Uniting Church in Sweden explained

Uniting Church in Sweden
Native Name:Equmeniakyrkan
Native Name Lang:sv
Main Classification:United church
Orientation:Protestantism
Theology:Pietist, Reformed
Associations:World Communion of Reformed Churches, Baptist World Alliance, International Federation of Free Evangelical Churches, United Methodist Church, European Baptist Federation, World Methodist Council, World Council of Churches, Conference of European Churches[1]
Headquarters: Bromma, Sweden
Founded Date:4 June 2011
Merger:Baptist Union of Sweden, Mission Covenant Church of Sweden, United Methodist Church of Sweden
Members:ca. 59,000 (2022)

Uniting Church in Sweden (Swedish: Swedish: Equmeniakyrkan) is a united Protestant denomination in Sweden.

History

It was established on 4 June 2011 by the merger of the United Methodist Church, Baptist Union of Sweden, and Mission Covenant Church of Sweden.[2]

Initially the name of the unified denomination was the Joint Future Church (Swedish: Gemensam framtid), before the name was changed during a conference in Karlstad on 11 May 2013 to the present Uniting Church in Sweden or in Swedish.[3]

Organization

The Uniting Church in Sweden consists of about 640 local congregations in Sweden, which collectively have about 59,000 members. The church serves around 130,000 people .[4]

Since 2007, the merging denominations also had a common youth organization called Equmenia. The intention to form the new denomination was made in the respective conferences in 2008, 2009 and 2010 before the final decision was made in 2011.

Since the inaugural meeting in 2011, the denomination's president was Ann-Sofie Lasell, who was succeeded in 2014 by Tomas Bjöersdorff and in 2017 by Susanne Rodmar. The current president, Kerstin Torkelsson Enlund, was elected in 2020. The church conference in Linköping in 2012 elected Lasse Svensson as church leader and Olle Alkholm and Sofia Camnerin as deputy church leaders.[5] All three were re-elected at the 2016 church conference in Stockholm. At the 2020 church conference, Lasse Svensson was re-elected as church leader, and Karin Wiborn and Joakim Hagerius were newly elected as deputy church leaders.[6]

The Uniting Church in Sweden runs University College Stockholm (formerly Stockholm School of Theology)[7] and along with Equmenia runs Härnösand Folk High School, Sjövik Folk High School,[8] Karlskoga Folk High School,[9] Bromma Folk High School and Södra Vätterbygdens folkhögskola.[10] Together with the Swedish Alliance Mission, it runs the aid organization .[11] The Uniting Church in Sweden is a member organization of the study association Bilda.[12] Along with a number of other Christian denominations and organizations, it runs the nonprofit social work organization .[13]

Ecumenism

The ecumenical agreements that previously existed between the Church of Sweden, the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden and the United Methodist Church of Sweden have since 2016 been adapted to a similar agreement between the Church of Sweden and the Uniting Church in Sweden.[14]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Samarbeten och ekumenik | Equmeniakyrkan . Gemensamframtid.se . 7 September 2015 . 10 January 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130110004005/http://gemensamframtid.se/om-oss/samarbeten-och-ekumenik/ . live .
  2. Geoffrey Wainwright, Paul McPartlan, The Oxford Handbook of Ecumenical Studies, Oxford University Press, UK, 2021, p. 102
  3. Web site: Uniting Church in Sweden . 12 April 2023 . . January 1948 . 17 January 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230117103503/https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/uniting-church-in-sweden . live .
  4. Web site: Statistik om trossamfund . 12 April 2023 . . sv . 7 February 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230207021854/https://myndighetensst.se/kunskap/statistik-om-trossamfund.html . live .
  5. Web site: Manfredh . Thomas . 16 January 2012 . Lasse Svensson vann kampen om kyrkoledarposten i GF . 12 April 2023 . Dagen . sv . 16 April 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230416113705/https://www.dagen.se/nyheter/2012/01/16/lasse-svensson-vann-kampen-om-kyrkoledarposten-i-gf/ . live .
  6. Web site: Österberg . Thomas . 21 September 2020 . Här är de nya kyrkoledarna i Equmeniakyrkan . 12 April 2023 . Dagen . sv . 17 April 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230417081730/https://www.dagen.se/troochkyrka/2020/09/21/har-ar-de-nya-kyrkoledarna-i-equmeniakyrkan/ . live .
  7. Web site: Organisation . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141205110951/http://www.ths.se/site/index.php/om-hoegskolan/organisation.html . 5 December 2014 . 28 November 2014 . Teologiska högskolan Stockholm . sv.
  8. Web site: Huvudman, styrelse . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141113112448/http://www.sjovik.eu/om-sjovik/huvudman-styrelse/ . 13 November 2014 . 28 November 2014 . Sjöviks folkhögskola . sv.
  9. Web site: Om skolan – Gemensam information . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141204235303/http://www.karlskogafolkhogskola.se/folkhogskola/ . 4 December 2014 . 4 December 2014 . Karlskoga Folkhögskola . sv.
  10. Web site: Om oss – Södra Vätterbygdens Folkhögskola . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141204135144/http://www.svf.fhsk.se/om-skolan/om-oss/ . 4 December 2014 . 28 November 2014 . Södra Vätterbygdens Folkhögskola . sv.
  11. Web site: Diakonia 2022-2025 . 12 April 2023 . Openaid . sv . 12 April 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230412142920/https://openaid.se/activities/SE-0-SE-6-13882A0101-CUB-15220 . live .
  12. Web site: Medlemsorganisationer . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160226231330/http://www.bilda.nu/sv/Om-Studieforbundet-Bilda/Om-bilda/Organisation/Medlemsorganisationer/ . 26 February 2016 . 12 April 2023 . Bilda . sv.
  13. Web site: Huvudmän . 12 April 2023 . Hela Människan Sverige . sv-SE . 17 April 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230417121439/https://helamanniskan.se/vilka-ar-vi/huvudman/ . live .
  14. Web site: Ekumenisk överenskommelse mellan Svenska kyrkan och Equmeniakyrkan med kommentarer . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20180131023349/http://equmeniakyrkan.se/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Ekumenisk-%C3%B6verenskommelse-med-Svenska-kyrkan.pdf . 31 January 2018 . 24 April 2019 . Equmeniakyrkan . sv.

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