New Apostolic Church Celebrates 155 Years in Bielefeld, Germany

The first New Apostolic divine service for the departed this year will be celebrated by Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider in Bielefeld, Germany. This city, located at the north-eastern tip of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, holds a special place in the history of the New Apostolic Church. The first New Apostolic services in the region are recorded to have taken place in 1868.

Life in Bielefeld was vastly different in the mid-19th century. The city was known for its textile mills and the production of sewing machines and bicycles. People worked, built homes, and attended worship in one of the town’s many churches. Friedrich Wilhelm Menkhoff, a reformed pastor who had returned from the Netherlands, settled in Bielefeld. He had joined the Apostolische Zending in the mid-1860s and was influenced by Apostle Friedrich Wilhelm Schwartz, who had commissioned him to spread the message of Christ’s return and the re-establishment of apostles in Westphalia. Menkhoff’s teachings attracted followers, leading to the founding of a congregation in Quelle, a village near Bielefeld, and later in the city itself.

Today, Bielefeld remains a significant stronghold for the New Apostolic Church. The church district of Bielefeld is the largest within the District Church of North Rhine-Westphalia. Despite a decline in the number of congregations over the years, the city’s population of 360,000 includes 4,000 adherents who are spread across nine congregations in the city’s inner area. The village of Quelle, where Chief Apostle Hermann Niehaus once lived, still exists. His house stands next to the Quelle church, and he is buried in the local cemetery.

Menkhoff, who played a foundational role in the church’s presence in Bielefeld, is also buried in the city. One of his descendants served as rector of Bielefeld-Central for many years. Many members of the congregation today still bear the surnames Niehaus and Menkhoff, linking them to the city’s early apostolic history.

The city is also home to a communion wafer bakery that has supplied New Apostolic congregations worldwide for decades. In the early 2000s, the bakery produced over 240 million wafers annually, supporting congregations around the globe. Over time, the production in Bielefeld decreased, and two additional bakeries were established in Cape Town in 2003 and Lusaka in 2012. Today, the bakery in Bielefeld produces around 115 million wafers a year.

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