New Apostolic Church
The New Apostolic Church (ENA) is a cult Protestant millenarian founded in 1863 , a division of the Apostolic Catholic Church after the death of the first apostles.
Summary |
History
In 1860 , Heinrich Geyer ( 1818 - 1896 ) and Friedrich Wilhelm Schwartz ( 1815 - 1895 ) are excluded from Catholic Apostolic Church for trying to appoint six new apostles to replace those who were already dead. They melt in 1865 the Universal Apostolic Mission Christian who broke into two groups following a disagreement between Geyer and Schwartz. The group of Geyer disappears shortly after the death of it.
After Schwartz's death, the station master Fritz Krebs ( in 1832 - in 1905 ) is considered Apostle by the other apostles and sets up the current structure of the Church. The structure is developed in Germany and the Netherlands , then expands into Switzerland from 1894. The number of twelve apostles was reunited in 1900.
Hermann Niehaus ( 1848 - 1,932 ) became the second chief apostle in 1905. In 1906 the congregation took the name New Apostolic Community, and later to New Apostolic Church.
Johann Gottfried Bischoff ( one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one - 1960 ) became the third chief apostle in 1930. On 25 December 1950 , he says that Jesus will return for his life. These assertions become an important aspect of the doctrine of the Church until the death of the Bischoff 6 July 1960. Faith in the "Botschaft" (= message) was linked with the Holy Seal and the apostles who opposed it were excluded.
The death caused a crisis, but the 10 July 1960 , Walter Schmidt ( 1891 - 1981 ) was appointed chief apostle. It will be followed on 23 February 1975 by Ernst Streckeisen ( 1905 - 1978 ) and by Hans Urwyler ( 1925 - 1994 ) on 18 November 1978.
On 22 May 1988 , the Swiss Richard Fehr became the seventh chief apostle. He retired on 16 May 2005 during the solemn ceremony of Pentecost during which he instituted Wilhelm Leber , apostle District of northern Germany, in the ministry of Apostle. Wilhelm Leber became the eighth chief apostle.
Late 2004 , the New Apostolic Church is represented in over 200 countries and has approximately ten million members. It is the third largest Christian church in Germany.
Structure and organization
The New Apostolic Church is hierarchical. At its summit there is the Apostle who registered since 1975 at Zurich in Switzerland. The number of apostles followed the expansion of the Church, twelve originally, are now more than three percent.
Owner of the publishing house Friedrich Bischoff GmbH ( Frankfurt ), she publishes several magazines, including the monthly Our family. Printing Druckerei Friedrich Bischoff GmbH has in turn been sold to a private contractor. http://www.bischoff-verlag.de/public_vfb/pages/de/family/news/100303druckereiverkauf.html
In press releases published on the website of the New Apostolic Church International, said the movement open to other Christian movements, and regularly carry out humanitarian actions.
Dissidences
The authority of the Apostle is causing many dissents:
- the Community of Divine socialism founded in 1902 by Jules Fischer , today the Apostolate of Judah ;
- the Apostolate of Jesus Christ in 1947 ;
- Het Genootschap Apostolisch in 1947 ;
- the Federation of Reformed Apostolic Communities (Reformierte-Apostolischer Gemeindebund) in 1921 ;
- the Union of Christian Apostolic in France and Switzerland in 1954 ;
- the apostolic community in Germany and the Netherlands in 1955.
The last three have founded the Apostolic Union of Communities in Europe in 1956 in Dusseldorf in Germany.
Doctrine
The New Apostolic Church is a millenarian cult that professes the imminent return of Jesus Christ as written in the Apocalypse, in John 14, in 1 Corinthians 15:51-58, Philippians 3:20-21 and
The Three Sacraments
The New Apostolic Church has three sacraments: Holy Seal , the Baptism and the sacrament. The Holy seal is achieved by the imposition of hands and prayer of an apostle of the Church. Baptism is done by the drawing of three crosses made with water blessed by a priest's finger on the forehead and the prayer thereof. The sacrament is the distribution of a host by the priest at the Eucharist.
The New Apostolic Church recognizes baptisms from other Christian denominations as soon as they were celebrated in the name of the divine Trinity and with the presence of the element Water.
Controversy
The New Apostolic Church is sometimes seen, most often by former members, as a sect , and was present for example in a list annexed to the French parliamentary report No. 2468 of 1995 on cults Notes External Links
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