change, Martin Baumann said the NAC seems to be becoming a free Church. The Church does not attend ecumenical divine services because the church administration regard acts of blessing as "not sharable". But they regard prayers or greetings at the altar as possible (e.g. during a wedding). If a New Apostolic Christian marries another Christian in their church, the blessing of that church is fully recognised. The New Apostolic Church lends its buildings to other denominations and makes the buildings available for public events. They also try to sell unused churches to religious organisations. The New Apostolic Church is considered modern and progressive in comparison with other free churches or religious groups. The New Apostolic Church believes in the Universal action of the Holy Spirit (Christian church), given the fact that elements of truth can be found in other Christian churches. On 24 October 2005 Chief Apostle Leber encouraged ministers to engage in ecumenism, which means approaching one another and talking together. Reception Membership Current membership In 2018, the New Apostolic Church claimed to have about 9 million members worldwide, thus being by far the largest Catholic Apostolic movement. The church's origins are in Europe, where about 475,000 New Apostolic Christians live. Almost 333,315 believers live in the origin country Germany and more than 5,200 in Austria. The church established itself in Switzerland in 1895 by founding the community of Zürich-Hauttingen. In 2009, Switzerland had 35,000 New Apostolic Church members in 218 communities. Membership in Central Europe is slightly decreasing due to obsolescence and emigration, whereas in Eastern Europe it is growing. The largest number of New Apostolic Christians live in Africa. Nearly 3 million are located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and roughly 12% of the inhabitants of Zambia are New Apostolic. The Church also maintains high membership in Ghana, Nigeria, Namibia, Angola, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique and South Africa. Nearly 600,000 members live in Asia. The New Apostolic faith initially was brought by European emigrants to Indonesia, where 20,000 believers live today. From the beginning of the 1970s, missionaries of the Church spread their faith in other countries as well. Most Asian believers live in India and Pakistan. About 25,000 believers live in China, and 15,000 in Thailand. The New Apostolic Church in North America was built by German ministers in the 1870s who had emigrated to the United States or Canada. The church has grown in