“Our goal is to enter eternal fellowship with God,” said the Church leader, Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider on Pentecost Sunday in Cape Town in South Africa. “To do this, we must become like Jesus Christ. He is the one who loves and serves. We can also do this because we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is just a question of really wanting it.”

“Don’t shy away from your mission. Believe that God has enabled you to serve as Jesus Christ did. Trust in the gift of the Holy Spirit,” he appealed in his sermon, which was based on 2 Timothy 1: 7: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

“The work done in the Holy Spirit will never be in vain,” the Chief Apostle said and continued: “God has given us the maximum of love we can receive. That makes us strong.” But: “It is not about me. We are just tools. Actually, the work is done by God.”

Gathered for five days

The Pentecost Council had started last Wednesday. About two dozen Regional Church leaders and their representatives came to Cape Town. For the midweek service, they had fanned out to conduct divine services in congregations in the Western Cape.

Thursday and Friday were dedicated to the deliberations of the International District Apostle Meeting, the leading decision-making body of the New Apostolic Church.

The Saturday was mainly devoted to the Pentecost concert, which not only thrilled the local audience, but also audiences all over the world. The concert, like the central divine service, was broadcast publicly via the internet. In this way, hundreds of thousands of New Apostolic Christians were able to celebrate Pentecost, the birthday of the church of Christ, together.