Eksjo, Sweden

 We arrived to Eksjo, Sweden yesterday afternoon and we'll be here until Tuesday. Eksjo is a very small, but very beautiful town. I want to tell you about Eksjo, but I need to first write about some of the conversations I've had today. The most meaningful conversation was with one of the girls on the team. I have her permission to write about some of the things she has shared with me. When we were in Latvia, she shared with me the reason she has not been to church in three years. Let me first say that she has an amazing, living, and active faith. She has had some unpleasant experiences with church and politics and has found genuine Christian fellowship with a group of friends and they worship together on Sunday's, but not in church. She has felt that the church, and the church building, are not necessary for her to have a relationship with Jesus. Now, before you start defending the church, like I naturally wanted to, I invite you to read about our conversations...The first conversation I had with her was very eye-opening because she represents the group of people missing from the church today. I have read statistics and books on why college-aged men and women are not going to church, but have yet had the opportunity to sit down with someone who just does not want to be a part of the church, but has and wants to develop further, a relationship with God. After our conversation she expressed that nobody had ever just listened to her- that people have always just told/lectured her why she needs to go to church, instead of listen. So it made me wonder, how many other Christ-fellowship-seekers that are not interested in church, feel like no one has ever taken the time to listen to them. At the time of our initial conversation I told her I hoped we could have further conversations because I felt like she had a lot to teach me on the age group she represents that is missing from the church.

So today, as we were walking through Eksjo, I brought up the topic again. To start the conversation I asked her: How can the Church meet your needs? She was surprised by the question because nobody had ever asked her that. These are the questions I feel like we need to be asking, so we talked about that for a while, but that's not the part I want to focus on. As we talked, she told me how this trip has opened her mind to the idea of church and has shed a positive light on the necessity of church. She said she has always hated how people put so much emphasis on the church building itself, but it was in Lithuania and Latvia that she realized the church building is not all bad. She said it was in hearing about the churches that had been taken over by the Soviets and turned into cinema's and sports bars, and fight clubs, and then transformed back into a church, spoke volumes to her on the power of God in bringing people together through the church. The church building here is a sign of perseverance and the people came together in building the church back up and it is in overcoming persecution and seeking God's transformation that "church" is experienced and lived. She saw the people of the church and how they have come together and shared in their fellowship and in that she has a new appreciation for the church. It hasn't been about worship style or the preaching or the music, but about the reason we go to church. She didn't want to go to church because somebody told her she had to in order to be a Christian. She didn't want to go to church just because it's the thing to do on a Sunday morning. She didn't want to go to church just to be there. She wanted to worship God and experience genuine fellowship and community. So that's made me think more about our response as a church to the missing age group. It's not so much about worship style as it is simply creating spaces for people to interact, discuss, and share Christian fellowship. This student came on this trip with a bad taste in her mouth about Church as an institution, but has now seen the strength of the church through our brothers and sisters in Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, and now Sweden, and later this week, Denmark. As a caveat, I told her I hoped for her to keep looking for a church that offers a different kind of experience for her because I know from experience all churches are not like the ones she describes having experienced. I have also told her that I hope she shares her story with people when she gets home because it's very powerful. It sounds like through this experience she has had her viewpoints challenged, her perspective broadened, and her heart changed. This is why I am here- to witness this kind of change. 

We talked a little more about the churches that were affected by Soviet occupation and wondered on how it must have felt for the Christians at the time to be pushed from their places of worship. We wondered at what questions they must have been asking of God and how it affected their faith. It made me think of the Israelites, when they were exiled, and had to learn what it meant to be the people of God without the Temple, and then what it meant for them when they were able to return home. Yes, the people have endured much- more than I had known before- and now struggle with issues that are not new, but God proved faithful to the Israelites in guiding them and providing for them, and I see God working in the lives of the people of Scandinavia.  

Today, I also had the opportunity to have a conversation with the pastor of a church in Eskjo. As I have previously noted, the UMC here has joined with the Baptist and Covenant Missionary churches to make a new church. So the pastor I spoke with was not a pastor at the Methodist church, but the Covenant Missionary church, but they are all one church at this point. The pastor is not employed by the church, but is a school teacher. I think that is very cool and commented on how we are all pastors, and how that just witnesses to the power of the priesthood of all believers (this comment, later led to another grace-full conversation with one of the students on "calling"). Anyway, over lunch, I had the opportunity to ask questions I've been wanting ask someone. I asked him about the uniting of the churches, the main motivation for wanting to become one denomination, some of the challenges they face, how the church here is responding to the lack of interest in faith in Christ, and where they see hope for the future. People here just don't see a need for faith or the church. They don't see the relevance or the necessity. So I asked how the church has been trying to respond and he said that he felt the efforts made towards reaching youth has been the most effective. I was most interested in the response to my question about where the hope is because until this point I've heard a lot of defeat and sorrow. There must be hope because, first, through Jesus Christ there is always hope, and two, there must be hope somewhere or the Church will definitely fade into non-existence. The pastor had to think about my question for a minute, but he said that he feels like the hope is with the youth. I wasn't entirely surprised by his answer, based on the emphasis I have seen thus far on youth ministry, but it makes sense. The youth are the future of the church and are the only hope for creating a new kind of culture that is not obsessed with work, and a culture that wants make time for community and Christian fellowship. The pastor feels that people here don't make time for Church and Christian fellowship. They may believe something about God, but they keep it to themselves. He said that people are too busy with their careers and professions, that they don't make time for church. So the Christians here have realized that they have to start acting different from the rest of their culture. They have realized that they have to spend time together in order to mature in faith and live out their faith and make it real and tangible. They realize that and are acting upon on it, and that is where there is hope.

We had worship twice today. This morning we worshipped at the camp in town. It was a beautiful setting and out in the open, in the middle of everything. In the summer's here, everybody is off on "holiday" and nobody is home, so they don't have worship at the church in town because nobody is there. So rather than not have church at all, the churches just go to where the people are and have one worship service together. It was awesome! There were a lot of people there and then there were a lot of people just out and about walking by. They may not have been listening to what was being said over the speakers, but the church was gathered for all the see, and join in, if you the wished. There was no translator so we didn't understand what was being said, but the hymns were familiar Methodist hymns, and the Lord's Prayer was easily recognizable. It was beautiful. This evening's worship took place at the church. It was a much smaller crowd, but the worship was great and the fellowship even better. The sons of the families we are staying with played about 20 minutes of worship music that we knew, which gave us an opportunity to just be. Afterwards, we enjoyed our favorite part of Swedish culture- fika! Interesting fact, by the way, in Swedish the word for "coffee bean" is the same word as "prayer," which would explain why Swedish Christians consume coffee at all hours of the day, and why I would make a great Swede :)

This afternoon, after lunch at the pastor's house, we went hiking to Skurugata. It was a gorge that, had we been in the United States, there would have been a trail to go around it, but we went right through it. The trail went to the top of a mountain, with a wonderful view. It was fun and so beautiful. The forest floors here are covered in moss, making it all very bright green and picturesque. I think we were all expecting hobbits to pop out from behind the trees at any time.

Well, I hope my thoughts are making sense. I feel like I need a few days or weeks to really process and reflect on everything, but it's helpful to write down my initial thoughts. Our culture is different and the way we "do church" is different, but I'm thankful for dialogue, where we can learn from one another, and support and encourage each another to boldly live out our faith in Jesus Christ. There's so much to take in, but nothing has had a greater impact than watching the caravaners be challenged and learn and grow. To witness that is the greatest gift of all. God is good.

Peace,
Katie