Sunday the New Apostolic Church Switzerland will receive a new District Apostle in Thomas Deubel.