Old Apostolic Church - History

History

The Old Apostolic Church's roots are found in the Catholic Apostolic Church, that was founded in 1832 by Henry Drummond, Edward Irving, and others.

After the death of three Catholic Apostolic Apostles in 1855 the apostolate declared that there was no reason to call new apostles. Two callings of substitutes ("Jesus calleth thee Apostolic Messenger. He would use thee Coadjutor for him whom He hath gathered to Himself.") were explained by the apostolate in 1860 as Coadjutors to the remaining apostles. After this event another apostle was called in Germany in 1862 by the prophet Heinrich Geyer. The Apostles did not agree with this calling, and therefore the larger part of the Hamburg congregation who followed their Bishop F.W. Schwartz in this schism were excommunicated. Out of this sprang the Allgemeine Christliche Apostolische Mission (ACAM) in 1863 and the Dutch branch of the Restored Apostolic Mission Church (at first known as Apostolische Zending, since 1893 officially registered as Hersteld Apostolische Zendingkerk (HAZK)). This later became the New Apostolic Church.

In 1889 Evangelist Carl George Klibbe arrived in South Africa to begin mission work for the New Apostolic Church. He was ordained Apostle in 1893 by Apostle H.F. Niemeyer of Australia. At that time the office of Chief Apostle was not yet established and each Apostle functioned independently from one other. Due to the personality cult of Chief Apostle Hermann Niehaus, Niemeyer separated himself from the German branch of the Church and founded The Apostolic Church of Queensland in 1912.

The South African branch also severed all contact with the German branch. The following reasons are given by the Old Apostolic Church for this act:

• Niehaus' ban on prophetic gifts (visions, dreams and prophecies),
• Niehaus' refusal to appoint Prophets,
• Niehaus' acceptance of the literal interpretation of the Bible,
• establishment of the office of Chief Apostle, and
• personality cult that formed around the Chief Apostle.

Niehaus tried to remove Klibbe from office and a counter-Apostle, Wilhelm Schlaphoff was appointed. In 1913 Klibbe was excommunicated from the New Apostolic Church. For some time, there were two conflicting organisations in South Africa using the name New Apostolic Church; the registered church under the leadership of Klibbe and a breakaway group under the counter-Apostle Schlaphoff.

Finally, in 1926, an agreement and settlement was reached between the two churches. The church that became independent in 1915 would change its name to the Old Apostolic Church, so that Schlaphoff could register the New Apostolic Church(Africa). The name "Old Apostolic Church" was chosen due to Klibbe's dedication to the original doctrine At the time of Klibbe's death on 22 May 1931 the Old Apostolic Church had more than 1 million adherents. Apostles Ernest Fredrick Willhelm Ninow, Carl Fredrick Willhelm Ninow and William Campbell were appointed by Klibbe before he died.

In mid 2006 three Apostles and their followers of the German church Apostelamt Jesu Christi joined the Old Apostolic Church. In the beginning of 2007 this German branch of the OAC was registered as Altapostolische Kirch e.v. (Deutschland).

At present the Old Apostolic Church is estimated to have around 2 million members in Africa and 30 000 in Europe. Congregations can be found in South Africa, Swaziland, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, USA, Canada, British Isles, Netherlands, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates. The Old Apostolic Church is independent from the New Apostolic Church and the United Apostolic Church.