An old Joshua special on the "Irvingites" or Catholic Apostolic Church (CAC), one of the strangest Christian denominations. Originally they seem to have combined "smells and bells" liturgy, charismatic gifts and apocalypticism. The CAC appointed twelve new apostles but curiously didn´t replace them when they passed away. This made it impossible to ordain new bishops and priests, the Church slowly descending into passivity as these, too, became elderly and started to die. Apparently, the CAC also stopped trying to recruit new members! Today, the CAC is very small and little is known about its activities (if any), but apparently they are still eagerly awaiting the Second Advent of Christ any moment now.
I have no idea what the sociological or psychological explanation for the above might even be. Secret disappointment that Christ didn´t return during the lifetimes of the original apostles? There is a splinter group called the New Apostolic Church (NAC) which did appoint new apostles and continued its missionary outreach. These Neo-Irvingites now have about nine million members worldwide, and I actually blogged about them in 2018. So now I have covered the - shall we say - Paleo-Irvingites, too!
Thank you.
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