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Sweden: Why My People Need The Gospel

Billy Loby

During June, SOLA will be publishing a series, “Why My People Need the Gospel” to highlight the global need for the good news of Jesus Christ.

To pray for God’s kingdom work more effectively, we must learn about those we are praying for so that we can pray more specifically and intentionally. Therefore we will be publishing short guides written by people of those countries and cultures so we can exhort the body to pray for all nations. Please note that these responses are just snapshots of the complex socio-political issues of the countries and are not all-encompassing.

We hope this series will encourage and challenge you to pray globally for all nations to be united under the rule of Christ.

Sweden

Sweden is a country in Northern Europe that is sandwiched between Norway and Finland. Following the Protestant Reformation, Lutheranism became the official religion of Sweden, and the Church of Sweden remained the state church until 2000. In 2018, 5.75% of Swedes belonged to the Church of Sweden, but only about 2% of church members regularly attend Sunday services.

Billy Lo, who lives in Stockholm, Sweden, shares with us about his country.

SOLA: What are some of the biggest barriers to Christianity for the people of Sweden?

BL: Sweden is a very secular country therefore the biggest church in Sweden, the Lutheran church, has been facing decreasing membership for many years. It is true that we have many cultural Christians, but because of the immigrants, we have a lot of new Christians who moving in to Sweden. These immigrant Christians bring in a lot of new hope and life into the churches in Sweden.

SOLA: How can we pray for Sweden and the people in Sweden?

BL:

  1. Pray for refugees can stay in Sweden and come to know to know Jesus in this new country. The refugee situation has become more difficult, with more restrictions on immigration. But maybe God has a reason why so many refugees are coming to Sweden.100-200 years ago, Sweden sent out many missionaries to other countries. But today, not many Christians in Sweden want to become missionaries. Maybe therefore God bring people to Sweden so that they will have a chance to know the Gospel. We need to see God’s plan and partner with Him and share the gospel to the new people in Sweden.

  2. Pray for the mental health among people in Sweden. Our country is very wealthy but at the same time many people have mental disorders. My own explanation is that every human has a body, soul and spirit. But unfortunately in our society, we only focus on the body and don’t pay so much attention to the needs of the soul and spirit. I believe that is why we have a materially rich society but are still not feeling whole.

  3. Pray for the churches in Sweden to have unity and together can spread the gospel.

  4. Pray that we can have more Christian politicians in Sweden and that decisions made by the government will honor God.

  5. Pray that we can have more Christian schools in Sweden, and that current schools can have more freedom to do good work.

SOLA Note: For more reading on the religious beliefs in Scandanavian countries, read this article by The New York Times.