From sales to pastoral care: travelling for a good cause

Already when he was twelve years old, Arnaud Martig knew that he wanted to work in international sales one day. Today he is 53 years old and has achieved his professional goal, although a little differently than originally planned. As an Apostle, he is responsible for spreading the gospel, also internationally. Apostle Martig is not only responsible for Eastern Canada, he also regularly travels to the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Chad. And as a District Apostle Helper he will get to know Bangladesh, India, Cambodia, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the rest of Canada.

Getting to know the wide world

Arnaud Martig studied engineering in France where he grew up. He took advantage of the opportunity offered by the European Erasmus programme and went to Germany for a semester. He stayed there for a few more years and worked in sales for a French company and travelled all over Germany.

In 1996, Arnaud Martig married Florence in Colmar in France. Shortly after the wedding, he started working for a company in Basle in Switzerland. After the company was taken over by a Canadian company, the young couple moved to the other side of the North Atlantic in 1998, to Canada. They had originally planned on staying three years. “And here we are,” Arnaud Martig says in his office in Toronto, Ontario.

With God’s blessing

His great-grandparents were already involved in the New Apostolic Church. And the great-grandson? “I was very happy to serve the Lord without any responsibility, without a ministry,” Arnaud Martig says. In Germany, he played in the orchestra conducted by Friedhelm Deis and learned choral conducting from him, after which he took over the youth choir in Colmar.

Arnaud Martig wanted to make sure that God would bless his Canadian adventure. He went to speak to his District Evangelist and rector, who he knew would not be happy about his moving away. “I thought that if he says yes, then it is God saying yes.” The rector said, “You know my answer. But I will not give you my answer, I will ask the Bishop.” A few days later his rector called Arnaud and said, “I spoke to the Bishop, and he said, ‘If God wants them there, who are we to keep them back?’” And then I knew that we had God’s blessing on this.

Shortly before the couple’s departure for Canada, his rector called him to ask him to meet him at the church. Arnaud went there totally cool. He was all the more surprised when his rector revealed to him that he was to be ordained as a Deacon the next day. When he told his rector, “But I’m leaving,” he replied, “Yeah, I am still hoping you won’t leave. But even if you do go, you will leave with a blessing.” So Arnaud Martig left his native France as a Deacon and his ministry was confirmed in Canada at the first opportunity.

God’s great master plan

Professionally, Arnaud Martig has travelled a lot, gotten to know new places, and has made friends all over the world. “I just loved travelling,” he says. Although it was often difficult when the children were still small. His wife was often alone in looking after them. And then there were his ministerial duties. In the meantime, Arnaud Martig had become a District Evangelist and was away half the time. “I had a number of conversations with my Apostle at the time, Frank Dzur. Please make me a Deacon, I said, because there is no way I can do my work. He simply said, ‘You do what you can when you are home.’” And then the Lord intervened. His department was merged with another. His new position required far less travelling. Now he had time for his brothers and sisters in Canada. “Let the Lord fight for you. He knows what you need,” is his advice today.

At some point, District Apostle Mark Woll approached District Evangelist Martig and asked him for help: he needed a good French translator in each of the African countries he worked in, and Arnaud Martig was to help him find them. “I had no clue why he really wanted me with him on that,” Arnaud Martig admits. The two got to know each other well on that trip. And Arnaud Martig got to know and love the brothers and sisters in Africa. Back in Canada he was sad because he thought he would never have another opportunity to go to Africa again. When the District Apostle invited him to lunch a year later and told him that he was to become an Apostle, there was joy in his heart because he would be able to go back to Africa. “A wonderful privilege.”

When God calls

However, it was a shock for the District Evangelist, who still saw himself as a new immigrant in the country, “Why me? I don’t have the skills. I don’t have the talent that is needed. But if the Lord calls, I will say yes. I trust Him.”

And so it happened that District Apostle Woll ordained Arnaud Martig, whom he had ordained as a Priest twenty years earlier, as an Apostle. Due to the pandemic, the Chief Apostle was unable to come and instructed his District Apostle to perform the ordination.

“My task is to learn”

And then another dinner together. This time District Apostle Woll updated him on the latest plans: he was to become a District Apostle Helper for the District Apostle Area Canada. “We trust the Lord. That’s all I can say. It goes beyond our personal abilities. And all I can try and do is not to let my weaknesses and imperfections get in the way of my serving.”

He is not so much looking forward to the responsibility, but to the joy of visiting many more congregations and countries and experiencing the fellowship with the brothers and sisters. Although he has travelled a lot in his professional life and has seen quite a bit of the world, he has not yet been to all the countries in his future field of work and is looking forward to learning many new things. “My task as a District Apostle Helper, as I see it, will be to learn.”