Prayer Emphases at Mariager Højskole

Pray for Denmark.com has a new and valued friend. In the past several months I have had contact with Jakob Vagner who is a teacher of Bible and theology at Mariager Højskole (Danish Pentecostal Bible School). Jakob asked if we could give some information about prayer emphases at Mariager Højskole. This is of interest to me because we are more and more realizing the need to publicize the prayer efforts of Danish believers, churches and Christian organizations.

This webpage hopefully raises prayer support from outside Denmark, but we are thrilled always to know that there are many believers, churches and organizations within Denmark itself that gather together regularly to pray. We want by all means to encourage such efforts. There is nothing more important to the evangelization and spiritual life of a nation than the fervent prayers of God’s own people. Spiritual revivals are always bathed in prayer.

Students at Mariager Højskole are encouraged in many ways to be prayer warriors. Students, faculty and staff set aside a full week of prayer twice every year. Jakob writes: “This year we will have one week of prayer for Denmark in the summer–and then one week of more quiet prayer retreat in October. In August ( in typical Danish dating, week 32), we will be around 40 adults and young people focusing on intercession for Denmark, for revival in our personal lives and throughout the nation. We have three gatherings each day with a bit of Bible teaching and then we pray for each other and for our country. In October’s week of prayer, it will be about 30 people getting together for Bible meditations, quiet prayer, symbolic acts, and so on, in which the emphasis is more personal. In both settings we work in small groups as well as with the group as a whole praying together. . .When we get together for the weeks of prayer we pray for many different things, but more than anything else we pray for Danes to be saved and for churches to grow.”

Students at Mariager Højskole meet each school day for morning worship. Then, on Tuesday evenings throughout the school year there is a ministry service where great emphasis is placed on leaders praying with students concerning important problems and decisions about their ongoing spiritual life and walk with Christ. I attended one such Tuesday evening meeting while in Mariager two years ago and was greatly impressed with the intensity of praise and worship and dynamic teaching during the service, and of an unhurried and sometimes quite emotional after-meeting with faculty and staff counseling and praying with individual students. As in all Bible training institutions, I suspect too that at Mariager Højskole there are groups of committed students who gather together for informal prayer times.

In a later posting, I intend to give more specific information about Mariager Højskole as well as other Bible and theological training facilities and programs in Denmark.

PRAY that faculty, staff and students at Mariager Højskole will be encouraged to engage in sustained prayer and intercession on behalf of secularist Denmark and the hundreds of thousands of Danes who do not know what it is to have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

PRAY for Jakob Vagner, for an effective ministry of teaching at Mariager Højskole, for his and other faculty members’ influence on students’ spiritual life and walk, and for the salvation of Jakob’s unsaved sister.

PRAY that what students learn and experience of intercessory prayer during their time at Mariager Højskole will be transformed into an ongoing and vibrant prayer life in their future ministries, wherever the Lord may lead them.

Påske (Easter) 2008

CHRIST IS RISEN!

Several years ago, attention was drawn to the Danish Folkekirke pastor in Tårbæk who declared unabashedly, “I do not believe in the physical God, in the afterlife, in the resurrection, and in the Virgin Mary.” He also wrote, “We do not believe in God or in God as Creator of Heaven and earth, or as Almighty, consequently nor in Jesus as his Son nor the virginity of his mother, nor in his Second Coming and the resurrection from the dead.” Such statements contravene what Protestant orthodoxy and historic Christianity have believed and taught over the centuries. The deity of Christ and the resurrection of the dead unquestionably are nonnegotiable tenets of Easter faith.

Though there are probably few Danish pastors who would go so far in their unbelief, in some respects the Tårbæk pastor’s atheism is understandable given the effects of secularism that has all but engulfed Danish life and culture. One member of the pastor’s church, epitomizing in a single sentence the view of much of Danish life and culture, declared, “Danes, we don’t talk too much about God, and Christianity is not a big force here.”

