The church pew is half empty, congregations are being amalgamated, and children haven’t been seen in ages—are we to simply sit idly and sadly by and wait for change? How do you bring life into a congregation? And how does a congregation even come into being in the first place?

Youth and faith work well together. And if the local culture can still be factored in, all the better. Here is a kaleidoscope of ideas from Asia, Africa, and South America.

Apostle Jorge Luis Franco from Argentina is an organ and harmonium builder. Viviana Aloy, our nac.today correspondent in Argentina, met up with him in the Church’s own workshop.

Today’s week in review reports on three very different stories from three different countries. At the core of each, however, we find the practical faith of New Apostolic Christians who are doing their part to bring people together in the midst of society.

It is a harrowing tale with a happy ending—and that in a double sense. This is the story about a prison escape, followed by a midnight snack at the jailer’s house.

The challenges are clear, the objectives are defined. What are the means needed to achieve these? And what are the differences between today and the past? The last part of the interview with the Chief Apostle gives an overview of how the Church is setting itself up for the future.

He is the face of the New Apostolic Church in Cuba, the largest Caribbean island. He is a journalist with an alert mind and a big heart: Bishop Alex Michel Reyes Martinez is good for the Church. Learn a little more about him.

There is no universal cure. The challenges that the global Church faces in the various regions are just too different. Part two of the interview with the Chief Apostle offers an approach: focus on the essentials. And what are these?

Dialogue with other religions, making children familiar with the Bible, and practising evacuation procedures. Congregational life is not only about divine services and music. Here is a look at three continents.

Christian love transcends borders. Join us on a trip around the world this week as we visit school projects in South-East Asia, Central America, and Africa currently receiving help from the New Apostolic Church.

“It was a good idea,” Esther Zbinden sums up. “And so symbolic!” During the recent District Apostle Meeting in Washington, the wives of the District Apostles spent one morning packing backpacks with school supplies for young refugees.

Christians live their belief everywhere, whether at university, in a war zone, or at church. Sometimes words are important, other times a helping hand is. This week’s review takes us to three continents.

Hylton Memorial Chapel, just outside of Washington, is an ideal venue not only for the first US Church convention but also for the divine service today, Sunday. On Saturday afternoon, the Christian event centre hosted the exhibition NAC Talks.

An extensive area of low pressure has been dumping rain on the American capital for days. The atmosphere is quite different at the International District Apostle Meeting, which is in session. The discussions of the Church leaders are taking place in a cheerful and warm atmosphere.

“The Chief Apostle has the last word,” Erich Senn, head of administration at the international offices in Zurich, says. But it takes time until everything is finalised for a District Apostle Meeting. “And we help him.”

This year’s Pentecost festivities will take place in the United States. Historically, the New Apostolic Church in the US goes back almost as far as its European roots. Technically, the District Church was instrumental in making video transmissions a firm establishment around the world.

What is the capital of the USA? Most would say New York. New York is the largest and most famous of US cities, but not the country’s capital. It is Washington, D.C., and this is where the International District Apostle Meeting will be taking place in the upcoming week.

Banished from the table of the Lord, excluded from the meal of fellowship: there was still such a thing up until the mid-1980s. But then along came Chief Apostle Hans Urwyler. He retired 30 years ago, and today we take a look back at his activity.