European District Apostles meet in Zurich

Lots of space for tables and state-of-the-art seminar facilities make the conference centre ideal for such meetings. The District Apostle Meeting Europe (DAME) meets here twice a year, the District Apostle Meeting International (DAMI) once a year.

On the agenda of the most recent session of the DAME was a look at the development of future generations. One of the topics that is very important for the District Apostles is the development of musical talents among the youngest. To date, the age group under six does not have its own song collection. Sunday School children, the confirmands, and the youth all have their own song collections—but not the pre-schoolers. Even the general music market offers little in this respect. It is the wish of the working group to have a collection of simple songs with spiritual content for singing at home and in pre-Sunday School. The working group wants to close the gap and come full circle so that every age group in the Church has its own song collection.

The working group introduced the concept to the District Apostles, who then commissioned the group to come up with a draft.

Divine service for the departed

“Divine services for the departed take place three times a year, on the first Sunday of March, July, and November respectively. With this in mind, New Apostolic Christians also pray that souls who have died in an unredeemed state may find salvation in Christ,” theCatechism of the New Apostolic Church says in chapter 12.1.13.

These three divine services occupy an important place in the New Apostolic church year. The District Apostles receive many questions concerning these services. They want to address some of these in a pan-European campaign next year. The divine service for the departed on 6 November 2016 is going to follow the same pattern in all European congregations: two separate hours of preparation are planned, one for seniors and one for young Christians. A motto has already been found, an elaboration has been drafted, and a presentation developed. Also the article in the Divine Service Guide—the monthly publication prepared by the Church leadership for the ministers as basis for their sermons—is to pick up on this motto on that Sunday as well and give it firm biblical grounding. Public Relations will accompany this campaign with press releases, posters, and flyers in an effort to make this New Apostolic specialty public.

Field maple planted at the NACI head office

During lunch, the District Apostles witnessed a tree planting ceremony. A hole had been prepared in the garden of the head office and the Chief Apostle set a young sapling, a field maple, into the hole. The tree had been a gift from the youth of the District Church of North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany). We will report about this tomorrow.