Periodic publication of:
History Fellowship

Autumn 2011

Elisabet Liljegren — The Slum’s Colonel
By: Sven Nilsson, Commissioner (retired)

part 1 of 2-




Life went on as usual. Each day was like the next. Year after year they harvested their fields. Sowed and reaped.. Grieved when the old ones’ time ran out and rejoiced with delight when the children were born. Joys were infrequent and poverty closing in. It had always been this way. You went to church every Sunday, but the priest's words were not always uplifting; there were words of punishment and judgment.

Suddenly the crowds began to stir. Talk was heard about the country in the ‘west’ where gold was found and forests lush and green, and the exit (emigration) began. Industrialization came about step by step. Peasants found work at the sawmills, but the earnings were meager and the labor hard. They gathered widely, in cottages to sing and pray. But the gatherings were deemed illegal; the law stated that a pastor’s presence was required at all devotional fellowships. But they’d learned to read, and the Scriptures were read, and suddenly the Holy Ghost came and lit a fire that spread quickly.

It took place in the small parish of Äppelbo, in the province of Dalarna and, curiously, it was the law's representative who became the spokesman for recounting how God’s grace fell upon them. County Governor Olof Stadig became the leader of the sweeping faith movement and many came to faith. Far from Äppelbo, in a sawmill district in northern Sweden, the Äppelbo born Nol Karis Erik Larsson traded his wares going door to door. He was a peddler whom they also said was a salesman, and sold those products needed in the homes. He had come to Tunadal, outside Sundsvall, almost at the same time as The Salvation Army had arrived there. He was saved and enrolled as a soldier. When he learned about the revival in Äppelbo, he decided to return home. Dressed in his red Army Guernsey he arrived in his hometown. They’d never seen a Salvation Army soldier before. He quickly entered into the revival spirit and became Olof Stadig's associate.

They worked in the spirit of Salvationists, and soon there were 97 people who wanted to become recruits and then soldiers in The Salvation Army. When a corps was officially opened in 1890, the revival continued to spread, and some who went on to become the most influential people of The Salvation Army, became soldiers and officers.

Nol Karis Erik Larsson made his living as a vendor moving among the farms. He came to the neighboring town of Järna and walked among the homes peddling his goods, but he also had the War Cry (SA magazine) in his backpack and sold them together with rubber bands, buttons and underwear. In Järna, he encountered the revival. A man named Nils Jernberg, born in Järna, had moved about the countryside and preached atheism because “there was no God”, he claimed. He traveled to America and in Chicago. God was granted the upper hand and he was ‘saved’. He knew he had to go home to Sweden and tell the people that he had been wrong when he spoke against God. A flaming awakening arose and people were gripped by the Spirit of God. Ternberg's work style resembled the Salvation Army’s. He walked among the villages of Järna with a red tablecloth fixed to the top of a long pole, and people followed him.A young girl was present in one of his meetings (religious service). Her name was Lassa Lisa Andersdotter, and at age 16 ½ she had been designated by the priest in the congregation as a primary teacher in Ilbacken. She was gripped by the Spirit of God and spoke in a men’s cottage meeting from nine o'clock in the evening until three in the morning. It is said that she sang: "Do you love the bride of Christ and praise God greatly."


One day Nol Karis Erik Larsson came to her home, and he he had in his backpack an issue of the War Cry that he sold. Lisa read the newspaper and told her parents that she had to join this strange movement. She had no peace until she made her father harness their horse and drive the 70 kilometers (42 miles) to the nearest railway station, where she could board a train to Stockholm. In the spring of 1888, she arrived in the capital, checked in to a hotel and set off to the National Museum and the Nordic Museum, because, she said: "If I should be accepted in The Salvation Army, I will never find time to visit any museums."

The following day she found her way to the Salvation Army at Östermalmsgatan.

"There she met the English officer Mildred Duff, and made her wish known to join The Salvation Army.

"Are you familiar with The Salvation Army? asked Mildred Duff. "No," replied Lisa. "Do you have any recommendations?" Now what might the English recommendation be?

Yes, put Lisa in direct contact with Hanna Ouchterlony, the leader of the new movement.

Hanna Ouchterlony saw something special in the lass from the rural dales and said; "I believe God has sent you. You will begin on a period of testing…’