Fortunately, the larger percentage of Folkekirke pastors do believe in the resurrection as an actual historical event. Indre Mission and other Folkekirke revival entities have been vocal in their protests against the Tårbæk pastor’s views. Thankfully, numerous Danish pastors and theological professors who are orthodox in their beliefs have reacted with great fury to such stark unbelief. The not altogether surprising fact is that the Tårbæk pastor was allowed to retain his post in the town’s1200 member parish.

Easter is another of the times in the church calendar when Danes are more likely to gravitate to church services. So it would not be surprising to find Folkekirke churches (the State Church) and other Danish churches better attended during Holy Week and Easter than the usual five percent or less average weekly attendance.

While 85 percent of Danes are nominally Christian and members of the Folkekirke, it is not irrelevant to ask whether the average Danish citizen believes in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We note that one Danish source reported fewer than one in five Danes strongly affirms belief in the resurrection while more than half emphatically reject that the event ever occurred.

Danes are reputed to be the happiest people on earth, but without a firm belief in historic Christianity there is a terrible vacuum in spiritual understanding and commitment. Is it any wonder that we believe Denmark needs a massive wave of prayer for revival and a new Reformation to offset the secularism which is so infects Danish life and culture. In a very real sense, Denmark is ripe for re-evangelization. The Lutheran revival movements and the evangelical free churches seem poised to pray toward that end. Furthermore, the more than 150 churches established by “New Danes” (immigrants from Africa and other areas of the world), many of whom are strongly evangelical and evangelistic in their understanding of Christianity, may prove to be the opening wedge in Denmark’s return to the faith. These very alive churches are demonstrating something that has been lacking in many Danish churches.

As for the resurrection, we thank God for the faithful believers in Denmark, whether in the Folkekirke or in the evangelical free churches, however small their number, who hold unwaveringly to the nonnegotiable truths of the Word of God in spite of bumping up again and again against the country’s deadening secular culture. With irrefutable logic, they agree with the crystal clear assessment of the Apostle Paul when he wrote: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only in this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men (1 Corinthians 15:13-19, NIV).

CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!

PRAISE God for those Danes who have been willing to affirm the nonnegotiables of the Christian faith, among them the events of the Easter miracle–Christ’s deity, atoning death, burial, and bodily resurrection.

PRAY that during Holy Week and Easter the Holy Spirit will impress upon Danish pastors and churches the necessity of the resurrection as the crowning reality of Christ’s finished work of redemption.

PRAY for a resurgence of vital historic Christian faith in Denmark against such enemies as secularism, theological declension, lukewarm Christian life and practice, and aggressive non-Christian religions. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12, 2, NIV).

“God creates out of nothing. Wonderful you say. Yes, to be sure, but
what is still more wonderful: He makes saints out of sinners."

–Danish philosopher Søren Kiekegaard

Bedehus Danmark

“Mit hus skal kaldes et bedehus for alle folkeslagene” (Esaias 56, 7)
“My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Isaiah 56:7, NIV)

Do Danish believers pray for the things that also concern this webpage? The answer is an immediate and straightforward affirmative. In fact, Bedehus (House of Prayer) is a strong and growing prayer movement throughout Denmark, one that has been strongly aided by the ministry of its website (www.bedehus.com/) and its outreach to every corner of the nation.

The ministry of Bedehus Danmark is overseen by a Visionsgruppe (Vision Group) composed of Ruth Cilwik Andersen, Mariager; Kurt Christensen, Nexø; Bent Christiansen, Apostolsk Højskole, Kolding; Jürgen Galonska, Betania Kirkecenter, Blahøj; Peter Holmsgård; Åse Ellerbek Larsen; Lars Bo Olesen, Kristent Center, Herning; Inger Porsen, Aglow International, Danmark; and Claus Aagård, Græsted Frikirke. I know personally and appreciate greatly the life and testimony of three members of the Visionsgruppe.

