New Apostolic Church

How We Would like to Serve You

„Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”

“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus “ – Philippians 2:1-5

Anselm Schönfeld

My father was an active member of the“ Apostle Ministry of Judah 

Through my cooperation I would like to contribute to the fact that quite a lot of people meet the living Jesus Christ. My father was an active member of the Apostleship of Judah, a split from the New Apostolic Church, for many years.

In July 1947 I saw the light of day in Leer, East Frisia. While my Dutch mother had less of an antenna for faith, my father was a very religious person. It was thanks to him that I was exposed to the gospel at a fairly early age. Listening to Bach’s St. Matthew Passion was, in fact, a well-cultivated tradition in our house every year on Good Friday.

Before the Second World War my father was for many years an active member of the ‘Apostleship of Judah’, an offshoot of the New Apostolic Church, still active today in the Berlin area. After the war my father joined the Protestant Church, and so I was baptized by the infant baptism customary there. I put the word “Christian” in quotation marks on purpose because I know from the Bible today that no one can become a Christian through a baptism that is performed on one unknowingly. One becomes a Christian through faith in Christ alone, which is followed by baptism.

I took out my Bible

Through my father, who took me to church services from time to time, I got to know the Protestant Church better. I, like most boys, was sent to confirmation classes to eventually be “confirmed.” For me, confirmation was more of a farewell to the church than the beginning of a new relationship with it. This was probably because confirmation classes seemed very boring to me. Boys at this age just don’t like to learn old songs by heart in bunches. So the next few years of my life passed in such a way that the word ‘God’ was hardly in it.

It was only after my professional training that I was confronted with God again. This time by a colleague who was a member of the New Apostolic Church. He kindly invited me to the services of his faith community. During this time I met a nice New Apostolic girl who I fell head over heels in love with. She took me to see her parents, who were touchingly concerned about my ‘faith emergency’. Through these first encounters with people from the New Apostolic Church I was challenged for the first time in my life to deal seriously with the Bible, and especially to deal more intensively with the doctrine of the New Apostolic Church, which I already knew through my father.

So I took out my already dusty Bible again and compared the statements of the New Testament apostles with the teachings of the NAC. I always approached this teaching with one question in mind: Where is this in the Bible? The more I read in the New Testament, the more skeptical I became about the New Apostolic doctrinal views. Finally, through intensive study of the Holy Scriptures, it became increasingly clear to me that the teachings of the NAC were at least not to be found in the Bible as the doctrinal writings of this church claimed.

Arbitrary constructions of New Apostolic desires

These doctrines were much more arbitrary constructions of New Apostolic desires projected into Scripture. I took my distance from this church and its writings, for a fear unknown to me until then assailed me. Was it the fear of slipping into something I felt was not good for me? Fear, they say, is a bad advisor. But fear can also be a protective function. For example, who among us wouldn’t be afraid to touch a power line? Today I see that this fear was a grace from God, because it was meant to save me from an unbiblical doctrine of faith.

A few years later, through meeting genuine Christians, I came to know Jesus Christ Himself through His living Word and gave Him the leadership in my life. Jesus gave me the deep assurance that through HIM I have forgiveness of my sins and the Eternal Life that HE purchased for me through HIS sacrificial death on the Cross. Faith in the Jesus who is alive today, which I feel is the greatest gift of my life, produced in me a great joy, in contrast to the fear I felt at the time. Today I know that the certainty of eternal salvation can only be experienced through faith in the risen Jesus and not through people who claim to be God’s chosen bringers of salvation.

On this website I would like to tell more about this searching love that Jesus Christ still has for all people today, and through my contributions I would like to help so that many people encounter the living Jesus Christ.

Anselm Schoenfeld

Lutz Jusko

For a long time I believed in the exclusive claims of the New Apostolic Church

My life has been very eventful so far. The details would not bore, but would lead too far here. I spent my childhood and youth in a New Apostolic environment, as I was "born into" this community, as the saying goes.

During my youth I went regularly to the divine services and also participated in most of the other activities, also believing in the exclusive claims of this fellowship, but satisfaction, deep inner peace and tranquility in Jesus Christ, were not present. On the contrary, I even tried to create my own views about God's will and His standards to justify my sinful life adapted to society.

It was only a few years ago that I woke up from my deep spiritual sleep

It was only a few years ago that I woke up from my deep spiritual sleep. God let me go through special life situations and shook me awake. That’s how I came to know God. I was converted to Jesus Christ and believed. Out of this situation and out of love for Jesus, I began to ask about God’s will. I began to study the New Apostolic faith and read the Bible and other theological writings. There have been many contradictions between the Word of God – The Scripture – and the teaching of today apostles of the New Apostolic Church. I asked: “Lord, show me your way”.

He prepared the way for me to realize that only one path is laid. The way: Jesus Christ who for us – even without sin – took our guilt upon himself and carried it to the cross and thus made the sacrifice Forgiveness of our sins has accomplished. He paid for us. Whoever believes in Jesus, repents, asks him to forgive his sins, is converted to him, and accepts him into his life, will experience this through faith Forgiveness of his sins , the Holy Spirit and through it justification before God. God has reconciled people to himself through Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:18) and there is only one mediator: Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 2:5)! You can read more about my way in recent years in my testimony read up.

Why Criticism

There are already many websites about the New Apostolic Church on the Internet. On the one hand there are the official pages of the New Apostolic Church. There you will find something about structure and doctrine as well as the shaping of the faith. On the other hand, it is the critical pages that are shaped by members of the New Apostolic Church. They want to make a difference within the community. Websites of apostates want to educate the public and members of the New Apostolic Church about heresies and misconduct. Here I would now like to inform you about my motives why the NAC has to endure my criticism.

Make you think

I would like to provide material for every New Apostolic believer who comes across these pages so that they can critically examine their faith. Many will certainly turn away in horror and call this presentation heresy. Perhaps one or the other of the visitors to this website will be motivated to become more intensively involved with the doctrine of the New Apostolic Church. Dare to bring up corresponding thoughts in conversations with members of the congregation or in the youth lessons, in order to enter into a fruitful and truth-bringing dialogue.

The Bible as a document of divine will

The Bible is the standard by which anyone who claims to possess divine truth and to administer means of grace and to be the only way to God must be measured. For this reason, I will quote the Bible frequently on this website, because the Word of God speaks for itself!

What we do not want

Far be it from us to personally attack members of the New Apostolic Church. This is not meant to be a personal vendetta to compensate for our bad experiences within the church. We have not been angry about anything that could have caused us to become active in this way. This could be a standard explanation on the part of the New Apostolic Church regarding the reasons for these pages. But this is not true.

Enlightenment out of conviction

Only a few years ago, although I was born into the community, I became a believer and converted to Jesus Christ our Lord. I began to concern myself with the faith, especially with the claims of absoluteness of this fellowship. These claims of absoluteness have given the New Apostolic doctrine its special character. The Holy Scriptures, the Word of God, were my favorite tool, along with other books, to trace the will of God. I had to realize that there are many contradictions between the biblical teaching and the teachers of the New Apostolic Church. Therefore, I would like to contribute so that these contradictions come to light here.

If you are interested in learning more about these contradictions, I invite you to read some articles on this website. A good start would be, for example, the article about the legitimacy of criticism within the church or about the apostleship.

© Lutz Jusko