Kristianstad and Örkelljunge

Kristianstad

On Wednesday morning we traveled from Lund to the city of Kristianstad, where we met with church leaders at Östermalmskyrkan.  Marcus and Lisa are pastors at the church and Cecilia is one of the church leaders.  Similar to some of the other churches we have visited in Sweden, their church is attracting many immigrants and refugees.  Currently they only translate their services into English, but they hope to have more languages in the future.  This was an enthusiastic and motivated group of church leaders.  Specific prayer requests for this church include: they are currently providing leadership training to better reach Muslims in the community (pray that they will reach more immigrants and that more Muslims would find their hope in Jesus); they would like to reach more immigrants (pray that their church would be more widely known as an accepting place for them);  they hope to build their small group ministry (pray that they would have more people join small groups, that there would be a better vision to connect to the different cultures); families are having difficulty staying intact in Sweden (pray that marriages in the congregation would be strong and that parents would be committed to raising their children in a Christian environment); pray also for the youth in this congregation, that they would stay in the faith and that the Holy Spirit would provide healing to those that need it.
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The exterior of the church building in Kristianstad.

The leadership team at the church.  Marcus, Lisa, and Cecilia (L to R).  

Paul and Karin in conversation with Marcus and Lisa in the worship space at the church.

Strandhem Bible School (located near Örkelljunge)

After our time in Kristianstad, we traveled to the Strandhem Bible School where we met with Magnus and (very briefly) with Daniel.  Magnus is currently the director of the school, but he will be trading places this year with Daniel, who is currently one of the teachers.  Strandhem is a school connected with a small evangelical synod of Lutherans in Sweden.  The school, however, educates students from a variety of church traditions.  The school started in 1976 and is still going strong, but Magnus noted that several other bible schools in Sweden have closed recently.  They have 25 students registered for the year that is just ending and would like to grow their numbers in the future.  They recently built some new classroom buildings to better serve their students.  Specific prayer items for the school include: class size (pray that the number of students enrolled next year will increase); some students have significant uncertainty about their faith and beliefs (pray that these students would find authority and truth in the scriptures and that they would become believers); pray for strength and endurance for the staff and leadership at the school during the transition in the directorship position and during the next school year.

The exterior of the main building at the Strandhem bible school.  The school is located in a beautiful lake setting, very reminiscent of northern Minnesota.

Magnus (at right) the current director of the school and also one of the teachers.