Bedehus prayer groups are led by local coordinators. There are at least 43 scheduled prayer groups listed on the Bedehus website. They meet monthly and cross denominational lines, though at present the “full gospel” (Pinse, Apostolsk) and charismatic churches appear to be most in evidence. It is to be hoped that other free church denominations as well as many churches of the Folkekirke will ultimately align with this tremendous prayer effort. I believe that to reach the heart and soul of the Danish people, revival must come to the Danish State Church (Folkekirke).

When they meet, these groups always pray in general for all who are in high places (1 Tim. 2:1-2), for all the people, for believers, for their communities, for Israel and the nations, and for Bedehus Danmark itself. In addition, the Bedehus website posts various lists of specific prayer concerns to help guide the prayer groups in their ministry.

Even those who do not read Danish would be impressed by browsing the website to see the breadth of prayer concerns Bedehus has not only for Denmark but also for the work for Christ throughout the world.

The history of revivals demonstrates quite clearly that revival comes as God’s response to fervently praying believers. It does not begin in unbelievers but in the hearts and commitments of God’s own people. Without volumes of believing, intercessory prayer, revival will never come to Denmark. That’s why I strongly support such prayer movements as Bedehus Danmark. We call on our readers to back with our prayers those Danish believers who are faithfully storming the gates of heaven with believing prayer. May God bring genuine spiritual revival to Denmark. Jesus said, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer” (Matthew 21:22).

PRAY that every member of every Bedehus prayer group will be able to pray, “Lord, send a revival, and let it begin in me!” Revival begins first of all in the hearts and lives of those most concerned for revival.

PRAY that God by His Holy Spirit would ignite the ministry of Bedehus prayer groups with great power and extravagant faith that like a spreading flame would in turn stir the hearts and lives of Danish believers, pastors and leaders all over the country.

PRAY for the calling out of local coordinators for the formation of many more Bedehus prayer groups in Denmark in areas in which they are still lacking, especially through expansion of Oase and other Danish Lutheran revival movements in Folkekirke parishes and churches.

PRAY that God will direct and empower the members of Bedehus’ Visionsgruppe as they prepare themes and materials for the use of the Bedehus prayer groups. This month’s prayer list was written by Åse Ellerbek Larsen with a focus on “Et kald til omvendelse” (“The call to Conversion”).

PRAY that God will indeed bring revival to His Church in Denmark and in its wake the coming to faith of many thousands of unbelieving Danes.

YWAM Establishes a New Base in Svendborg

The older Youth with a Mission (Ungdom med Opgave) base in Denmark is at Sjellebro in Jutland. Recently, Mirjam and Frank Lauridsen have established a new base in Svendborg on the southern coast of the island of Fyn (Funen). The Lauridsens are well-prepared for this undertaking having worked in YWAM for many years with campaigns and ministry in Australia, New Zealand, and Denmark. The new base is called Elleruphus (Mercy House) and shares buildings with a Christian rehab center the Lauridsens started last year.

Elleruphus is a social work ministry whose purpose is to help people with various needs, including abusers of drugs, alcohol, gambling, et cetera, as well as single women and teens dealing with various sorts of social problems. The thrust of this ministry is reaching out to these needy people with the gospel of Christ.

Last August, the base started its first school, called NETS (Neighborhood Center, Evangelism, Training and Small groups). Mirjam has responsibility for this school and has the assistance of a new staff member, Trine. The nine-month school began with a twelve-week teaching program incorporating many essential leadership principles in evangelism and church planting, and then has shifted to a practical outreach in Svendborg for a six-month period. Specific neighborhoods of the city are targeted with the gospel message shared through one on one evangelism, and acts of mercy with the intent of helping to establish Elleruphus where those coming to faith in Christ can be discipled. NETS will have the help of believers from Svendborg’s churches in this outreach ministry. Enrollment is small, but this may be of strategic importance in launching the new ministry as it will give greater opportunities for one on one mentoring. As a second level YWAM school, NETS students must have completed a DTS before beginning the program.

