The New Apostolic Church, its members, as well as some of its institutions have big plans for this year. These include developing instrumental music, building a modern church, and conducting seminars for ministers.
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Photo: NAC SEA Relief
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Photo: NAC SEA Relief
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Photo: NAC SEA Relief
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Photo: NAC Ghana
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Photo: NAC Guinee
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Photo: NAK Schweiz
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Photo: NAK Schweiz
Recorders for the Republic of the Congo
The phone rings. Petra Kunzmann answers. It is Priest James Kazembe from Zambia. Our sister in faith had not expected a call from Zambia. However, she is not overly surprised by his question. Priest Kazembe asks Petra, who has already organised several fundraising drives for congregations in Togo, to help a friend: Apostle Aldia Bifiga wants to develop orchestral music in his district of Brazzaville in the Republic of the Congo. To do so, he started a recorder project for which he needs help from Germany.
The sister spontaneously launched an appeal for donations of unused and almost forgotten recorders. Those who do not have a recorder collecting dust somewhere, but would still like to support the project in Brazzaville can purchase one from the New Apostolic Church Southern Africa and send it to Brazzaville.
NAC SEA Relief builds a pedestrian bridge
For many children around the world, getting to school is fraught with danger. Although they have to walk the same way every day, the paths or roads they have to take are often in poor condition or there are no crossings for pedestrians.
NAC SEA Relief noticed such a danger spot in Matukdo in the Philippines. Staff of the New Apostolic charity met with the mayor of the town of Cauayan to discuss the possibility of a pedestrian bridge with him so that it would be safer for children to get to school—and also connect parts of the town better. The mayor pledged his support and with funds from NAK Humanitas, the aid organisation of the New Apostolic Church Switzerland, NAC SEA Relief plans to start work on the pedestrian bridge at the end of March or early April.
Training the trainers
To enable the ministers in Guinea to conduct even more in-depth services in 2022 and to give them a good grounding in Church history, a new series of seminars was started last December. On 21 and 22 January then a seminar was held for the trainers, which Apostle Saa Marc Leno conducted with help from his colleague, Apostle Braima Saffa from Sierra Leone.
The following topics were covered:
- Why do human beings need redemption? What is the divine plan of salvation?
- Christianity and the period without Apostles and the birth of the New Apostolic Church
- The New Apostolic Church as part of the church of Christ and the Lord’s work of redemption
- The new creation
On the first day, Apostle Hans-Jürgen Bauer from Germany and the Nigerian District Elder Felix Kpegasin, the co-ordinator of seminars for ministers and teachers, instructed the ministers. On the second day, District Elder Wolfgang Oehler from Germany logged on via Zoom to discuss our new concept of ministry with the brothers and how to prepare for the sermons. He was pleased with the high level of motivation of the participants and their willingness to work on the topics in the form of role plays and then to discuss them afterwards.
A new church is being built
For almost sixty years, our church building on Talstreet in Langenthal in Switzerland has served the members there as their gathering place. The time has come for a new building. It will be more modern and functional. In addition to the church hall and the foyer, there will be additional multi-purpose rooms in the new building. On the upper floor, next to the gallery, there will be classrooms, a washroom, and a music room. A utility room as well as storage rooms will be located in the basement. The entire church building will be accessible by stairs and a lift. It should be ready for occupation by the middle of 2023.