Rikssvenska metodistpredikanters betydelse för ... - Doria

The first Swedish Methodist preachers in Finland came of their own initiative,
with two young local preachers from Uppsala working in Åbo (Turku) for
several months in 1880. That same year Karl John Lindborg from Härnösand,
Sweden moved to Vasa (Vaasa). Lindborg worked throughout the Vasa
(Vaasa) region from 1880–1882 without official recognition from the
Swedish Methodist church. Since these preachers came to Finland on their
own accord they did not need to listen to either instructions or criticism from
the Swedish Methodist Church. However, when the Methodist congregation
in Vasa (Vaasa) was de facto, and the Swedish Methodist church accordingly
began to actively organize missionary work in Finland, the situation changed.
Once missionary work in Finland gained official status, missionary funds
from America began to support the project. The American Bishops and Board
of Missions (the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church) were
always vocal with their opinions regarding missionary work in Finland, views
that did not always match the Swedish preachers’ views.
The Swedish preachers were primarily interested in missionary work in
Finland and their goal was to spread scriptural holiness and convert Finns to
Methodism. From their perspective, Finland was an object of mission.
However, the American Board of Missions, the primary financiers of the
project, had at least one other goal in mind. While the Americans were not
against spreading Methodism throughout Finland, their actual goal was to
start missionary work in Russia. Therefore, the Americans perceived Finland
and the Nordic countries more as allies in this mission than objects of
mission. This perspective most likely impeded the spread of Methodism in
Finland.
In her research on the establishment of Methodism in mid-19 th century
Østfold, Norway, Inger Furseth concludes that Methodists initially gained
converts mainly amongst Haugean Pietists 937 . Therefore, it can be said that the
Methodist movement followed in the footsteps of the older Pietists’ revival.
937
The Haugeans were believers in a local Norwegian variety of 19th century pietism.
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