I’m almost at the end of a season of conferences (three down one to go) in about six weeks. This is not how I would plan it but the planners didn’t really ask me. Each had its strengths (and of course weaknesses) and I thought I’d give a short update of what it was, why I went and what it was like.

What was it?

The Gospel Coalition recently launched a Nordic edition and they held their second conference, this time in Stockholm. In fact Grace Church was able to help organise it a bit, and the conference was held in the church which we rent for our Sunday services.

The main speakers were Conrad Mbewe (Zambia), Tim Savage (US/UK), Carl Jan Christian Roth (Sweden/Denmark) and Johnny Lithell (Sweden). Among the seminars Collin Hansen gave a talk on his book about the legacy and influences of Tim Keller, which I greatly enjoyed and Greg Strand of the EFCA shared the Swedish roots of this American denomination. Hanna Fryxelius gave perhaps the most interesting seminar on her journey from female pastor to stay at home mum.

There were delegates from the Faroe Islands, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and the US. We were privileged to have a large team of volunteers from the US which was a great help. I guess there were around 15o delegates in total.

Why did I go?

Sweden, as I may have mentioned before, is a very secular country. The former state church is in catastrophic decline and is riddled with progressive liberalism. The free churches are also in decline but of the more slow and steady sort but even there the two major groups (EFK and Pentecostals) are struggling with major challenges to orthodox beliefs and ethics. So the number of Christians with a higher view of the authority of Scripture is both small (but maybe growing) and scattered. TGC has a chance to be something of a gathering point for Christians looking for preaching and teaching that is Gospel-centred, Biblically faithful and apologetically rigorous. I (mostly) see TGC as a positive, despite some recent false steps, and I hold in high regard some of the people I know personally who are committed to TGC and its aims. So having said all that, attending the conference, especially when it was held on home turf, was an easy decision to make. I wanted to go to support, to encourage, to see who was there and test the temperature of this relatively new movement in Scandinavia.

What was it like?

Let’s start with the worship. Now I’m paid up charismatic but I don’t regard the raising of hands in worship as one of the gifts of the Spirit, it’s just a human and biblical action. I always find it interesting and strange to be in a room full of people extolling the wonders of the God of grace with their hands by their side. How do they do it? I can’t. Interestingly they persisted even after Conrad Mbewe preached on it from Psalm 63:3-5. We turn in the direction of our help and raise our hands as a sign both of our need of help and as a sign of praise to the one who helps us, he urged us. Nothing! I had a chance to see some of the photos that were taken during the conference and you can see where the photographers eyes go to, to the few people with their arms raised high. And this is where the camera both tells the truth & deceives. There were people demonstrably enjoying God but it definitely wasn’t very many of them. Conservative Christians and their deep, deep, almost invisible joy, are a continuing mystery to me.

The preaching was mostly very good. The highlight for me was the privilege of hearing Dr Mbewe preach. Warmth, expository, Christ centred exaltation and exhortation from the Psalms. Wonderful. This is the strength of TGC and one they should definitely grow in over the coming years. The commitment to the text, to preaching the text, to showing Christ from the text, is great and I hope we’ll see and hear more preachers from Scandinavia in the years to come.

The conference was held in English which works fine because Danes and Swedes can’t understand each other and no one understands the Finns. However, it might be good if they looked into translation options so we raised and gave voice to these voices in their own tongue. Being able to preach well in English at a conference for Scandinavians should not be one of the necessary benchmarks (although I’m sure most of them will be able to do so). There were a few songs in Swedish, as well as the majority English songs, but this is also an opportunity to bring some recognition by working in some worship of all the Nordic languages (although we might all need the gift of tongues when it comes to singing in Finnish).

It was also interesting to see more than a few women wearing headscarves, which was intriguing and shows the way the pendulum has swung for some of these previously mainstream evangelicals.

Some of the panel discussions weren’t especially illuminating and a few of the panellists would be wise to avoid throwing shots at other Christians, it’s mostly not necessary. If we preach the Gospel of Grace it would be smart to speak with grace, kindness and humility even, especially, when we disagree with others.

Conclusion

The conversations were warm, the fellowship genuine, the mood was both genuinely hopeful (‘maybe this is the start of something good’) and a bit gloomy (‘Isn’t it hard being a Christian in this godless place?’). I guess the autumn in Scandinavia will do that to you. I mostly enjoyed the conference and there were some wonderful people there and hopefully it will continue to be an oasis and watering hole for Christians who are seeking to remain committed to the Gospel to find, encourage and pray for each other.

Photos credit (I think)