Online media have become a welcome companion during these times of restrictions and curfews. They offer us first-hand information, reading material, divine service experiences, and a sense of international community.

Locked church doors, divine services on YouTube, mouth and nose protection at the altar: the pandemic really shook up church life in 2020. It was the year of COVID-19. Following is a chronicle of the year’s events.

Fewer central video services, more local broadcasts: the number of transmissions is increasing. The goal in Europe is to have more service transmissions from local congregations.

Expert skills are not imparted by ordination or appointment—these are things that must first be learned. Nevertheless, the Church strives to support and guide its ministers and teachers in their endeavours. In some ways, the various District Churches pursue this task in similar ways, but sometimes they take quite a different approach

In the Tonga language, this means “Good day!” Helen (19) from the congregation of Heide and Silvan (26) from the congregation of Backnang (both in Germany) both did their “weltwärts” development volunteer service in Zambia. Following is a first-hand report on a fascinating experience.

For months at a time, aid workers toil in remote regions, only to find that they cannot even return home to their families owing to recent lockdowns. It is a crisis that stops people in their tracks, and yet still allows them to grow…

Aid organisations fight against need and suffering in the world. The coronavirus pandemic has made this battle significantly more difficult for them, however. Following are some insights into the lives of helpers who have learned to master entirely new challenges.

When two readers are talking about community, they are not necessarily talking about exactly the same magazine. And that is intentional. Here is a look at the broad spectrum that a single magazine covers.

It is only a step from the kitchen into the church. For more than 20 years, services of the Las Tricias Congregation on the island of Las Palmas have been taking place in the house of the Huber family. Here is the story of a small and very lively congregation.

For many people Covid-19 is just one more emergency they have to cope with. For them it has long been a question of survival! Here is what New Apostolic organisations are doing to alleviate the worst.

The first in-person services after the lockdown have taken place. And although everything is a little different than before, there was joy all around at being reunited in the congregations and being able to celebrate Holy Communion again. Also the Chief Apostle experienced this.

In 2008 NAK-karitativ and the New Apostolic Church in São Tomé und Príncipe provided funds for a health facility in this small African island state. Recently, new X-ray equipment was installed in the dental clinic, which belongs to the facility.

A congregation without walls and borders—this is how hundreds of thousands of New Apostolic families experienced the past Sunday. Even though the doors to our churches were locked, the Church itself was more open than ever before.

When the TV cameras move on and the crisis disappears from the headlines, NAC SEA Relief stays and continues to provide relief aid. In its 2019 report, the South-East Asian relief organisation also looks back on a special operation outside its usual jurisdiction.

Travelling to individual countries can certainly be strenuous, especially if the responsible District Apostle has announced his visit to congregations that are quite distant from one another. It is on just such a weekend in Colombia and Peru with District Apostle Leonard Kolb that Bishop Manfredo Stegmann reports.

The New Year had already begun at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, 31 December 2019—relative to Coordinated Universal Time: UTC + 14—while the corks only began popping in London on Wednesday, 1 January at 12:00 AM. And it’s all because of the International Date Line!

The collaboration of the New Apostolic Church with other Christian denominations in Europe is expanding. The process begins with personal contacts, but keeps on progressing, even after reaching the point of membership in regional boards.

As an ongoing physician, Lacey Smith from Los Angeles, California (USA) participated in a year-long medical fellowship in Haiti. And this restructured her world view, she says. How and why she describes in the following report.