It was 70 years ago, on 5 August 1951, that the then Chief Apostle Johann Gottfried Bischoff retired him. Today, Ernst Güttinger would have been 144 years of age. Who was this man who left behind such a mixed legacy?

This week we take a look at an anniversary in Australia and a campaign for a better future. There certainly are reasons to celebrate, but there are also always moments to pause and reflect and pray for others.

The church and the faithful are ablaze. And this fire enlightens, warms, purifies, shapes, and gathers. Yet this fire needs to be fed. Here is how from a recent sermon by the Chief Apostle.

Wambel is one of the congregations in the city of Dortmund in Germany. On 30 May 2021 Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider preached about God’s love there and what our response to His love can be like.

God wants to take every believer out of prison and lead him to perfect freedom. The Chief Apostle highlights important stages along the way and what is so wonderful about them.

It all began with a woman who became New Apostolic while on a trip to Denmark fifty years ago. Upon returning to India, she did not keep her faith to herself, but rather told many others about Jesus and living Apostles. And against all odds, there are around 45,000 New Apostolic Christians living in India today.

Acknowledging the baptisms of other denominations is not as simple as it sounds, and the journey there has had its ups and downs in church history. A number of things had to be set into motion before the New Apostolic Church was in a position to acknowledge the baptisms of other Christian denominations.

Naturally baptism belongs inside the church—doesn’t it? Not necessarily: the sacrament has spent a good part of its history just outside the church doors, or in other spaces altogether. This is the story of how baptism made its long journey into the church, only to slip back outside again briefly, and finally end up back inside.

It is not all that uncommon for a pendulum to swing to the other side. This too is part of the story of Chief Apostle Johann Gottfried Bischoff, who died on 6 July sixty years ago—to the dismay of many brothers and sisters.

Living, working and believing in Malaysia. This is what Evangelist Loganathan Ramaurty Lawrence (51), the rector of the congregation in Kuala Lumpur, tells us about. And he reveals what gives him strength to dedicate himself the way he does.

Baptism is as old as the New Testament. It is both a bone of contention as well as a binding element among Christians. Some see it as a rite of entry into Christian life, others regard it as merely a private celebration. In fact, it is more than people think!

No matter how powerful evil is, there is always One who can snatch the prey away from even the biggest predator. Yet even He does not do everything Himself. Read how Jesus Christ relies on every single believer.

Who is entitled to dispense the sacraments? The various Christian denominations have some very similar answers to that question—even though they all come from very different perspectives in arriving at them. Also common to all of them is the one big exception.

Seven, three, or two: how many sacraments are there actually? Not even all the Christian denominations are in agreement with themselves when it comes to that question. But there is one point of intersection which all of them do acknowledge—almost all of them, that is.

“We are responsible for our own salvation,” the Chief Apostle said in his sermon in Niamey. God puts the necessary means at our disposal so that we can obtain salvation. Our mission is to accept these means.

According to the liturgical calendar, Christians are currently observing Lent, a period of fasting and penitence that ends shortly before Easter. Soon we will be celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, reason enough to reflect on all that God means to us and does for us.

Jesus makes free — but what happens if a person fails to realise that he is still bound? For example, in thoughts or in prejudices? Some reflections from District Apostle John Kriel, South Africa.

Love, return, inheritance, responsibility, coping: these are five kinds of freedom that Jesus Christ has available for us. It was in Nzagi, Angola that the Chief Apostle presented the key to all of this. And that is being a child.