The Church has defined ten principles of good governance which include aspects such as organisational unity, continuity, shared decision-making, informed decision-making, accountability, ethical behaviour, duty of care, supervision, transparency, and representation.

The Delegate Meeting, the highest decision-making body of the Global Church for organisational and financial matters, adopted corresponding principles in May 2023. The New Apostolic Church International (NACI) as the umbrella organisation of all active Apostles, as well as the Regional Churches as the legal entities in around 200 countries are thus held accountable.

Regional Churches under review

Since then, a self-monitoring process has been underway to determine the extent to which the Regional Churches fulfil the requirements. The first round concerned the two dozen or so of the largest Regional Churches. So far, no major systemic governance problems have been identified.

The Church’s self-assessment has now entered a second round: the smaller Regional Churches are now under scrutiny. Feedback has already been received from around one hundred countries. The evaluation is still ongoing. The NACI Board of Directors discussed the interim results at its most recent meeting. 

Concrete measures

This committee is an example of how the Church implements good governance. The financial decision-making powers of the international Church president (the Chief Apostle) have been restricted and further responsibility has been transferred to the newly created Board of Directors as a collective body.

Even the principles themselves are under review. For example, the NACI Board of Directors recently identified conflicts of interest and defined them. Specific examples were defined of how decision-makers could be influenced by personal interests, as well as guidelines on what to do in conceivable situations.  

With the topic of good governance, the New Apostolic Church is continuing its Church strategy work on international standards. In recent years, this included the minimal requirements for the operation of congregations, as well as the global risk assessment for the continued existence of the Regional Churches.