Registration and program for the 2025 Annual Meeting

This year, the Apostolic History Network cordially invites you to the annual conference on church history in Bensheim and Mannheim. The eighteenth annual meeting on the church history of the apostolic communities will take place there from October 2 to 5, 2025. The conference will be held at the New Apostolic churches in Bensheim and Mannheim, as well as at the Institute for Denominational Studies in Bensheim. The main topic of the meeting will be the Community of Christians of Our Time, which was formed in 1949 from the former district of Worms of the New Apostolic Church and existed until 2002.

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Network events in the second half of 2025

Traditionally, around July 14, we also announce our event program for the second half of the year. We are pleased to announce a colorful variety of virtual and in-person events once again!

As a new feature, we are offering an intensive course entitled “Introduction to Apostolic Church History” on September 13. We will spend a whole day studying apostolic history and invite you to join us at the Brockhagen Archive. Registration is required. We ask for a donation on site to cover the costs incurred.

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Discussion about planned demolition of church in Bielefeld: Network takes up position

In recent days, a discussion has arisen in Bielefeld regarding the planned demolition of the old New Apostolic Church Bielefeld-Mitte (also known as the cafeteria). Local historian Dr. Wilhelm Haubrock called for protection of the rare church windows from the workshop of Gustav Fricke. The building was recently sold to a real estate development company.

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Earliest sheet music edition of a New Apostolic hymnal published!

At the annual meeting of the Network of Apostolic History, the earliest known sheet music edition of a (New) Apostolic hymnal in German was made available to interested researchers. It is the first edition of sheet music for the Apostolic Songbook of 1898, which appeared in 1900 but was not widely distributed. It was intended for four-part choral singing as well as for accompaniment by organ or harmonium.

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Christmas and end of the year

Now another year is almost over. On Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022, we were again able to hold our traditional Advent Singing in the Brockhagen archive. This event also concludes our network year as it did before the pandemic.

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New apostolic community emerged in Congo – response to NAC women’s ordination

In September 2022, the New Apostolic Church announced its intention to ordain women to all church offices as of 2023. In some countries on the African continent, the decision has led to controversial reactions. Particularly in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, some open protests against the ordination of women are coming to light. In addition, the relevant Facebook groups related to the New Apostolic Church have not stood still since September 21. The pictures and comments there are impressive in the literal sense and illustrate the effects of commercial social media. A full classification and contextualization would require the work of qualified journalists. Nevertheless, some basic narratives can be extracted.

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