More than a year in review—today the NACI communications services team looks back over an entire decade of success. Here is a look at what that means and what they are up to.
When nac.today went online during the night of 1 January 2015, the editorial team was already eagerly monitoring the analysis tools. One of several hundred users who were keen to examine the new current events portal early in the morning was from the Strasbourg area.
No wonder: “Quick, inexpensive, and global”—these were the words used by Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider to describe how he wanted the media communications system of the New Apostolic Church International (NACI) to be structured. And it was clear that this would only work with an “online first” approach. But readers of print media were also taken into consideration.
Firing on all cylinders
The four-language online magazine quickly developed into the New Apostolic Church’s most rapid, relevant, and extensive international news channel. Around 3,500 articles have been published since it was launched: one every day except on Sundays—normally. At peak times such as Pentecost, there can be even more. Some 100,000 users come to visit every week—and that is on the website alone.
Access to the news is provided by a network of official branches on social media: there are currently seven Facebook pages, four Instagram accounts, and four YouTube channels. The articles and videos can also be found in many of the Regional Church media—from Regional Church websites to congregational newsletters. And in many places, the Chief Apostle’s New Year’s address, which has been part of NACI’s communications service offering since the very first hour of its existence, makes it all the way into the nave of the church.
Flexible and transparent
But that is only a small selection of the services on offer. In addition to the nac.today online portal, there is also the member magazine known as community, which is published in well over a dozen languages. The quarterly magazine is structured in such a modular way that the Regional Churches can put together tailor-made versions, depending on their needs and capabilities.
And in addition to the colourful magazines online and in print, there is also the website of the Church, known as nak.org, with its highly official announcements from the international Church leadership. The homepage has not only undergone a technical, graphic, and conceptual relaunch, but has also recently been expanded in a special way: for the first time, the “Guide for Ministers” and the “Liturgy of the New Apostolic Church” have also been published there for everyone to see. This represents “a contribution to the unity of the Church,” as the Chief Apostle emphasises.
With the right tech and experience
And that brings us to the technical details at work under the hood. The “Guide for Ministers” and the “Liturgy” booklet all run on the same platform that the communications services had initiated and implemented for the current online versions of the “Catechism of the New Apostolic Church” and the “Catechism in Questions and Answers”. There is a central database to which not only nak.org but also the Regional Churches can connect.
This is also where the two Catechism apps known as naccatechism and nacfaq—which are available for Android phones as well as iPhones and iPads—come in. The same goes for nacmaps and nacnews: one contains the locations of New Apostolic church buildings, including service times, and the other is a news centre for your pocket, where users can subscribe to their own selection of international, national, regional, and local Church media.
“The NACI communications services team has brought Church communication into a new era.” Such were the words of the Chief Apostle as he bade farewell to Church spokesman Peter Johanning at the latter’s retirement and welcomed in the new head of communications, Simon Heiniger. And users will continually be able to rely on quick and comprehensive news services in the future as well. What’s more—and this is something that often surprises outside observers—it is all free of charge and delivered straight to their door!
Photo: Oliver Rütten