Zurich. The international leader of the New Apostolic Church, Chief Apostle Wilhelm Leber, has offered to have further discussions with representatives of the United Apostolic Church. In a personal letter to UAC-Apostle Matthias Knauth, he responds to the latter’s letter of 18 December 2007. In it the UAC made it known that they were no longer available for any further discussions. “I thank you for addressing your criticism of the presentation of the ‘History of the NAC’ Work Group directly to me,” wrote the Chief Apostle in his reply letter.

The Chief Apostle is not content to let the reproach stand that the New Apostolic Church did not keep to the arrangements agreed upon. All the participants of the so-called “historians’ meeting”—a group consisting of representative historians from both the NAC and the UAC—had already been informed in February 2007 about the basic structure of Apostle Walter Drave’s presentation of 4 December 2007. There was definitely no question of an “intentionally dismissive attitude”—such was the reproach of the UAC—on the part of the NAC, said the Chief Apostle. 

In his letter the Chief Apostle went on to write: “The events presented by Apostle Drave are all verifiable. Naturally the evidence supporting each of these statements could not be presented during the information evening due to limitations of time. Even an airtight presentation of the case on the internet would go beyond the scope of possibility. That is why I invite you to come and hear an oral explanation of each of the individual statements by the ‘History of the NAC’ Work Group. I gladly invite you and your colleagues to join us for a mutual discussion about this matter.”

In his letter Chief Apostle Leber also concedes that the format of the presentation might also have seemed to imply an assessment of the facts presented. “Perhaps there is also the impression that the records might allow for another set of conclusions to be drawn. Ultimately there is also a question as to whether the available records will even suffice to produce a satisfactory picture of the events of the time. All in all, it is also important to remember that the presentation was only a first attempt to portray the events of this time. We are prepared to revise our results if required. In order to achieve this, your help would be very important,” added the Chief Apostle.

In conclusion, Chief Apostle Leber asks the Apostles of the UAC to reconsider their discontinuation of mutual discussions. “I assure you that we are indeed interested in discovering the truth, as far as at all possible, and taking a stand on it.”

You can read the complete text of the letter from Chief Apostle Wilhelm Leber to Matthias Knauth here (German only).