The Swedish Pentecostal Movement () is a Pentecostal movement in Sweden. Many, but not all, of these, are members of the Pentecostal Alliance of Independent Churches, which was founded in 2001. William Kay, Anne Dyer, European Pentecostalism, BRILL, Leiden, 2011, p. 36. The Pentecostal movement spread to Sweden by 1907 from the 1904–1905 Welsh Revival and the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles in 1906.
The Pentecostal Alliance of Independent Churches is made up of 439 churches and 87,392 members ,Pentecostal Alliance of Independent Churches, Statistik , pingst.se, Sweden, retrieved May 9, 2020 making it one of Sweden's largest free church organizations. The Pentecostal movement is also part of the broader Charismatic Christianity (which includes both Pentecostals and the non-Pentecostal Charismatic movement).
Size of the Pentecostal movement In terms of membership, the Pentecostal movement is the second largest free church movement in Sweden after the Uniting Church in Sweden. In 2017 it had 87,392 members in 439 congregations. The movement had its peak in the 1980s, with just over 100,000 members. The Pentecostal Movement has thus had a greater impact on the free church movement in Sweden than in many other countries.
In terms of the number of people served (registered in activities or as members), the Pentecostal movement was the largest free church in 2007–2010; this amounted to 113,527 people in 2010.
The largest Pentecostal congregations in Sweden in 2016 were:
Filadelfia Stockholm, 5,378 members Smyrna Church in Gothenburg, 3,229 members Pentecostal Church in Jönköping, 2,465 members Sion Church in Linköping, 1,522 members Europaporten in Malmö, 1,315 members
History The Swedish Pentecostal revival has its origins mainly in the Holiness movement that arose in North America in the 1860s and which reached Sweden in various ways towards the end of the 19th century.
In January 1901, several students at Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas, USA, began speaking in tongues after studying the Bible and spending time in prayer. Agnes Ozman was the first among them to have this experience, but she was soon followed by more students and her teacher Charles Fox Parham.
In 1906, an African-American revival began at 312 Azusa Street in Los Angeles, California and came to Sweden that year through Swedish-American . He was part of the first group of missionaries sent out from Azusa Street. He first intended to go to Palestine as a missionary, but for various reasons ended up in his hometown of Skövde, where he started work in November 1906. Just over a month later, Norwegian Methodist pastor Thomas Ball Barratt arrived in Kristiania, now Oslo, and started a parallel ministry there. Through heavy media coverage, news of the movement spread quickly in both Norway and Sweden, and many Swedes travelled to Kristiania to experience the much talked-about revival first-hand.
History in Sweden In 1881, Swedish preacher Fredrik Franson returned from the United States, bringing the seeds of the early Pentecostal movement and engaging in preaching to large groups. He returned in 1907 to again preach.
The Pentecostal revival in Sweden was spread partly through the travels of Andrew G. Johnson, and partly through a large number of evangelists, mainly women, from the Örebro Mission. The leader of this mission was John Ongman, and the women thus came to be called ('Ongman sisters'). Through Ongman's support of the revival that came with Johnson, Örebro became an early Pentecostal center in Sweden, along with the aforementioned Skövde. Through the Örebro Missionary Society, which Ongman founded in 1908, his followers began to run their own evangelistic and missionary activities. Ongman's group welcomed the new movement, and after a schism with the Baptist Church in 1938 became a separate denomination, the Örebro Mission.
The next strongest center of activity was Gothenburg, with ecumenical activities held in on Kungstorget. The first Pentecostal magazine in Sweden, (Glow from the Altar), was also published in Gothenburg.
From 1911, a strong leader in Stockholm became increasingly prominent, young Baptist pastor Lewi Pethrus. From his Kölingared Declaration of 1919 onwards, the Filadelfia Church in Stockholm increasingly became the movement's center and Pethrus its unofficial leader.Vinson Synan, Amos Yong, Global Renewal Christianity: Europe and North America Spirit-Empowered Movements: Past, Present and Future, Charisma Media, USA, 2017, p. 183
The Pentecostal movement in Sweden was initially interdenominational (ecumenical). In some places, such as Gothenburg, the movement remained interdenominational for quite some time; no Pentecostal congregations were formed until the 1920s. As early as 1907, however, a non-denominational congregation joined, the Betania Church in Adelöv, which had been started in 1901, and the following year Pentecostal congregations were formed in places such as Skärhamn and Luleå. Relations with the local Baptist congregations were good, however, and many of them were still referred to as Baptist congregations. Mostly, however, they were independent prayer groups. The original town of Skövde, for example, did not have its own Pentecostal church until 1912.
