At the top of the world Open Air ministry is not always possible, but gets great crowds in the cities and festivals during the summer. In winter other opportunities knock.
This is Norway
| Population: | 5,258,317 |
| Official language: | Norwegian |
| Capital: | Oslo |
| Evangelicals: | 71 % (10%) |
A bit of history
Norway is a long mountainous country at the very top of Europe. Norway is noted for its natural phenomena, particularly the midnight sun and the northern lights.
The conversion of Norway to Christianity started in around 1000 and was a result of contact with Christian Europe through a combination of trade ties and Viking raids.
Norwegian religious expression is largely private; whereas most individuals state that religion is important to them, this is not generally expressed through active religious participation in organized communities. While roughly 71% of the population belong to the Church of Norway, only 10% attend church services or other Christianity-related meetings more than once a month. There is also around 5% Muslims in Norge – primarily refugees from Africa and the Middle East.
How OAC started in Norway
David Fanstone from OAC England visited Norway back in the 80s. In 1996 Torben Oestermark from OAC Denmark started to visit Norway regularly, with the vision of starting a branch in Norway. Finally, in September 2005, a branch of OAC was started in Norway. Hartvig Kloster from Denmark was appointed as National director.
At the moment there are three evangelists, five associated evangelists and one secretary working in OAC Norway.
The Purpose of OAC
Almost every week we have street meetings in Oslo, the capital of Norway. We preach the gospel through sketchboard and gospel magic. We also do regular street meetings in Askim and Kristiansand. In the summer season, we often have crowds of about 50 people listening, and good conversations afterwards. During the summer, we attend several music festivals, often with teams invited by local churches to evangelize. In August, every year we do also arrange a five day campaign in Oslo called Reach the City. In the cold wintertime we visit in churches and Bible schools where we preach and teach.
Extension to Sweden
In 2016 the board of OAC Norway decided to work on establishing a branch in Sweden before 2021. Over the next years there were several visits to Sweden and, especially at the “Uppdraget” evangelists’ conference, new contacts were made. After more visits to Sweden, one of the new contacts, David Sundell, was employed as national director of Sweden in January 2020. For photos of this ministry, please check out the Sweden page!
National director:
Hartvig Kloster.
Address
Open Air Campaigners, Hovsveien 20A, 1831 Askim, Norway
Follow us on Facebook and the Norwegian website.
