Rikssvenska metodistpredikanters betydelse för ... - Doria

loosely organized and still seeking its true form. Some groups wished to
remain a domestic missionary group of the Lutheran Church and some groups
wished to leave the Lutheran Church. In certain towns such as Ekenäs
(Tammisaari), the groups wishing to break with the Lutheran Church had not
yet taken the final step towards leaving. Therefore, the Methodist movement
came at an opportune time, showing others what possibilities there were and
providing a clear and fully developed alternative to the Lutheran church.
After 1883, the Swedish Methodist Church officially began to send
missionaries to Finland. From this date forward until 1923, a total of fortythree
Swedish Methodist preachers worked in Finland, a considerable number
of preachers and a considerable number of years. However, one must ask to
what extent this work resulted in tangible results.
The first Methodist congregation in Finland was founded in Vasa (Vaasa) in
1881. During the next forty years the number of Methodist congregations in
Finland grew to 30, counting a total number of 2,313 full members and 760
members on probation. Thus it can be said that only a small number of Finns
joined the Methodist Church upon its establishment in Finland: Methodism
did not become a large religious movement in Finland.
Yet why is it that the Methodist Church was not more successful? The Free
Church Movement gave the Methodist Church not only its first members but
also its first critics. Finns felt Methodism to be “foreign”, in that the church
leadership at the time was based in Sweden and America. Furthermore, the
structure of the Methodist Church was perceived as being far too similar to
the Lutheran Church. Free Church proponents, and most likely many other
Finns, perceived the Methodist Church as a centrally controlled foreign
organization that did not differ from Lutheranism sufficiently. So even while
the foreign contacts of the Methodist Church were a resource for Finland in
terms of preachers and funds, the palpable foreign influence was a detriment.
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