The Filadelfia Church in Stockholm was led from 1911 to 1958 by Pethrus. In 1913, it was expelled from the Baptist Union of Sweden because of disagreements over the Lord's Supper. The real reason for excluding the Filadelfia Church, according to some, was to get rid of the energetic leader Pethrus in order to avoid division within the community. However, the Filadelfia Church was not the first congregation to be expelled from the Baptist Union for reasons similar to these. Such expulsions had been going on since 1907 and the arrival of the Pentecostal revival in Sweden. John Wahlborg describes the expulsion as embarrassing and sad in his book . However, the expulsion led to the growth of the Pentecostal movement, and it was the Swedish Baptist Church that lost the most members. For a whole year, however, Pethrus was aware that the Filadelfia Church was under threat of expulsion from the Baptist Union if their communion practices did not change. Subsequently, a number of attempts were made to reunite the two. One example of this is in 1919 when the Baptist communion practice changed and moved closer to Pethrus's understanding of the Eucharist. These attempts at reconciliation were hampered by Pethrus developing the view that church membership is unbiblical. When Pethrus developed this view is disputed; however, there is much evidence to suggest that this occurred after his expulsion from the community. For example, Pethrus urged the delegates before the Stockholm district meeting of the Baptist Union in April 1913 not to move for the expulsion of the Filadelfia Church. Another inflaming factor was the development of a strong polemic between Pethrus and the free church communities in Sweden at the time. Pethrus attacked the Baptist Union, and the idea of Christian denominations in general, in a number of magazine articles, drawing strong criticism from founder of the Örebro Mission School John Ongman (who perhaps worked hardest for reconciliation between Pethrus and the Baptist Union), the leadership of the Baptist Union and the leadership of the Missionary Society.
After his breakthrough in 1911, Lewi Pethrus was the informal leader of the Swedish Pentecostal movement until his death in 1974. Sven Lidman is also considered to have been of great importance for the movement's development in Sweden until the break between Pethrus and Lidman in 1948. After Pethrus' death, the Filadelfia Church held an important position as the gathering for the national pastors' conference.
In 2001, the Pentecostal Alliance of Independent Churches, , (Pingst FFS), was founded. It has appointed a superintendent for the affiliated congregations. The first superintendent was Sten-Gunnar Hedin. Pelle Hörnmark took over as leader for second time in 2024, having previously led the movement from 2008-2016.
Teachings As the Pentecostal movement consists of independent congregations, there are no uniformly adopted creeds or doctrines. However, a homogeneity in doctrinal issues has emerged over the history of the movement.
Like most other Christian denominations (but unlike the non-Trinitarian oneness Pentecostal movement), Swedish Pentecostal congregations endorse the content of creeds such as the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. However, these are not regularly read as part of worship or teaching.
Relationship to other Christian movements The Pentecostal movement considers itself one of the Christian churches in Sweden and is a member of the Christian Council of Sweden and thus the World Council of Churches. The Pentecostal movement has previously been skeptical towards ecumenism, particularly at a high organizational level, but has gradually become more open to it. Today it cooperates ecumenically in many contexts.
The Pentecostal movement is doctrinally close to most Swedish free churches, revivalist movements and low churches, in particular the charismatic movement, Baptist churches and evangelicalism, as well as the Word of Faith movement. The differences that exist today concern expression, forms of activity and ideals of piety to a much greater extent than theological doctrinal differences.
It is not uncommon for Pentecostals to be members of the Church of Sweden and involved in church politics. Since the Pentecostal movement came into being long after the Conventicle Act, there is not as strong a tradition of demarcation from the Church of Sweden as in older free churches. Some interaction with the Catholic Church has occurred in recent times, for example in connection with the and retreats.
Faith in God as the Creator The belief in God as the creator of heaven and earth has been self-evident in the Pentecostal movement. The emphasis in teaching has been on holiness and the love of God. God is absolutely separated from evil and is entirely pure. God's love for the world is demonstrated by his sending his son Jesus Christ into the world. The Pentecostal movement has also placed a strong emphasis on prayer, praise and worship. Man's highest purpose is to live for the glory of God. The Swedish Pentecostal movement professes the Trinity: the classical Christian belief in God as Father, Son and Spirit, although this is not the case in all Pentecostal churches worldwide.
Man as the image of God and fallen sinner As a branch off the Baptist church, Pentecostalism does not believe in the doctrine of original sin, in the sense that every child is born in a state of sin and guilt. Instead, the movement teaches that every person is born pure and sinless. Children belong to the kingdom of heaven, as Jesus said. () Man has an innate damaged nature, a "sin sickness", an inability to always and in all situations choose what is right, as a legacy of Adam's fall. As man grows older and becomes aware of his environment, God's law and his conscience, he will sooner or later deliberately violate God's will by his actions. Only this deliberate and conscious personal act is considered sin; this is called active sin as opposed to original sin.
In the Swedish Pentecostal movement, sickness and death are seen only as a consequence of the fall of man, whereas in the American Word of Faith movement, among others, sickness is seen as a consequence of the individual's sin.
The person and atoning work of Jesus The Pentecostal movement has always had a clear focus on Jesus and his power. It sees Jesus as the Son of God, the Messiah and God according to trinitarian doctrine. It also sees him as the only way to God and believes that his coming was already foretold in the Old Testament.