The storms of life: “Where is your faith?”

The divine service on 8 February 2015 in Torgau (Germany) was based on Luke 8: 25. Jesus climbed into a boat with the disciples one day and asked them to cross to the other side of the lake. The Lord fell asleep. A storm came up and the boat began to fill with water. The experienced fishermen knew that they would not be able to handle this situation and panicked. They woke the Lord. He rebuked the wind and the raging water, and said to the disciples, “Where is your faith?”

“The Lord has given us an invitation: Take Me into your boat of life. We are heading to a beautiful destination,” the Chief Apostle said. “But it can happen now and then that a storm comes up and our lives become turbulent and we might be left wondering if the Lord has abandoned us.” The answer of the Lord, the Chief Apostle said is, “Where is your faith?”

Even the Church goes through stormy times, Chief Apostle Schneider said, addressing the crisis of the Church in Europe: a lack of young people, a downward trend in service attendance, the closing of congregations. The Apostles, the ministers, and the members, he said, are all doing their best. Some think that the Church should be reformed. Others think that there have been far too many changes already. And some even fear that the Church is going to suffer shipwreck. “The answer of the Lord is, ‘Where is your faith?’”

In the eyes of the Chief Apostle, this question invites the following answer, “Return to the fundamentals of your faith.” He has the articles of the New Apostolic Creed in mind.

• We believe in God, the Father. He is watching over us. Children do not always understand their father. “But we trust our Father all the more because He is the almighty God.”

• We believe in Jesus Christ, the Redeemer. “He did not come to offer people a better life, but to bring them another life altogether: eternal life.”

• We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Comforter and Helper. He will reveal all things to us and give us what we need to attain salvation.

• We believe in the church of Christ. The Lord is watching over His church so that it can fulfil its mission to the very end, namely to make salvation available to mankind.

• We believe in the Apostle ministry. We believe that the Lord Jesus rules His church and has sent Apostles for this purpose, who will be active until the return of the Lord. “I am not saying that everybody has an Apostle at their doorstep. But is God not entitled to demand that we prove to Him how important the divine services are for us?”

• We believe in the sacraments: in Holy Baptism, Holy Communion, and Holy Sealing. “Our faith has not really changed all that much. The essential things have remained. Everything else are adaptations that concern side issues”—concerning our habits, customs, and traditions.

• We believe in the return of Christ: “No date has been written down. Nor does it state anywhere that everybody has to join the New Apostolic Church. It says nowhere that the Lord will return when the church is full. But it does say that He will come for those who were waiting for Him and who allowed themselves to be prepared for His return.”

“Where is your faith?” The Chief Apostle emphasized that the congregation answers this question during the celebration of Holy Communion, because at that point the faithful profess their faith in the love and power of God, in the church, in the Apostle ministry, and in the return of Christ.

“Where is your faith?” is a question that Chief Apostle Schneider associates with special memories. “There have also been moments in my life in which my faith was not very strong, where I did not want to accept what God had in mind with me. Again and again, I received this answer from God in one form or another, either after opening up the Bible, in a divine service, or in a conversation. When Chief Apostle Wilhelm Leber informed me that I was his designated successor, I was shocked. He said, ‘Where is your faith?’”

Jean-Luc Schneider answered this question on Pentecost 2013 in Hamburg, the day he accepted the ordination as Chief Apostle.