SWEDEN: SWEDISH BAPTISTS, OTHER CHURCHES, TO MERGE
The Baptist Union of Sweden (BUS) is considering a proposal that would unite the BUS in a formal relationship with the
United Methodist Church of Sweden and the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden.
The move to formalize a relationship between denominations at the national level is an outgrowth of what has been
taking place in local churches in Sweden for many years, explained Doris Bernhardson, former home mission secretary for
the BUS, who visited the Baptist World Alliance Center in Falls Church, Virginia, on April 16.
Traditionally 75% of the population in Sweden is Lutheran, although only 5% attend church, and churches of other
denominations are small. A large number of local churches regularly work together to minister in their communities. According
to Bernhardson, more than 50 percent of churches in Sweden belong to more than one denominational group.
“By ourselves we are a weak voice. We need one another,” she said.
Some collaboration between the Baptist, Methodist, and Covenant churches at the national level already exists. The
governing bodies of the groups still meet individually, but the general secretaries meet regularly to discuss issues of common
concern and to pray together. The Baptist youth from each church body formed a joint organization, Equmenia, in 2007.
Baptists and the Covenant church have had a theological college and a theological magazine together for many years. The
Methodists recently became a part of the college as well.
“We must find ways to reach people with the gospel. We do that better when we work together,” said Bernhardson.
Although there are doctrinal differences between the three groups, Bernhardson said the groups “have more in common
than differences because we have Jesus.” She says the move for unification is not only because of concerns about the size
and influence of the churches individually, but is an effort to be obedient to Jesus’ prayer in John 17, “that they all may be
one.”
The three church bodies held their annual assemblies in May and each voted to proceed with discussions to formalize a
relationship. The three groups will hold a joint assembly next year to continue the process.
The BUS comprises 217 churches and 17,545 members. The BUS was the first free union in Sweden, formed in 1848
when no religious groups apart from the Lutheran State Church were permitted in the country.
PHOTO: Doris Bernhardson, former home mission secretary for the Baptist Union of Sweden, with BWA General
Secretary Neville Callam, at the BWA Center in Falls Church, Virginia
UNITED STATES: BWA DIRECTOR PAUL MONTACUTE ORDAINED
Paul Montacute, Director of Baptist World Aid (BWAid), the relief and development arm of the Baptist World Alliance, was
ordained to the Christian ministry on May 31.
Montacute, a Briton, has had a long association with the BWA, beginning in 1963 when he attended the Baptist Youth
World Conference in Beirut, Lebanon. He served as chair of the BWA Youth Executive Committee from 1985-1988, and
joined the staff of the BWA in 1990 as the director responsible for finance, youth, and BWAid.
With the expansive role of BWAid in the life of Baptists around the world, Montacute took on that sole portfolio in 1994.
Montacute has been involved in full-time Christian vocation for much of his adult life, first becoming a youth minister for
the Boys’ Brigade in 1972. He served in this capacity for several years in Cardiff, Wales, and then for two years in various
locations in Canada.
After working in an ecumenical parish as a youth minister in England, he joined the staff of the Baptist Union of Great
Britain as national youth officer, serving in that position for eight years before joining the BWA staff in 1990.
Montacute described his ordination as “recognition of the ministry that I’ve been involved with over the past 37 years.”
Several BWA standing committee members and staff, including General Secretary Neville Callam, joined the congregation
in celebration of Montacute’s ordination at Vienna Baptist Church in Virginia on Pentecost Sunday. Callam, who delivered
the sermon, said Montacute “has been involved in the sort of proclamation that has especially strong currency in a world
that has grown tired of words, though not of enacted speech.”
Montacute will now continue in Christian ministry “not merely as a personal contribution by an individual who wants to serve
God,” but as “a servant who ministers on behalf of the church through which the triune God ordains him,” Callam said.
In his sermon, Callam noted the link between Pentecost and ordination in “the work of the Holy Spirit in gifting the church
for its mission to the world in the name of Christ.”
The prayer of ordination was offered by Fausto Vasconcelos, BWA Director for Education & Evangelism and Study &
Research, and Lee Hickman, Assistant to the Director of BWAid, read scripture.
PHOTO: Paul Montacute and his wife, Judith, at his ordination service at Vienna Baptist Church in Virginia in the United
States
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