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Somewhere in Finland shoppers at a local mall saturated by sale offers and lounge music are approached by a group of amiable strangers. The strangers offer them healing and therapeutic methods with which to confront their everyday problems. Solutions are offered through intercessory prayer. Many of the intercessors are women involved in Charismatic churches. Their aim is to carry out missionary work but, as they engage with potential converts, they are careful to avoid open proselytization and speaking in tongues during the prayer sessions. Both are strictly forbidden. Elsewhere, in Sweden, an elderly Pentecostal sits down in front of her television and tunes in to Channel 10 in order to enjoy “old-fashioned” Pentecostal songs and sermons, many of which are but a memory in contemporary Pentecostal congregations. Watching the digital TV service, a quite recent phenomenon in the country, she feels at ease, reminded of her childhood as a young Pentecostal. Turning to Bergen in Norway, members of the country’s formerly largest independent church, previously part of the Faith Movement, are taking on the herculean task of recreating their organization after a collapse a few years back, when over half of the members dropped out following the ousting of their founder and leader.

Until 1845 the Lutheran state church held a monopoly on religion in Norway. From the 1850s onwards this monopoly was challenged by the arrival of several waves of missionaries influenced by revivals in the United States. Mormons were the first to establish congregations (1852), closely followed by Methodists (1856) and Baptists (1857). Many of the missionaries were Norwegian migrants returning to their old homeland, ready to spread their versions of the Christian faith. Their main target was the emerging working class in urban, industrial areas. Their success was moderate and their efforts did not result in any large-scale revivals. One reason may be the time-consuming and often humiliating process that accompanied conversion. Before joining a new congregation, converts—most of whom were women—had to testify to their newfound faith in front of the local state church priest, and seek permission to leave the state church. This chapter sets Pentecostalism in a historical context of developments and changes to Norwegian Christianity. Starting with a brief account of the Lutheran state church after the Reformation (1536), a closer look is taken at the late nineteenth century, when the first steps towards lifting the state’s religious monopoly were taken (1845), up to the first decade of the twentieth century, when Pentecostalism arrived (1906). The study furthermore situates the arrival of Pentecostalism in the broader context of missions with roots in the United States.

Foreign mission has been a part of Norwegian Pentecostalism from an early date. Its decentralized character distinguishes this mission from Norwegian foreign mission in general. The historical overview given here foregrounds the following topics: (1) the attempts to establish a central mission agency, which finally resulted in the creation of PYM (acronym for Pinsevennenes Ytre Misjon—“The Pentecostal Friends’ Foreign Mission”), an institution that coordinates the mission work run by affiliated Norwegian congregations; (2) the wide geographical diffusion of mission activities is sketched and the activities of prominent missionaries are emphasized; (3) besides, attention is given to gender and the role of female missionaries, particularly among early pioneers.

The chapter explores changes in leadership and authority structure as expressed through Charismatic practices following the transformation of the former “Living Word” (Levende ord) into the “Credo Church” (Credokirken). The church, located in Bergen and at one point the largest independent church in Norway, went through a makeover in the wake of a crisis related to its founder and leader of 14 years, Enevald Flåten. Established as a Faith Movement church, spiritual gifts were integral to the leadership structure from the beginning. In 2006, internal conflicts surfaced. By the end of the year, Flåten had left the ministry. Olav Rønhovde, who had led the opposition to Flåten, was elected his successor. The church changed its name and the member count dropped drastically. Unlike previously, the Credo Church is now involved in a collaborative Bible college, “Substance” (Substans), sharing responsibility for this with the Pentecostal Church and Salt Bergen Church. In other words, Credo Church has moved in a more ecumenical direction. The chapter is based on longstanding members’ accounts of change and continuity, and focuses on leadership structure and attitudes, view of God, Charismatic practices, publicity, and relations with other local churches.

The century-old Finnish Pentecostal Movement (Helluntaiherätys, or HH) is currently facing pressure from both outside and inside. The movement has to deal not only with reactions to postmodern developments in Finnish society, but also with institutionalization and structural disputes within. As the movement has become more middle-class-oriented, and constructs and maintains a habitus capable of coping with postmodern surroundings, some members and congregations have opposed the way in which the movement is changing. This article describes and analyzes tensions and disruptions within the movement, caused by the said developments. Postmodern styles of worship and organizational development supported by a new generation of educated members have given rise to traditionalism, fundamentalism, and protectionism. As a result, the oldest and largest Pentecostal body in Finland faces the threat of a division into two: one traditional, and one postmodern wing.

