Bernd Koberstein

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Bernd Koberstein (born 5 March 1952 in Kassel) is a German clergyman of the New Apostolic Church.

Life and work
Bernd Koberstein comes from northern Hesse. After his training in the Hessian financial administration, he worked from 1975 to 2003 in various South Hessian financial offices of the Oberfinanzdirektion Frankfurt and the University of Applied Sciences of the Hessian financial administration. On November 1, 2003, he moved full-time to the service of the New Apostolic Church (NAC).

In 2006 he was ordained by Chief Apostle Wilhelm Leber to succeed Heinz Kreuzberger as an Apostle for South Hessen. Previously, he worked as parish chief, deputy district chief and bishop. In October 2008, he was appointed successor to Hagen Wend as District Apostle and President of the New Apostolic Church of Hessen/Rhineland-Palatinate/Saarland and ordained in his new office on 11 January 2009 in a divine service in the Congress Center of Messe Frankfurt. The District Church serves around 39,000 members in 300 parishes in Germany. The church leadership, based in Frankfurt am Main, is also responsible for the pastoral, administrative and charitable tasks of the New Apostolic Church in Belgium and Luxembourg, in Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Lebanon and other countries in the Eastern Mediterranean and ten African countries with a total of around 1,000,000 members.

Bernd Koberstein has been married to his wife Claudia since 1975 and has a son and daughter. With his family, he lives in Bensheim in southern Hesse.

During a press conference on the 27. In January 2009 in Frankfurt am Main, he described his ordination as District Apostle as a “grave turning point” in his life. He said that he wanted to carry out his ministry “in love, humility and personal modesty”, to be a “district apostle to touch” and to continue the work of his predecessor in pastoral and administrative terms.

Regarding the focus of his future work, he said that he wanted to preserve the conditions for viable and vibrant churches in which parishioners could contribute with their gifts. Furthermore, it was necessary “to spread the testimony of Jesus Christ also in the future through mission and public relations” and “to deepen the positive approaches existing in ecumenical coexistence and patiently overcome any difficulties encountered”. Further tasks arose due to regional needs. He is thinking of humanitarian projects, especially in Africa, such as the construction of wells in the Sahel or in the fight against the immunodeficiency disease AIDS.

Weblinks
In conversation with Apostle Bernd Koberstein, interview with Norman Danner and Jessica Krämer on jugendtag-mitte.de, May 4, 2008 (18:27 min)

Individual evidence

New Apostolic Minister
German
Born in 1952
Man