Covenant News

Church of Sweden President At Annual Meeting

ST. PAUL, MN (June 23, 2000) - Dr. Krister Andersson, president of the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden (MCCS), is attending this year's Covenant Annual Meeting at the invitation of Dr. Glenn Palmberg, president of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC).

The connections - formal and informal - between the MCCS and the ECC are many. The MCCS is a sister denomination to the ECC. Historically both churches arise out of the Pietistic movement and were founded by immigrant ancestors with Lutheran roots. The similarities between the churches originate at their founding principals. "I believe that we are very similar in faith, worship style, mission outreach, and [in our] understanding of contemporary society," says Andersson.

Each school year the ECC sends 15 to 25 undergraduate students from North Park University, as well as several graduate students from North Park Theological Seminary, to study at the University and Stockholm School of Theology. As part of the International Federation of Free Evangelical Churches (IFFEC), both churches also discuss expanding missionary visions and exchange news and personnel from time to time.

"Our short and long-term goal [as a church] is to become more and more skilled in witnessing to the Gospel today and to focus on Jesus Christ as the Savior for all humankind, in all times, in all cultures," Andersson said. "My favorite part of leading the MCSS is the strategic planning involved on our part to bring God's mission to the world," confides Andersson. "My least favorite part is balancing the two opposite tendencies about [how to respond to] homosexuality found in the church."

Questions about the issue of homosexuality, ordained ministry, and how to "re-evangelize" Sweden are among the issues with which the MCCS is presently dealing. Like the ECC, the MCCS is also in the process of adopting a new constitution. Several ecumenical efforts are also under way across the country, including a potential merge between the Baptist Union of Sweden, the Methodist church, and the MCCS.

This year's Covenant Annual Meeting shares some general sessions with both the Baptist General Conference and the Evangelical Free Church. The churches in Sweden also have very close ecumenical relations. The Christian Council of Sweden, of which the MCCS is a part, consists of four veins: the Free churches (consisting of nine variants), the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches. There is no denomination in Sweden called "Evangelical Free" as in America, but several groups that the MCCS maintains good relations with could be considered both "evangelical" and "free", such as the Pentecostal movement and the Swedish Alliance Mission.

For contextual reasons, Andersson believes that in comparison to the ECC, the MCCS may have a different understanding of what it means to be a church. The MCCS has existed in Sweden's church-state government system for more than one hundred years and has had its ecumenical vision heavily shaped by that mix of culture in the church. Part of this is reflected in the inter-relatedness of each of the churches in Sweden.

Andersson was elected president of the MCCS in June 1993 for an eight-year term. Prior to this position he served as secretary of the covenant and study secretary of the MCCS, each for three-year terms. Andersson was also a career missionary to the Evangelical Church of the Republic of Congo in Brazzaville for 12 years. North Park University granted Andersson an honorary doctorate in 1995 in addition to his studies at the MCCS Theological Seminary, the University of Stockholm and in France. He has also authored two books about "the great commission of mission". Andersson and his wife of 30 years, Kristina, have three children and presently reside in Stockholm.

Andersson and his wife will continue their stay in the United States for a two-week vacation. Andersson says he is very pleased to be able to attend the Annual Meeting. "I wish the Evangelical Covenant Church rich blessings from our Lord, and [that it would] be open to the Holy Spirit working in the church in order to find God's messengers for God's mission in today's cultural context."

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