Rinkeby and Bredäng

Today we travelled to two suburban regions of Stockholm to meet with leaders at two churches that are both very different and very similar.  Rinkeby International Church is located in an area of Stockholm known as Rinkeby.  The population of Rinkeby is incredibly diverse, with approximately 90% of the residents having an international background (either recent immigrants, or immigrants within the last 20 years).   A large proportion of this immigrant population is from Somalia.   Many of the native Swedes in this area have moved out.  Stephan and Ingrid Haus are leaders at the church.  Ingrid also teaches at a local school.  Markus Sand is the main pastor at the Church (see the May 29 post), but he is currently at a conference, and was unable to join us.  We had a rewarding time of fika and prayer with them.  Also joining us for the meeting was Pieter, who is currently serving the church for a short time before he goes to Calais in France, to share the Gospel with refugees at a large camp set up there.  Specific prayer requests for Rinkeby International Church include:  many Mongolian and Afghan people are becoming believers (the hope is that there would be more); that this church would be a place to train and send missionaries to other places in the world having people groups found in Rinkeby; a group from Youth With A Mission (YWAM) is currently visiting for another week (pray that their time would be fruitful in doing street evangelism and sharing their faith with people they meet); Stephan teaches Swedish language using the Bible as the textbook (pray that he would serve many more seekers of the language and the Gospel, especially people from Mongolia);  pray for the growth of the Arabic-speaking group at the church;  pray for the health and safety of the church leaders.

In the later afternoon, we visited Bredäng Church, which is the church where Tord and Martha Larsson attend.  Bredäng Church is also a place with very high immigrant attendance, although the local neighborhood is not as diverse as in Rinkeby.   There are at least 12 different languages spoken by the people who attend this church.  Worship services are translated in real time into Russian, Arabic, English, and Spanish every Sunday.  We met with Pastor Joakim Davidson, Gabriela (Youth Ministry Leader), Per-Inge, and Tord and Martha Larsson.  Specific prayers for the church include: praise for the 17 people baptized and the 18 home groups (think: small groups) formed in the last year; pray for the country of Sweden, that it would see a reversal in its secularity; pray that liberal theology would stop creeping into the evangelical churches; pray for another pastor to join Bredäng Church (Pastor Davidson needs help in his work at this church); pray for new workers to rise up within the church, including leaders for prayer groups, musicians, and staff for youth and children’s ministry;  pray for the youth camps this summer; finally, a refugee camp for unaccompanied minors is scheduled to be built across the street from the church (pray that this would be a field for missions and service).

Pieter, Ingrid and Stephan of Rinkeby International Church

Pastor Joakim Davidson and Gabriela (at Bredäng Church)