ACTIVITY IN INDIA TODAY

A brief overview of the work

Consolidation in Progress

The New Apostolic Church in India is currently going through a major phase of reorganization and consolidation. For forty years, the sub-continent was under the care of various District Churches. At one point, the following five District Churches were active in India: Australia, Canada, Central Germany, North-Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) and the USA. Each had their own style of functioning related to their cultures. Growth was remarkable yet, due to the cultural diversity of India, difficult to control. Gradually, each District Church handed over their working areas to the Canada District who in turn commissioned a District Apostle Helper dedicated to the work in the region. The time had come to reassess the situation.

‘Data Upgrade’

By the year 2005, then District Apostle Helper Mark Woll noticed a lot of duplication in the names of congregations and ministers. Due to the myriads of languages in India, any particular name could be spelled in multiple ways. Additionally, congregations which began as a family had either moved (and closed down) or merged. However, the data had not been updated. The process began to run a fine tooth comb through all of the data. At the same time, hundreds of ‘one family’ congregations situated in close proximity, were merged (using GPS locators) and that which remained only on paper was closed down. The proper documentation of membership with corresponding death rates had to be put in place.

Today

Since 2010, a clear picture began to emerge, resulting in thousand congregations which had to be reorganized under a proper structure for administrative and organizational purposes. As of date, the task at hand is almost complete. The year 2018 has been set as a practical target to complete the reorganization and consolidation in India. In November 2015, a presentation was held in Cambodia during an Asia Apostles Meeting in the presence of the Chief Apostle. The contents of this presentation have been split in four parts and are available for download.