YWAM’s recruiting outreach is largely based on its unique system of Discipleship Training Schools (commonly referred to as DTS) found in YWAM bases worldwide. The Sjellebro base has had a number of such schools in past years and will continue to schedule them. The new Svendborg base has also begun its first DTS, which in fact began on Sunday, January 27. The teaching phase is of three-months duration and will be followed by practical experience in a two-month mission in another country. The passion of this DTS is “to know God and make Him known. We want to see people be transformed and equipped to live a 24/7 life for God, and get the tools to start new initiatives in their own local areas when they go home, that reaches out and meets people where they are.”

There are nearly 18,000 YWAM workers worldwide who are engaged in numerous forms of mercy evangelism and church planting efforts. Many of these workers are young people thrust into difficult ministry situations and often under-supported. For further information about YWAM work in Denmark, browse the website at http://ywam.dk/.

PRAY that the Lord will give Frank and Mirjam great wisdom and ability in their administration and spiritual leadership of the Svendborg base and its various outreach efforts.

PRAY that the Lord will keep them focused on the Father’s will and direction, and themselves and their children in good health and strength for an arduous ministry.

PRAY that Satan will be prevented from sowing discord and creating interpersonal conflicts among staff and students that would interfere with a positive, life-changing spiritual impact on each NETS and DTS student.

PRAISE the Lord for new staff member Trine and for the fellowship and assistance of believers from the churches in Svendborg in launching this new venture.

PRAY that NETS and DTS students whom God has led to the Svendborg base will profit intellectually and spiritually from the learning and mentoring opportunities given them.

PRAY that God will provide for the material needs of the Lauridsens and Trine and for operating funds for these faith-based ministries through the support of His people in Denmark and in other countries

PRAY for the new challenges for Ungdom med Opgave that must be faced with the integration of the efforts of the Sjellebro and Svendborg bases through their communication, joint planning, leadership, and programs.

Fårevejle Menighed--Oddsherred Church Plant

In the November 13, 2007 posting, I mentioned that no free church exists in West Sjaelland’s Oddsherred Commune. Subsequently, I heard from an authoritative source that I was misinformed and that there is indeed a relatively new church plant in Fårevejle. I am delighted to correct the error and to give a further bit of information about Fårevejle Frimenighed.

Oddsherred is found in West Sjælland about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Copenhagen. The region is characterized by steep cliffs, white and silky sand dunes, and forestland. The town of Fårevejle is situated at the coastline. There are more than a dozen Folkekirke parishes in Oddsherred commune, including Fårevejle.

Fårevejle Frimenighed is an evangelical Lutheran free church having the same doctrinal confession as the Folkekirke. However, the church is not affiliated with the Folkekirke (Denmark's state church). The church participates in the Dansk Oase Netværk, the Lutheran charismatic revival movement’s network of churches and local fellowships.

The church believes that the Bible is indeed the Word of God and has something to say to everyone in busy, contemporary everyday life. The evangelical flavor of Fårevejle Frimenighed is expressed in its vision statement, “mennesker må få et personligt møde med Gud, lære Jesus at kende og få lyst til at leve deres hverdag sammen med ham” (everyone must have a personal encounter with God, get to know Jesus and have a desire to live their everyday lives together with him).

The pastor and congregational leader of the church is Pastor Jørgen Lund together with Pastor Aksel Lausten and lay leaders Flemming Møller, Dorrit Dirchsen, and Jacob Kofod. The church’s webpage may be accessed at www.faarevejle-frimenighed.dk/. The current membership of Fårevejle Menighed has reached 25, with about 70 regular attenders.

The church does not as yet have a permanent location and has met at times in a local school building. Some activities are conducted in adherents' homes. Even without a building of its own, the church has a number of active ministries, including children’s church, youth, singles, gospel choir, the elderly, and the like. The worship format includes more contemporary, rhythmic music led by a five-instrument praise band.

PRAISE GOD for the planting of a free church at Fårevejle in Oddsherred Commune.

