The Chief Apostle is the highest man-made minister in the

New Apostolic Church The New Apostolic Church (NAC) is a Christian denomination, Christian church of the Catholic Apostolic Church, Irvingian tradition. Its origins are in 1863, in the split from the Catholic Apostolic Church during a schism in Hamburg, Ger ...

, and has existed since 1896.

History

Former Chief Apostles:

Function

The function of the Chief Apostle is to lead the New Apostolic Church. On questions about the

faith Faith is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept. In the context of religion, faith is " belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". According to the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, faith has multiple definitions, inc ...

of New Apostolic Church members, he has the highest authority. Together with the district apostles he determines the

policy Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an or ...

of the church. The Chief Apostle can ordain new apostles or retire them. One of the most interesting Chief Apostles was J.G. Bischoff: at Christmas in 1950 he declared his "Botschaft" ("message"). This teaching announced that he would not die before Jesus Christ's return, during which the chosen people will be taken into His kingdom (the First Resurrection). In 1954 this teaching became official dogma. Those ministers, especially the apostles, who did not preach this message lost their positions and were excommunicated from the New Apostolic Church. The most important "victim" of this policy was Peter Kuhlen, the ordained successor to J.G. Bischoff. When Chief Apostle Bischoff died in 1960, his dogma about Christ's return had not been fulfilled. In 2013, Chief Apostle Wilhelm Leber made a statement in which the position of the Church is reviewed and provides that the "message" represented a personal position of Apostle Bischoff.http://www.nak.org/fileadmin/download/pdf/BotschaftBischoff/Statement_on_Message_Chief_Apostle_Bischoff_rev.pdf The various communities and congregations which evolved out of these conflicts in different countries (Australia, Europe, South-Africa) gathered in 1956 to form the United Apostolic Church.

References

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Sources

* Wikipedia Germany