Fellowship in Norway

One of the dilemmas of living or migrating to another country is the church. If you are Christian, it is a big problem especially if you are moving to a non-Christian country. You don’t know where are you going to attend Sunday service.

Norway is considered a Christian country so they have an Evangelical Lutheran Church in each municipality or city. But sad to say that only a few people go to church so I was not surprised if they only have a small church.

Some people I met there are atheists, yes, they don’t believe in God. In fact, according to Wikipedia, only 12% of the population attended church services every month and it is one of the lowest church attendance in the world.

I cannot blame these people because if you live in Norway, there are so many benefits that you can get from the government. If you get sick and you need to be confined or operated, there is no payment for that. If you lose your job, you will still receive your salary for one year. If you are sick, you have sick leave with pay even if it takes a year. If you have a baby, you have up to one year of maternity leave with pay and fathers have paternity leave with pay too. Your babies will receive a monthly allowance from the government up to 15 years old (correct me if I’m wrong). Kids can study for FREE until High School and they have a student loan so kids can even study abroad.

And with these benefits, it seems that there is no reason for you to pray and call on God because the money problem is not really a big issue. I hate to admit it, but there are times when life is so comfortable and we don't have any problems, we tend to forget to call on God. Indeed, too much comfort can kill our spiritual needs.

There are situations in life that will stop us from pursuing God, but we need to keep pursuing intimacy with Him no matter what. We need Him more than He needs us.

 “God doesn’t want something from us, He simply wants us” - C.S. Lewis

My mom is a Christian, last year she started a group called Fosen Internasjonale Kristne Fellesskap or FIKF. She wanted to reach out to those people who are lost, who are seeking God and who want to know more about Jesus.

Description of the group is “A group of foreigners who believe in God. To seek The Truth From God's Words. To grow, bond together, be creative, and have fun. Be active in our spiritual life and social life. Be a resource in the community.”

This is not a church but more of a Bible study group where they study the word of God and connect with other people. It is open to different nationalities who speak and understand the English language because that’s what they use. Since not all are fluent in the Norwegian language especially those who are new residents.

So during my summer vacation in Norway, my son and I were able to attend their fellowship. Sunday is a busy day because my mom cooks food and bakes cake for a potluck and we leave the house around 3:30PM to prepare the venue (Activity Center) for the 5PM fellowship. If the venue is not in the Activity Center, we can leave several minutes before 5PM. :)

And because of this, I was able to meet different nationalities but most of the members were Filipinos. So if you know someone who lives in Ørland or Bjugn Kommune, let them know that there is FIKF group where they can attend.

“It is in small groups that people can get close enough to know each other, to care and share, to challenge and support, to confide and confess, to forgive and be forgiven, to laugh and weep together, to be accountable to each other, to watch over each other and to grow together. - Dr. Gilbert Bilezikian” 

Sharing some of our pictures.