Blueberries and moose, forests, lakes and sea—Sweden has all the scenic splendor anyone could wish for. It’s also the home of the Nobel Prize and, of course, the internationally popular retailer IKEA. Sweden’s 9.4 million residents enjoy a high standard of living, earning the world’s sixth highest per capita income.
But the centuries when Sweden stood strong in the Christian faith are long gone. As Brad, a South African who participated in this country’s first summer outreach in 17 years, observed, “I never met so many people in one place who don’t believe there’s a God.”
Last May, Operation Mobilization Sweden asked staff newcomer Karen Daniels, from South Africa, to organize the mid-August initiative. The name “IGNITE! Sweden” was her inspiration, born of a desire to see this land on fire for God once again. After orientation and training at the base in Jönköping, 20 participants from 12 countries (including seven from OM Lifehope’s Transit Challenge 2011 Team) divided in two. One group traveled to Malmö in the extreme south, and one headed to Stockholm in the north.
The team in Malmö engaged in a multi-church effort called “Street Church” during this city’s annual festival, distributing Bible verses and free Psalm Books containing Scriptures, practical help and contacts to local churches. They soon discovered that passers-by most open to take the literature and talk about God were not usually Swedish by birth.
Sweden’s welfare, asylum and immigration policies—the most generous in Europe—have encouraged a tidal wave of about 100,000 new immigrants into the country every year. About 80,000 of Malmö’s 300,000 population are immigrants, and 60,000 are Muslims. The suburb of Rosengård is known locally as “the ghetto” and is home to almost 20,000 immigrants, almost half of them jobless. Thanks to an OM “Love Europe” team going house-to-house about 17 years ago, a church was actually planted in this area.
Long hours trying to witness to Malmö Festival crowds proved tough. “Many just walked past us, ignored us or even swore at us,” related Australian team member Katy.
But Michael, from the U.S., talked for an hour to an older Swedish man he met on the street. “Jonny told me that his wife had died, and he had been in the hospital recently after trying to commit suicide. I went over the basics of the gospel with him and he was really listening. When I asked if he wanted to accept Jesus into his life, he was ready. He prayed and confessed his sin, his problem with drinking. And as he prayed he started to smile. Afterwards he seemed like a different person.”
OM’s second team was recruited to assist two churches in the Stockholm suburbs of Husby and Rinkeby, which are also known as immigrant enclaves. In Rinkeby, about 16,000 people from 100 nations live within a square kilometer. OM Sweden Field Leader Martin Ström is hoping to re-establish a permanent team here in the next few years.
Husby Pastor Lars Mörling is an ex-OMer who served 15 years, mostly in Egypt, before helping to pioneer the first evangelical church in Rinkeby. He led this ministry for 13 years, beginning an Arabic fellowship in his own home, and then moved to the nearby Husby church. Here he helped birth Iranian, Afghan and Eritrean fellowships. Many immigrants in Rinkeby and Husby have now come to Christ, and on Sundays the different language groups are encouraged to meet together for joint worship services as a testimony to their unity in the Lord.
Both pastors affirm that OM’s “IGNITE!” teams were a blessing. “We didn’t create ministries just for them, but made the team members an added resource for our existing ministries,” explained Pastor Mörling. Pastor Markus Sand in Rinkeby added that having extra people allowed them to try some new approaches. Besides working with a kids’ club, the elderly and other groups and doing literature distribution and evangelism in Rinkeby Square, the team put on a creative Pancake Night after the Ramadan fast ended one Saturday, from 9 p.m. to after 1 a.m. the next morning. This proved to be the week’s highlight, as they served up many fruitful conversations along with the free pancakes!
Korean-American Ja-Kyung got into conversation with a deeply troubled Italian-Swede named Rocco, who had tried to take his life six times. The 18-year-old wanted to know what it was about the team that was different, because he needed a new life.
“I told him that he could have one right then and there,” said Ja-Kyung. “We prayed with him and afterwards he told us he had a peace that he’d never had before. We connected him with the local pastor and an Italian believer in the church.”
Christa, from the U.S., discovered that where there was the will to communicate, there was a way: “I love art, and it occurred to me in Sweden that art is a common language.” Christa employed her skills to paint flowers and masks on scores of eager little children’s faces. On Pancake Night she made free sketches for adults, and then used four symbols along with explanations she memorized in Swedish to share the gospel with them. “Whenever the person I was talking to said they wanted to be God’s friend, I pulled in someone else to help!”
An Australian who has only been a Christian since January talked for a long time with a Muslim who finally accepted a small “Street Bible” and said he was going to start going to church. “After we prayed he said he felt hope for the first time, and I could see it in his eyes,” said Quentin. “I think God brought me from Australia for this. It’s all I want to do with my life!”
Anna, who is from Trinidad and Tobago and normally part of OM’s Lifehope team in the U.K., also felt God speaking to her: “In Sweden you give and give and at the end of the day you feel drained. I see the need for missionaries here who will stick it out when they face rejection. Sweden needs a lot of prayer. The more time I spend in Europe, the more I think this is where God wants me to serve Him.”
“Evangelism is almost a dead art in Sweden,” sadly commented Eva, a Swedish mission secretary born in Finland. When she heard about “IGNITE!” she contacted OM. “I didn’t know it was a young peoples’ team until I came! But then I realized that evangelism wasn’t about age or sex. Every morning during the outreach I woke up thinking, This is awesome! Thanks, Lord, for sending these people to my country!”
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