The Sixth Annual Session of the Scandinavian Union Conference
By Guy Dail
GUY DAIL
The twenty-seven delegates of the Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish conferences, and of the Northland and Finland mission fields, met together in Orebro (population thirty thousand) in connection with the Swedish conference, June 22-26. Elders L. R. Conradi and W. J. Fitzgerald were present from abroad.
This has been a union meeting indeed. It is the most important meeting we have yet had in Scandinavia. The weather and the outside surroundings were all that could be desired. The perfect sunshine, the clear northern skies, which preserve the rays of the setting sun until the chariots of dawn begin to set fire to the eastern firmament by ushering in his return, the magic and the spell of a Scandinavian summer, have all done their best to teach us that God is love, and that his children are to prove their discipleship to the world by loving one another,—and I believe we are beginning to learn the lesson.
There have been two leading questions that needed consideration, along with many others that group themselves around them,—a union conference president, and the establishment of a permanent union school.
A few of our readers may remember that several years ago there was not much of a demand for a Scandinavian union conference among some of the brethren up here. But the beginning at a union was made by securing first a union council, which was afterward changed into a union conference. Mission fields sprang up, as the Finnish, the Icelandic, and the Northland mission. Last of all came the Abyssinian mission, which was opened by Scandinavian union conference money, just as the German and the British-East African missions were entered by men from Germany and Great Britain. There are also our union institutions, calling for encouragement and help from the union management and treasury. Under the blessing of God, the union thus far has worked only good. It has helped to break down nationality, and to establish oneness of purpose. It is not surprising that in these small countries the question of nationality should play an important rôle. Under existing conditions, nationality is all right to a certain degree: the Norwegian should feel a burden to give the gospel to his fellow countrymen, and the same ought to be true of the Finn, or of the Swede, or of the Dane; but if one can see only his nationality, then he is standing in the way of the advancement of the message; for the spirit of Christ is to give, and the real Christian sees, not only his family, or his province, or his state, or his country, or his nation—he sees that the Son of man came to save the world.
Now as to the business of this session: The constitution was altered to provide for (a) a vice-president; (b) that the Sabbath-school, First-day, and annual offerings go direct to the General Conference, instead of to the union conference, as heretofore; and (c) that the sessions of the union conference be biennial in the future.
HAMMERFEST, NORWAY, THE NORTHERNMOST CITY IN EUROPE
It was voted: (1) That the non-tithe payer should be given no position of trust in the union conference work; (2) that the number of members leaving Scandinavia for America be accurately reported, and that each person moving from one church to another be requested to transfer his membership, and that all church clerks keep in close touch with their absent members through correspondence, to encourage them, and to help them to be faithful to their church duties; (3) that the management of the Abyssinian mission be turned over to the General Conference, while the property be held by the most suitable Scandinavian legal association we have; (4) that one missionary canvasser go to the Faroe Islands, and that a missionary licentiate be sent to the Northland mission; (5) that hearty thanks be extended to God for his watch-care the past year, to the American brethren for the valuable help they have sent in men and means, and for the promise that young men will be enabled to come here and be educated into successful workers for this field at America's expense, also for the promise of a liberal donation to the Scandinavian Educational Fund; and (6) that we express our appreciation of the entertainment provided the union conference delegates by the Swedish brethren.
The election of officers took place the second morning of the conference. Elder J. C. Raft was unanimously chosen president; Elder S. F. Svenssen, vice-president; Erik Arnesen, secretary; Jens Olsen, treasurer; and A. C. Christensen and E. Lind, auditors. The union conference committee is composed of the heads of the Scandinavian conferences and missions, and Dr. J. C. Ottosen, Erik Arnesen, and E. Lind.
Brother C. C. Jensen was appointed to the presidency of Denmark in the place of Brother J. C. Raft, and Brother N. C. Bergersen took Brother C. C. Jensen's place in Norway. These changes were brought about in the union committee in a few moments, in the most brotherly and cordial manner.
By far the larger part of our time was taken up in considering the question of a permanent Scandinavian union school. All sides of the matter were thoroughly discussed. Even at the committee meeting in Skodsborg in February, Skodsborg was thought of as a possible location for such a school, seeing that the Swedish brethren had not felt free to go forward and select a site, as was suggested at the council at Gland, where they could erect a sanitarium, a food factory, and a school. No one attempted to use any coercive measures to bring about a unanimity of opinion. But the majority of the Swedish brethren could not see their way clear to join a union school project in Skodsborg, even if they were to be put to no financial expense, and were granted as full a Swedish department as possible under the circumstances. Therefore the following action was taken:—
“Whereas, The Scandinavian Union Committee, after much counsel with the leading brethren from Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, find it impossible to agree to have a union school for all three countries; therefore,—
“Be it resolved, That a union school13for Denmark and Norway be started in connection with the Skodsborg Sanitarium, and that Sweden, for its part, hold a mission school at Nyhyttan.”
This motion was passed unanimously. Before leaving here, it was decided that Brother Erik Arnesen is to have charge of the union school, and that Elder L. Muderspach will be the Bible teacher. Much help is expected from the physicians at the Skodsborg Sanitarium.
Skodsborg itself, it will be remembered, is very anxious to have a chapel, and at the Danish Conference nearly three thousand kroner was raised toward providing one. It is now planned that in connection with the chapel, there shall be school and students' rooms under the same roof, and the cost is not to exceed sixty thousand kroner for building and furnishings. Already aggressive measures are on foot to raise money for this enterprise. It is one of the most worthy enterprises that we have ever had before us in Scandinavia. We believe that it will appeal even to some of our brethren in other lands.
It was also decided here that Denmark will continue to receive its literature from the Christiania Publishing House, notwithstanding the duty that will be placed on printed matter imported after Jan. 1, 1909.
Ministerial credentials were granted to Fred Andersson and F. R. Öberg, of Finland, to O. Johnson, J. Wallenkampf, and A. Sewaldsen, of the Northland mission, and to D. Ostlund, of Iceland; ministerial license to N. Anderson, of Iceland; missionary licenses to Vendla Erikson, of the Northland mission, and to Segridur Jonsdatter, of Iceland.
The membership of the Scandinavian Union, if we take it at the end of 1907, was 2,748,—one hundred eight more than at the close of the previous year, and seven hundred one more than at the close of 1901; tithe, $22,035 against $20,152 in 1906; donations, $4,271, and book sales, $51,029, against $3,374 and $44,215 respectively, for 1906.
Now that the union has a president who can devote his whole time to its upbuilding, now that the educational work is to take still another step in advance, now that there are some of our young people getting started in the work, and now that there seems to be a more united spirit present in our midst than ever in the past, we hope the future may show prosperous results to the work and to the thirty-eight evangelical workers in the Scandinavian Union Conference, with its 13,225,000 inhabitants.
