THE CHURCH IS COLLAPSING ! Part - 4a-

"Beginners and outsiders are open to possibilities and don’t make assumptions. By extension, they’re often better at finding solutions the experts have stopped seeing."
~Michael McMillan










SWEDEN THE NEW MISSION FIELD… TSA, Sweden has historically been a main source in providing missionary officers.

Tentmaking, in general, refers to the activities of any Christian who, while functioning as a minister, receives little or no pay for his or her church work, and supports him or herself by additional, unrelated work. Specifically, tentmaking can also refer to a method of international Christian evangelism in which missionaries support themselves by working full time in the marketplace with their skills and education, instead of receiving financial support from a church.

Sweden population - 9,059,651 (2009)

9,600,000 mobile phones (in excess of total population; highest per capita in the world)

8,085,500 Internet users as of Sept/09, 89.2% penetration. Scandinavia has highest per capita internet users in the world)

English is taught in schools from the first grade. Most people in Sweden speak fluent intermediate to advanced level English.

Swedes enjoy partaking in intellectual conversations; debates on social and cultural matters from a Swedish perspective, including religion.

Moves To Curb Influence Of Religion In Schools
At the end of 2008, 72,9% of Swedes belong to the Church of Sweden, a number that is decreasing by about one per cent every year, and Church of Sweden services are sparsely attended (hovering in the single digit percentages of the population). The reason for the large number of inactive members is partly that until 1996, children became members automatically at birth if at least one of their parents were a member.

In 2009, nearly 72,000 Swedes left the Church of Sweden, considerably more than in 2008 when 50,504 Swedes left the Church of Sweden.

Some 275,000 Swedes are today members of various free churches (TSA is a free church) where congregation attendance is much higher, and, in addition, immigration has meant that there are now some 92,000 Roman Catholics and 100,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians living in Sweden.

Due to immigration, Sweden also has a significant Muslim population. As many as 500,000 are Muslims by tradition and between 80,000 - 400,000 of these are practicing Muslims.

The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respects this right in practice.

RELIGION IN SWEDEN

• 23% of Swedish citizens responded that "they believe there is a God".
• 53% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force".
• 23% answered that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God, or life force".
• Atheism rates in Sweden run to 85%
[ Phil Zuckerman, an Associate Professor of Sociology at Pitzer College]
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An article on Sweden's official website asserts that that just three out of 10 Swedes state that they have confidence in the church. The same article lists the following facts about religion in Sweden.

• 8 out of 10 Swedes are members of the Church of Sweden. (7 million)
• Membership does not connote attendance (3-4%).
• Only 1 in 10 Swedes thinks religion is important in daily life.
• 7 out of 10 children (70%) are christened in the Church of Sweden and thereby registered in the church as members.
• Just over 5 out of 10 weddings take place in church. Sweden has one of the lowest marriage rates in the world at less than 60 per cent.
• 9 out of 10 Swedes have Christian burials.

Sweden ranks aside with France, South Korea, Japan, Czech Republic and the Netherlands on having a large minority or even majority of its citizens who have no religion.

Observation:

Sweden has one of the lowest marriage rates in the world at less than 60 per cent. Fifty years ago the figure was 91 per cent for Sweden. Instead of marriage, cohabitation is common in Sweden. About 32 per cent of all couples in Sweden are cohabiting. A number of factors contribute to the high rate of cohabitation in Sweden. Religion is weak, and the moral and cultural taboos against partners living together have disappeared. In addition, government benefits are given to individuals regardless of their relationships or family arrangements. Spousal benefits in such matters as health care simply do not exist. And all income tax is individual.

For its part the United States stands out for having the world's highest divorce rate. The divorce rate is less than 40 per cent in Sweden. Swedish cohabiting couples do, however, break up in large numbers. It is estimated that the risk of breakup for cohabiting couples in Sweden, even those with children, is several times higher than for married couples.
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Religious education covering all major world religions is compulsory in public schools. Parents may send their children to independent religious schools, all of which receive government subsidies, provided they adhere to government guidelines on core academic curriculum.

Sweden wants to curb the influence of religion in private religious schools in a move to prevent the spread of fundamentalism and creationism in science, government officials said on Monday.
The new rules being drafted by the centre-right government would ban religious elements being taught in subjects other than Religious Education lessons. Education Minister Jan Bjorklund told Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter: “Students must be protected from every form of fundamentalism. A student shouldn't be able to pass a natural science test by answering that God created the world. We don't think that's OK. Teaching in school must have a scientific basis.” The schools would also be required to report financial donations to the authorities, he said.
His comments came after a legal dispute involving efforts by the Exclusive Brethren to start a school
in southern Sweden.

The Exclusive Brethren Christian Fellowship, which dismisses the theory of evolution, was granted permission by a county administrative court to start the school after it promised to follow the Swedish school plan and to welcome all students. It wasn’t clear how a cult with the word “exclusive” in its name could be open to non-cult members. The decision to permit the school was widely criticised. The group is regarded as isolationist, imposing heavy restrictions on its membership, including those on children at school.

There are 67 elementary schools and six high schools with a religious character in Sweden, mostly Christian. They are outside the public school system, but are governed by Sweden's law on education. The government claims the law is not clear on how much religious influence is allowed in the curriculum. The new rules, which need parliamentary approval, would be introduced in 2009, Bjorklund's spokeswoman Anna Neuman said.

The Council of Europe this month voted to urge European schools to strongly oppose teaching creationism and intelligent design in science classes, saying attacks on the theory of evolution were rooted in religious extremism.
It would also propose to parliament that it enable authorities to swiftly issue fines or, in especially serious cases, close schools that failed to adhere to the new rules. 


"Beginners and outsiders are open to possibilities and don’t make assumptions. By extension, they’re often better at finding solutions the experts have stopped seeing."
~Michael McMillan

Given the above facts, what are the most effective means to attract and engage SWEDES in our battle against religious apathy and secularization ? Tomorrow's post will share some thoughts to which we ask you to add yours. ALL comments will be forwarded to THQ, Stockholm, Sweden.

Sven Ljungholm
Former