New Apostolic Church
International

Zurich/Hamburg. Pentecost 2007 is a big event for the New Apostolic Church: on 27 May 2007 the Church’s international president and Chief Apostle, Dr. Wilhelm Leber, will conduct a divine service in the Hamburg Congress Centre, which will be transmitted by satellite to more than 60 countries on all five continents in both sound and picture.

The sermon will be translated into English at the altar, then translated into more than 20 other languages, and transmitted using 13 satellites. On account of the time difference, the transmission to North and South America will be recorded and sent later. The Church administration expects that a total of nearly 1.4 million believers in approximately 7,500 churches will be able to participate in this divine service.

Development of divine service transmissions in Europe

The history of divine service transmissions in the New Apostolic Church dates back to 1946: it was in that year that a divine service was transmitted from Reutlingen, Germany using the telephone network. In August 1951, the first audio transmission was sent via post cable, reaching approximately 40,000 listeners in various receiving stations throughout Germany.

Sound and picture transmissions via satellite began in 1990. The Church’s own Friedrich Bischoff Verlag (publishing house) was given the task of executing this project. The Pentecost divine service of 1990 in the Austria Centre in Vienna reached more than 800 receiving stations throughout Western Europe.

Since the mid-nineties the annual Pentecost service has also been transmitted to the USA and Canada, Southern Africa, and later also to South America. Since 2005, brethren from countries in South East Asia and Australia have also been able to participate, which means that the divine service transmissions have since reached all five continents.

This year the Pentecost divine service will also be accessible on the internet in a small number of receiving stations in Europe and Asia.

European network

At present, over 1,600 church buildings of the New Apostolic Church have been equipped for divine service reception via satellite, and in a few cases via the internet. This region stretches from Scandinavia to Madeira, Malta, Cyprus, and Israel, and from the Azores to beyond the Ural Mountains. This necessitates the simultaneous translation of the sermon into over 20 languages.

Pentecost greeting on the internet

For this year’s Pentecost, Chief Apostle Dr. Wilhelm Leber has recorded a message of greeting on the internet. In it he talks about the significance of Pentecost, and what this celebration in the church calendar represents for New Apostolic Christians around the world. The Pentecost greeting can be viewed in both German and English at: http://www.nak.org/de/pfingsten-2007/.

Contact:
Peter Johanning, Gutleutstraße 298, 60327 Frankfurt
Fon +49 (0)69 26 96 - 525
Fax +49 (0) 69 26 96 - 205
Email: info@nak.org