Good news from around the globe

A temporary home

The congregation of Flores in Argentina has been around for seventy years and celebrated their anniversary together with District Apostle Enrique Eduardo Minio in a divine service on 11 August 2024. The sermon was based on the same Bible text as at the time the church was dedicated: “Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage” (Psalm 84: 5). The District Apostle emphasised that the house of God should be the home where the believers live. “In order to feel at home here, it is important to purify one’s heart, to take care of it, and to keep selfishness, doubt, anger, and unbelief out of it. In return, the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of self-control. Let us put our souls in order and adorn them with what God wants to see in us,” he said. After the divine service, the brothers and sisters immersed themselves in the history of the congregation with videos and pictures.

Women in action

Around three thousand sisters attended a divine service in Lilongwe in Malawi on 25 August 2024. The service concluded the annual three-day Sisters Fellowship, which was attended by women from all over District Apostle Kububa Soko’s working area of Zambia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. From Friday onwards, the women had discussed topics such as doctrine and knowledge subjects, entrepreneurship, and health and well-being. They also donated goods to the office of the district medical officer. The aim of the regular meeting is to coordinate the work of the sisters in the Regional Church and raise funds—sometimes for church projects, sometimes for schools and other projects. Apostle Paul Ngambi conducted the final divine service before everyone started their journey home again.

Part of something big

The New Apostolic Church was accepted as a member of the Council of Churches in Berne, Switzerland, in August 2024. Bishop Thomas Wihler and the ecumenical coordinator Andreas Grossglauser of the New Apostolic Church attended the ceremony on which the unanimous decision to accept the new member was made official. The Serbian Orthodox Church in Belp had made its parish hall available for the event. Representatives of the Council of Churches and other denominations welcomed the New Apostolic Church into their circle with speeches. After the official statutes had been signed, a friendly exchange took place over lunch.

Charity project

Community Outreach is the name of a project launched by Apostle Salvador Mitogo Obiang in June 2024. Young people from all over Equatorial Guinea are trying to help people affected by leprosy. The young people from various congregations visited a leprosy nursing home in Micomiseng with the Apostle on Saturday, 21 September 2024. They cleaned it together with the nursing staff and learned a lot about the disease. Then, together with the Apostle, they organised an interactive talk on the topic of gratitude. The young people also presented a donation of cleaning and personal hygiene products as well as food.

Building the future brick by brick

The aid organisations NACSEA Relief in South-East Asia and NAK-Humanitas in Switzerland have built a school together in the Philippines with help from donors, enabling children to dream again. On 12 October 2024, the retired District Apostle Urs Hebeisen, President of NACSEA Relief, and project coordinator Mabelle Bagtas inaugurated the building with two classrooms and a faculty room in Dugwakan and turned it over to the department of education. Present at the ceremony were the mayor, local leaders, representatives of the department of education, and several school headmasters. Following a six-month construction period, the symbolic key could be handed over to the local officials. Several speeches were made at the inauguration, including one by the vice mayor who highlighted the significance of the project for the municipality. The children in Dugwakan now have the space and resources they need to thrive and achieve their dreams.

Their own roof over their head

After having had to move from building to building since its establishment, the Guéckédou-Lélé congregation in Guinea finally has its own place of worship. The new church building was dedicated by Apostle Nema Jaques Condé in mid October. The dedication service was based on Hebrews 3: 5–6: “And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.” The Apostle emphasised that the church building is only a successive layering of bricks, whereby the actual temple of God is formed by the believers.