PRAY that the pastors and lay leaders of Fårevejle Frimenighed will keep evangelism a high priority and that they will find strategic ways to promote the gospel throughout the area.

PRAY for growth in numbers of members and regular attenders and for perennial revival and spiritual maturity in those who come to faith in Christ.

PRAY that in His timing the Lord will provide a permanent location for Fårevejle Frimenighed.

PRAY that ways will be found for the new church to minister effectively to the large number of visitors and vacationers who come to Oddsherred during the summer months.

Glædelig Jul og Godt Nytår

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all who share with us in the prayer ministry of Pray for Denmark.com

Denmark desperately needs a visitation of the Holy Spirit that would lead to renewal and a nationwide evangelistic thrust. Please continue to PRAY for a great spiritual revival to come to Denmark. The land is dotted with churches, but so many Danes lack a vital personal relationship with the Christ of Christmas and Calvary. PRAY urgently that in 2008, this wonderful little country will experience a return to the truths of the Bible, the Word of God, and that many through radical repentance and faith will realize in their own lives the true message of Christmas: “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11, NIV).

Bill (Olsen) Hunter and Brad Haugaard

Prayer Alert: Spiritual Effects of Seasonal Affective Disorder

There is an immediate and urgent need for prayer that affects all of Denmark (and other Scandinavian countries for that matter) and its churches, one I never so much as dreamed would appear on this website. The request comes from alert and concerned Danish prayer warriors and concerns a deep mood of depression and heaviness of heart and soul that becomes apparent in many people during winter months in Scandinavia. It is a mood altering condition that mental health professionals refer to as seasonal affective disorder. The days are very short at this time of the year because it gets dark around three o’clock in the afternoon and daylight doesn’t reappear until after eight o’clock in the morning. Many people suffer from depression because of the lack of daylight, so psychiatrists actually prescribe lamps and light boxes to provide artificial daylight. Satan uses this situation to cause even some in the churches to consider or even attempt suicide, all a result of this heaviness and depressive mood that we are seeing in so many people at this time of the year.”

My correspondent, a pastor from Denmark reports, “We sense a certain battle fatigue and heaviness about people and even feel sort of weary ourselves from it. When I was praying the other day, the Lord led me to ask for the weak knees to be strong and for tired arms to be lifted. Again today he showed us that a lot of people are under this ‘cloud’ of soul heaviness or weariness, as it were. It’s as though they are sleepwalking, groping around like zombies, and lacking spiritual direction. We felt led to ask the Lord to speak to them as He spoke to Lazarus, to ‘Come out!’ So we prayed that the hand of the Lord would move and awaken, and I sensed a stirring, a moving in the heavenlies.”

At a recent leadership meeting in Copenhagen, Pastor Flemming Mølhede exhorted those present to press on and not to expect harvest without sacrifice—a serious message but by God’s grace one that was offset by intimate worship during which the worship leader prayed, “How can we even worship you Lord as anything we sing or say is so inadequate.” But, the Lord spoke to our hearts with an encouraging, spirits-lifting word assuring us that ‘Your very lives are an act of worship.’ How encouraging when we are all feeling a little battle weary and see so many needs that in ourselves we do not have the resources to meet.”

PRAY that God would shake life and alertness into those in Denmark and other Scandinavian countries who are depressed and going through daily life as though “weary and heavy-laden,” heavy of heart and soul from the lack of daylight.

PRAY for church planting teams that are seeing symptoms of the “down mood” of seasonal affective disorder, in some instances affecting both team members as well as those they are trying to reach for Christ. They sacrifice so much for the kingdom and need strength and endurance with splashes of joy in their serving.

PRAY that many believers in Denmark and committed intercessors worldwide would “grab the horns of the altar” and shake the heavens by teaming up and pressing on in prayer that God would by His Spirit and power lift spirits and bring “daylight” to the depressed and oppressed.

PRAY that the “sleepwalkers” will discover the reality of the hope-giving, soul-saving Gospel of Christ.