Christians remain and build

South East Asia: Typhoons and earthquakes at Christmas

“Christmas and New Year’s Day are among the happiest days of the year for a Filipino family,” writes NAC SEA Relief Fund, the aid organisation of the New Apostolic Church in South East Asia. However, it was also over these days that many people had to suffer great need and sadness. Several earthquakes and two typhoons caused a significant degree of damage in the regions of Mindoro and Bicol. The relief agency immediately started providing emergency aid, distributing packages of foodstuffs to several hundred families. The next steps will focus on the coordination of reconstruction aid. This includes the repair of houses and the rebuilding of agricultural infrastructure.

South Africa: Going out and helping

It doesn’t take much to help. Simply take action—that will do. Even if there is no aid programme or large institution behind it: the help that is provided really matters! This Christmas, Apostle Abraham Brown Page and a number of members visited the “Bram Care Centre” a nursing home in Ashton, South Africa. There the Apostle expressed praise to the helpers, acknowledging their valuable work, and at the same time also supporting their efforts with these patients with some urgently needed aid materials.

Denmark: Developing and professing faith

At the start of the year, Apostle Jörg Steinbrenner amalgamated the Southern Danish congregations of Sønderborg, Tønder, and Hjordkær into the new congregation of Sønderjylland/Hjordkær. The new congregation is home to some 100 members, who are led by Priest Claus Meyenburg. In Horsens, the second of three congregations in Denmark, “there are between 20 and 25 members—most of whom come from the Congo but have in the meantime acquired Danish citizenship—who gather together for service every Sunday,” explains the District Church of Northern and Eastern Germany, which is responsible for the care of the congregations in Denmark. In Denmark’s highly secularised society, people who live their Christian faith publicly are in the minority, which makes it a special challenge for the members of the little congregation to develop and to profess their faith.

Germany: Remaining in the midst of the congregation

“Here I am”—this was the motto of the International Youth Convention. “Here I will stay”—that is the wish that follows the IYC motto, explains District Apostle Michael Ehrich (Southern Germany). In his video address to the young people, the District Apostle used two examples to illustrate how this additional motto—“Here I will stay”—can be put into practice.