Challenged to live a missional life

Although Jarle Skullerud is not an OMer, this is the 4th time he has brought a group of youth from Norway to TeenStreet, an international Christian youth conference in Germany. “Although there are many youth conferences in Scandinavia,” says Jarle, Director of Youth Ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church, “none are able to offer Christian teenagers what TeenStreet does. TeenStreet has a unique way of combining Biblical truth with secular issues.”

When asked about the state of the Church in Norway today, Jarle explains that prophecies have been made about the role Norway will play in Europe. “Some movements are quite bold about these prophecies,” continues Jarle, “while others are more traditional, yet radical in their approach to bringing the Gospel to people. There is greater awareness of the potential of working with immigrant churches in Norway, and of experimenting with new forms of church. The house church movement is growing in Norway, because the traditional church in general is not working. Although 80-90% of Norwegians are members of the State Church, only about 2,5% attend church regularly. If you ask a Norwegian if he is a Christian, most times he will answer that he isn’t a Muslim, or that although he is a Christian, he doesn’t attend church often. Due to the growing number of immigrants in schools, when Norwegian teenagers say they are Christian, they usually mean they are Norwegian. Their faith has become their cultural identity, although most don’t go to church.”

"For most Norwegians,” says Jarle, “a missionary is someone who presents boring slides about a far-away country during coffee hour after church, and then wants your money for it, not to mention your prayer..."

The Church in Norway has been involved with missions for over one hundred years, and based on the Norwegian population, a proportionately high number of Christian workers have been sent out. But missions has also become boring. “For most Norwegians,” says Jarle, “a missionary is someone who presents boring slides about a far-away country during coffee hour after church, and then wants your money for it, not to mention your prayer. If OM is going to grow in Norway, it needs to offer something unique such as TeenStreet.” Twenty-five Norwegian teenagers are at TeenStreet this year, a step up from last year. Jarle believes there is a new movement amongst young people to share their faith with neighbours in Norway and across Europe in a new way.

“There is also great need and potential for OM to offer mission trips to families who are keen to serve together,” continues Jarle. When he announced to his church that he had signed up for a short-term mission trip to Moldova next year, about 12 families approached him directly after the meeting to find out how they could get involved too. “Only when we begin living a missional lifestyle, will our children start taking us seriously,” says Jarle. The family’s summer holiday plans were cancelled this year, so as to save up for their mission trip next year, something his children were not happy about – what would they tell their friends when back at school? “But now when they tell their school friends why they did not go away this summer, they are almost proud,” smiles Jarle, “and have learnt in the process that doing God´s work has a personal cost.”

"If I don`t want to do missions, how can I tell my children to go? We are sending them mixed messages. Pray that God would change us!”

“I blame my generation for how our kids have turned out," reflects Jarle. "We have lived rich and comfortable lives, and wonder why our kids aspire for similar values. They see how much money we spend on ourselves, our computers, our cars and our holidays, and copy us. ‘I want to know more about Jesus, but not be like you and your generation!’ they say. Let’s pray that our children will say they want to be like us one day! If I don`t want to do missions, how can I tell my children to go? We are sending them mixed messages. Pray that God would change us!”

 

Established in 1877, the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church is a nationwide church that consists of 81 congregations and approx. 21’000 members. Due to health reasons, Jarle will step down from his current position as Director of Youth Ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church in January 2011, to take up a position as pastor of a local congregation. Despite the changes, he is willing to continue helping OM Norway with TeenStreet in the future.

OM’s role in the Church is to mobilise people to share the knowledge of Jesus and His love with every generation in every nation. OM pioneers and leads initiatives to redeem lives, rebuild communities and restore hope in over 110 countries.