Knutby Filadelfia, outside Uppsala, Sweden, is a small community with roots in the early Pentecostal movement. The congregation was structurally part of the national network the Pentecostal Movement (Pingströrelsen) until 2004, when it was expelled on the grounds that its beliefs were “unorthodox.” In January of that year, a tragic crime put this community in the spotlight of media attention, which entailed the public exposure of its unique beliefs and lifestyle, including its interpretation of the Christian symbol of the Bride of Christ as a human being: Pastor Åsa Waldau. Alexandra Fossmo, the wife of another pastor, Helge Fossmo, was killed by gunshot, and a male member was wounded. Pastor Fossmo was found guilty of conspiracy to murder and sentenced to life in prison. The investigation revealed that the man who had been shot was the husband of one of Pastor Fossmo’s mistresses. A young member, Sara Svensson, was convicted as the perpetrator of shootings. She, too, had been having a romantic relationship with Helge Fossmo. Svensson was committed to a psychiatric ward. This study, which is grounded in fieldwork in the Knutby community, portrays its history, religious beliefs, and lifestyle. The community is analyzed from a combined perspective featuring lifeworld and new religious movements analysis. Moreover, it discusses the theological and organizational boundaries of the Pentecostal Movement and the phenomenon of schism and expulsion.

Healing has always been a central practice in Pentecostal and Charismatic churches throughout the world. The chapter focuses on a modernized practice of traditional Pentecostal faith healing implemented by the Healing Rooms, a globally expanded predominantly Charismatic Christian intercessory prayer service. The underlying purpose of this activity is undoubtedly evangelization. However, this mission is carried out exclusively by praying for clients individually according to their personal requests at local prayer clinics. In Finland, the Healing Rooms functions are based on a systematically organized lay network that connects people from different Christian backgrounds, including non-Charismatic ones. The leaders of the Finnish branch have consciously modified the practice to fit the post-Lutheran culture of a Nordic society. Thus, the Healing Rooms crosses and blurs the borders of traditional Pentecostal evangelizing methods by drawing closer to the methods of late modern Western psychologized therapy culture.

This chapter addresses a phenomenon that has become widespread in Stockholm County’s Charismatic churches: an increased emphasis on close relationships between practitioners. Drawing upon ethnographic material gathered between 2009 and 2013, this study illustrates how the trend has developed. The chapter explores how intimization is ritualized and embodied in practices such as hugs, and materialized in churches’ interior design and manifested in small group meetings, where participants gather in one another’s homes to eat, lean on each other for emotional support, and pray. Furthermore, it discusses Charismatic intimization in light of the overall intimization of the late modern Western world. It is argued that in Stockholm County, this has taken the form of a Charismatic intimization movement, developed by Neo-Charismatic organizations founded from the 1990s onwards, and which has spread to and influenced older Pentecostal and Neo-Charismatic churches.

Ever since televangelism started in the United States, Sweden has been considered an impossible arena for that type of enterprise. In the 1960’s almost all Swedes were formal members of the Lutheran Church of Sweden, were heavily secularized, and were considered to be anti-Charismatic and fairly averse to the expression of personal religiosity in public, as in televangelism. Furthermore, the state monopoly of Swedish radio and television closely regulated the transmission of church services, and thus impeded any such evangelization initiatives via TV. Nevertheless, in 2005, when the heyday of televangelism seemed to be over in the United States, a new Charismatic TV channel was founded in Älmhult in Småland. The new channel was called “Channel 10” (Kanal 10). “Kanal” was a neutral designation witout any religious connotations and the number “10” was not used by any television channel in Sweden at the time. In 10 years, Channel 10 has grown into a successful business whose principal product is Pentecostal or Charismatic preaching. The chapter initially asks the question: How can it be that televangelism attracts Swedes today, when this was considered impossible only 30 years ago? The study explores the actors behind the channel, its contents, and the reception of the programs in the light of contemporary changes in the Pentecostal landscape, especially intergenerational conflicts of interest and ongoing mediatization. The material presented is discussed from a theoretical perspective on identity, inspired by Paul Ricoeur (2005) and Erik Erikson (1964), and nostalgia as advocated by Clay Routledge (2015).

Historically, the symbolic vocabulary of Charismatic Christianity is littered with fire metaphors and analogies, especially connected to the agency of the Holy Spirit. Fire can be unpredictable, like wildfire; it can be controlled, as when lighting a torch; or, it can simply be extinguished. Drawing on such a rich symbolic tradition allows us to paint a dynamic and lively picture of Nordic Charismatic history and the contemporary scene, in which a global blaze finds its expression in more humbly burning embers. In line with these analogies, this anthology opened with the emergence of Pentecostal religiosity in the Nordic countries, tracing paths among ashes from fires that have burned brightly in the scattered sites and cities of Nordic landscapes.