2010
May 23, 2010: Cape Town (South Africa)
- Photos: NAC Cape
Setting: With a seating capacity of 4,000, the New Apostolic congregation in Tafelsig (Cape Town) has the largest church building of the New Apostolic Church anywhere in the world. It was there that Chief Apostle Wilhelm Leber conducted the divine service on Pentecost 2010, which was transmitted by satellite to approximately 5,000 other New Apostolic congregations around the globe. Some 1.2 million members and guests were thus able to participate live in the divine service. Some 340 Apostles were also present in the festive service, and had gathered the day before for an International Apostle Meeting.
Pentecost greeting: “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1)
Core thoughts: The Bible text on which the divine service was based was taken from Acts 1: 8: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Among other things, the Chief Apostle stated the following concerning this text: “Today I would like to talk especially about the power of the Holy Spirit. We need power in order to preserve our faith, to remain joyful, and to look into the future with the joy of hope. Our prayers are to activate these heavenly powers. Let us pray daily for divine power! Prayer results in power, which in turn leads us to make experiences of faith. The result of this is that we can then be witnesses for God and His Son. And a witness always stands behind his testimony.”