seasons.today

“Joy in Christ”, the motto of the New Apostolic Church for 2015, is unfolding more and more from service to service. What does it mean for us, what do we connect with it? Join our interactive project and help us illustrate the 2015 motto!

The Chief Apostle’s visit to the United Arab Emirates this coming weekend will fall under the motto “diversity”: many nations in one congregation and many denominations under one roof.

“Labour in love” was the motto that Chief Apostle Schneider laid into the hearts of the New Apostolic people around the world at the beginning of last year. What have the congregations done with it? nac.today asked the district churches.

The 120 girls and boys will have had a lot to tell when they returned home to South Africa after their eleven-day concert tour in Germany. They also shared their impressions with nac.today.

Merry Christmas! Pardon? Christmas is long gone. But not in Russia. According to the Russian calendar Christmas is today, 7 January. For New Apostolic Christians this time of the year is a bit of a balancing act between the cultures.

Today, 6 January marks Epiphany, a religious festival that is not all that well known in New Apostolic circles, but crops up in our publications now and then. It is one of the oldest Christian festivals.

nac.today is the medium the New Apostolic Church has just launched. community is another medium that is in the starting blocks. Why? What for? An interview with the Chief Apostle.

Be it in a large circle or small, with a divine service or without, our members around the world have rung in the New Year in very different ways. But there is one thing that unites them all—and it’s more than just fireworks at midnight.

Dortmund/Zurich. “We praise God and give thanks to His servant”—it was with this simple statement that the international leader of the New Apostolic Church, Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider, opened Sunday’s divine service in Dortmund’s Westfalenhalle. With emotional words he retired District Apostle Armin Brinkmann, who had served in ministry for many years, before going on to ordain his successor, the new District Apostle Rainer Storck.

Zurich. Changes will soon be coming to the structure of midweek divine services in the New Apostolic congregations of the USA. The usual midweek service with its celebration of Holy Communion will in future only take place once each month. District Apostle Leonard Kolb plans to supplement this with non-sacramental divine services, home devotionals, Bible studies, Catechism instruction, musical evenings, and discussion evenings. Concerning this Chief Apostle states: “I really welcome this proposal, as the circumstances of the Church in the USA cannot be compared to those in Europe.”

Zurich. The new year 2014 has a new motto: “Labour in love!” In his divine service on New Year’s Day in Stuttgart, Germany, Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider, the spiritual leader of the New Apostolic Church, used the words of the Lord Jesus as an appeal to all Christians to make a special profession of faith: “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Zurich. The past year 2013 was an anniversary year for the New Apostolic Church. It was celebrated with numerous national and international events. Having emerged in 1863 from a small Catholic Apostolic congregation in Hamburg, Germany, the New Apostolic Church today numbers over ten million members around the world. New Apostolic Christians gather to worship in over 60,000 congregations. Following are some excerpts from a year in motion.

Zurich. “It does me good to know that my predecessor is here. It brings me special joy that our retired Chief Apostle Fehr is feeling better again.” Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider had invited both of his predecessors in ministry to Zurich. He had done so in order to bid an official farewell to his immediate predecessor, Chief Apostle Wilhelm Leber—who retired on Pentecost Sunday of this year—from the head office of the Church.

Photo: nacworld

Photo: nacworld

Hamburg/Zurich. As of this Pentecost Sunday 2013, the New Apostolic Church has a new spiritual leader: Jean-Luc Schneider is the new Chief Apostle and successor in ministry to Wilhelm Leber, who retired from ministry on this occasion. It was a special highlight when the new Chief Apostle discharged the previous Chief Apostle from his ministry with the words: “In our hearts you will remain our Chief Apostle!”