For the first time, the Netzwerk Apostolische Geschichte e.V. (Apostolic History Network) participated with a booth at the Market of Opportunities at the German Protestant Church Congress (DEKT). From April 30 to May 4, 2025, the networkers were in Hanover, Germany, and helped organize this major event.
Last fall, the network had already asked for donations for its appearance at the DEKT. This enabled around €3,000 to be invested in this purpose, particularly in stand construction and wall posters, advertising materials, and catering for the support group on site. The Apostolic Community of Hanover provided the network with accommodation in its parish hall. This enabled a group of seven people to stay relatively close to the exhibition grounds and make use of the good infrastructure on site.
On Wednesday, April 30, the first task was to set up the exhibition stand at the Hanover exhibition grounds. The close proximity to the stands of the Apostolic Community and the New Apostolic Church made it possible to support each other. This enabled the network to take over a rented refrigerator that was not needed at another booth and to cool the supplies of drinks and fair trade chocolate they had brought with them on site—a great relief on these warm days. Thanks to the network’s good preparation, the setup itself went smoothly and quickly.
At 7:30 p.m., Volker Wissen, church elder of the Apostolic Community and chief financial officer of the network, invited everyone to an evening service in the parish rooms of the Apostolic Community in Hanover. The service was well attended and dealt with the theme “courageous – strong – resolute” based on 1 Corinthians 16:13f. Another focus was Psalm 27 (“The Lord is my light”), which is often sung in the various apostolic churches and communities and was also sung on site with instrumental accompaniment. After the service and an informal get-together in a colorful group, the church hall was converted into a place to spend the night.
The next morning, the three days of the fair began. At first, the weather remained very warm, until a thunderstorm on Friday brought a significant cooling. More and more church convention visitors came through the “Apostolic Alley” at the Market of Opportunities and learned about the diversity of apostolic life in Germany and beyond at the three stands. Among them were clergy from the Protestant Church, experts in the field of worldview issues, people with an Apostolic background or those who had belonged to one of the Apostolic churches in the past, and many others. At times, three or four conversations could be held simultaneously on and in front of the small 12-square-meter booth.
For specific questions, the neighboring booths also referred people to our booth. Overall, during the Market of Opportunities, we were able to welcome three new members to our association, distribute many flyers, and give away some of the books published in our community in exchange for donations.
On Saturday morning, the overnight accommodation was dismantled and cleaned, and then, after another day at the fair, the booth was also dismantled in the evening. Most of the networkers then made their way home from Hanover, while some attended the closing service of the Church Congress or the service at the NAK Hanover-South the next morning.
Overall, we have a positive impression of our visit to the DEKT. Even though some of the organizational tasks were challenging, we managed everything well and were able to welcome a large number of interested people to our booth. We would like to thank everyone who gave us the opportunity and helped us to make this a wonderful event!
More images can be found here below the German text: https://www.apostolische-geschichte.de/grosses-interesse-an-apostolischer-geschichte-beim-kirchentag-in-hannover/
