Fall conference of the District Apostles in Johannesburg
Two times each year, all District Apostles and District Apostle Helpers of the world come together for a District Apostle Meeting. They debate globally strategic topics that are of significance for the overall leadership of the Church. In October this meeting will take place in Johannesburg in South Africa.
Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider will begin the District Apostle Meeting on Wednesday, 7 October 2015 with an African portion. The so-called District Apostle Meeting Africa has come to be common practice—after all, the majority of all New Apostolic members live on the African continent. On this occasion the meeting will deal especially with topics concerning communication. The African member magazine African Joy is to receive new input. Some 1.2 million copies of this magazine are printed each quarter and distributed to the majority of the African churches.
District Apostle Meeting Africa and District Apostle Meeting International
On Thursday and Friday, the agenda calls for the international meeting of the District Apostles. As always, the Church leader will begin the meeting with a prayer and a spiritual message. Experience has shown that he leaves himself a good deal of time for this. This is because his message will make its way into all congregations around the world in the time following. The District Apostles will use it appropriately: they will send it to the Apostles, incorporate the Chief Apostle’s thoughts into their own publications, and provide it to specific target groups such as the teachers or ministers. Other topics this time will focus on updates to various teaching texts in line with the Catechism, as well as discussions on the conception of ministry.
Host and guests
This time the host is the South African District Apostle, Patrick Mkhwanazi. He is also responsible for the framework programming. This includes the divine services on Wednesday evening, for example. The guests will conduct divine services for the brothers and sisters in fifteen predetermined congregations in Johannesburg and Pretoria.
On Saturday, 10 October a festive choral concert is scheduled to take place in the ZK Matthews Great Hall of the University of South Africa (UNISA) in Pretoria. The choir and orchestra will consist of young people from the Gauteng district. Their musical programme will highlight our 2015 motto, “Joy in Christ”, and will incorporate the various musical styles of the local cultural sphere.
On Sunday a large festive divine service will take place in the congregation of Dinwiddie. And naturally, this divine service will also be transmitted by satellite to many other congregations in the region. District Apostle Mkhwanazi writes the following short greeting to his guests, “On behalf of my fellow Apostles, as well as all our brothers and sisters, I extend a joyful welcome to the Chief Apostle, the District Apostles and their Helpers, as well as all other guests.”
Key term: District Apostle Meeting
The District Apostle Meeting is a body consisting of the incumbent Chief Apostle as well as all active District Apostles and District Apostle Helpers. It is convened by invitation of, and under the chairmanship of, the Chief Apostle at least twice each year for regular sessions, or for extraordinary sessions by request of at least two thirds of its members. Election meetings are held in the event it is necessary to elect the Chief Apostle.
The District Apostle Meeting advises and supports the Chief Apostle in all Church matters, and together with him, bears responsibility for the unity of all District Churches. Its functions are to debate, discuss, and pass resolutions on matters presented by the Chief Apostle, the District Apostles, or the Work Groups and Project Groups, and to issue rulings and directives in matters pertaining to the global Church.
See also: Decision boards in the New Apostolic Church International
Photo: Oliver Rütten