Rikssvenska metodistpredikanters betydelse för ... - Doria

The establishment of the Methodist Church in Finland shows a similar
pattern; those showing an interest in Methodism were people who had already
experienced a religious awakening.
When the Swedish Methodist preachers started their work in Finland in the
1880s, they mainly gained followers amongst believers who had previously
been involved in the loosely organized frikyrkliga rörelsen 938 (the Free
Church Movement). When K.J. Lindborg arrived in Vasa (Vaasa) late in the
summer of 1880 he first won footing with the supporters of the Free Church
Movement. The first Methodist congregations in Finland were formed from
and with Free Church members. In Helsingfors (Helsinki) and Åbo (Turku),
Free Church members left their congregations to join the Methodist Church
and establish Methodist congregations. In Ekenäs (Tammisaari), the Free
Church Movement established itself in the early 1880s, but was not able to
support a preacher there. When Peter Jeppson, a Methodist preacher, arrived
in Ekenäs (Tammisaari) in 1886, a large number of Free Church Movement
supporters joined the Methodist congregation that Jeppson founded. In
Björneborg (Pori), due to economic reasons, a group of Free Church
Movement supporters asked the leaders of the Methodist Church to send them
a preacher. In Viborg (Viipuri) 939 , local preacher H.E. Fagerlund led a group
of followers to join the Methodist Church in 1892.
There are several reasons why it was relatively easy for Methodist preachers
to gain followers from the Free Churches. Theologically speaking, Methodism
and the English/Swedish-inspired Free Church Movement were similar. As
the Free Church Movement was quite new in Finland in the 1880s it was
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939
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The Free Church Movement in Finland based itself ideologically on contacts to
England and Sweden and was closely related to the Svenska Missionsförbundet
(Swedish Mission Covenant Church, founded in 1878 in Sweden). In 1889 Fria
Missionen was founded in Finland, which in the 1920s split into two language
groups, resulting in the Finnish-speaking Vapaakirkko and the Swedish-speaking
Fria Missionsförbundet.
Viborg (Viipuri) is located in an area of Finland ceded to Russia in 1944.