GOVERNANCE OF THE NEW APOSTOLIC CHURCH DISTRICT APOSTLE AREA 28 CHANGES
By Nathaniel Lowa in Lusaka
The New Apostolic Church Chief Apostle Jean Luc Schneider recently approved a Charter for the Governance structure of the District Apostle Area (DAA) 28 which incorporates Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe. This Charter was developed by the three District Apostle Helpers, Arnold Mhango, Robert Nsamba and then District Apostle Helper Kububa Soko early this year. The New Apostolic Church International Administrator, Mr Erich Senn coordinated the development of the Charter. The Manager Administration, Mr Sundano Sipula Sundano and Head Finance and Accounting, Mr Stanley Chigali also participated in the same.
The Charter was developed in a workshop that was held at Protea Hotel for five days at the time when none of the three DAHs knew who was to be appointed District Apostle on 21st July 2019, where the District Apostle Charles S. Ndandula (who did not attend the workshop) was going into retirement. It was the desire of the Chief Apostle that the three DAHs agree on how the leadership should be for the future given the changed times and ways of doing things. Accordingly, the document received neutral attention.
In the new dispensation, team work is preferred where by all significant decisions and projects would need the approval of the Board of the New Apostolic Church. In the past however, the Board of the New Apostolic Church participated in some but not all the decisions. Also, the DAHs will now participate in the Governance of the local churches of Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Accordingly, forthwith, the DAH Mhango will be a Board member of the Zambia local church and vice versa, the DAH Nsamba will be a trustee in Malawi and Director in Zimbabwe, local churches, respectively.
Similar changes have also been made to the National Council whereby not only will it be the assembly of all active Apostles (and Bishops) of the local church governing the essential soul-care matters, it will also be a general meeting when it relieves the Board of Directors from its financial responsibility for the previous year’s results. With these changes, the Constitutions of the three local churches will need to be aligned, accordingly.
Arising from this, the governance and reporting procedure in the DAA 28 is now that all the Zambian Apostles will report to the District Apostle through the District Apostle Helper Robert Nsamba. While all the Apostles for Malawi and Zimbabwe will report to the District Apostle through the District Apostle Helper Arnold Mhango. The Church Administration office staff will continue reporting to the District Apostle as Chief Executive Officer, through the Manager Administration.
With the improved technologies, the District Apostle Kububa Soko has preferred not to shift to Lusaka from Chipata where he was resident before his appointment. The District Apostle, from time to time will visit the offices in Lusaka, Blantyre and Harare for some meetings and other work facilitation. This was approved by the Chief Apostle, as he is also resident in Paris, France while the Office is in Zurich, Switzerland and he visits the office in a similar arrangement.