REFUGEE BAPTISTS
REFUGEE REVIVAL
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ORWAY IS ONE OF THE MOST OPEN IN welcoming refugees from other countries. It is also one of the most active on justice issues in multilateral organizations and forums, such as the United Nations. Baptists in Norway have been welcoming refugees into the country since at least the 1980s, with the arrival of refugees from Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and other African countries. The first immigrant congregation joined the Baptist Union of Norway in 2001. A Chin congregation worships at Skein Baptist Church in Norway
Among the largest immigrant groups are Chin, Kachin and Karen from Myanmar. In more recent times, there have been refugees from Iran, Iraq and Syria. Baptist work began in earnest among Myanmar refugees in 2003. At least 30 percent of the member churches of the union comprise refugees, the fastest growing segment of the Baptist population. Jan Saethre, first vice president of the Baptist World Alliance, who is from Norway, said the last 10 years has been nothing short of a revival among Baptists in his country. This is due largely to the increasing presence of refugees in Baptist congregations.
Saethre. “In 10 years the union changed so much. We had 62 or 63 churches in the 1990s. Today we have close to 100. For some churches this is the revival they’ve been praying for so many years. It has given them a new life.” One example is the Skein Baptist Church. Roughly 150 members or some 25 percent of the population are refugees or the children of refugees. Baptist families in Skein help refugees “to settle and integrate and adjust into Norwegian society.”
“Some Baptist congregations were dying and this was a revival for them,” said
He explained that the church “help them to keep their own identity, but they have to live there and they have to understand how things work.”
The consecration of several Chin, Kachin, Karen and Norwegian 15-year-old youth in Norway
The house dedication and blessing of a Karen family in Norway that spent 20 years in a refugee camp
Saethre said the immigration of refugees into the country helped to open up Norwegian society, which was largely homogenous. “We were not so aware because we did not have the history with foreigners like many other countries had,” he explained. “But over the past several years we have seen the blessing of it and it has been an important part of our work as a church.” All this is nothing less than God’s doing. “This is God’s call to us that we should take action to live out our faith toward those who are vulnerable, who have had a tough, tough journey coming into our country.”
A Baptist house meeting in Boe, Norway
APRIL–JUNE 2017 | BAPTIST WORLD
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