When India went into a state of lock-down on 23rd March 2020, everything came to a standstill. All modes of transport were stopped, state borders were sealed and restrictions were placed on public gatherings. Church activities halted and all of our prepared plans were now to remain only on paper!

Finding Ways to Remain Connected

In the early days there was uncertainty about how we could reach our members and ministers. Based on the system our District Apostle Helper Devaraj had put in place for minister meetings, three young Priests from North India decided to organize ‘Zoom meetings’ for members in regions of Delhi, Raipur and Nagpur. The idea caught fire and spread quickly! Soon enough, online services took place every Sunday in multiple languages, via video conferencing apps. Everyone was thrilled to be connected to each other. Bringing congregations together in a virtual space really brought to light how much unity, fellowship and love there is among God’s children.

Members to Members Support Campaign

The pandemic has effected the livelihoods of many of our members here in India. In order to support those in need, three young Priests from Mumbai started a “Members to Members Support” campaign. The idea behind this campaign was to find members who are able to lend their helping hand during this crisis and connect them to those who needed support in our congregations and communities. The campaign was met with an enthusiastic response, and many members came forward to volunteer their time and resources for the cause.

Rations of Hope

After collecting enough funds to start, our volunteers prepared a list of those in need from the congregations in Mumbai. Those who had not received any help from NGOs, neighbours or the Government were given first priority. The campaign also kept their vision broader to include not just members of the New Apostolic Church, but also those in the community who were in need. These three priests then purchased, in bulk, various grocery items like rice, wheat, daal, oil, tea, sugar, salt etc., made smaller dry ration kits and distributed them among those who desperately needed them.

Connecting Those Who Have, to Those Who Need

This initiative was met with appreciation that propelled the campaign to other parts of the country. Everybody wanted to know more about it! This campaign has now been implemented throughout North India and the Maharashtra region. To make the process flow smoothly members have been coded into different colours depending on their resources.
Those in green represent members who can donate or contribute in some way. Members marked orange represent those who are unable to donate or contribute but who also do not require help or support. The ones coded red represent those who are in need and have not received any help from other sources. By using these codes it became easier to form a system where members who could contribute could easily be linked to those who were in need of help.

Putting our Faith to Action

This campaign was indeed another example of how the members of the New Apostolic Church contribute activity towards humanitarian causes. The initiative started by young priests during this period of extreme crisis, really shows how we can come together as a community and practice our faith though action. It has been really overwhelming to experience the interest and eagerness of our members to remain connected in God’s work despite all these circumstances.