A gospel coalition in northern Europe—the Nordic countries—is a unique effort in the landscape of Christendom in our region. The pragmatic efforts of intra-denominational groups (ie; the evangelical alliance in Denmark, or free church network) as well as the liberalizing ecumenical efforts of mainline churches contrast greatly with a Nordic recreation of The Gospel Coalition (TGC) in the US. This unified effort is distinct in our commitment to reformational gospel truths and by our theological vision for how the gospel can shape and reform our region of the world. This is the third of a series of five short articles devoted to naming and explicating this distinctiveness. Here are all the articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. (John 17:14–19)
Neither accommodation nor separatism
I remember years ago, at an early Bethlehem Baptist conference on the emergent church, John Piper said something to the effect of, “A fish who is swimming with the current doesn’t realize that there is a current surrounding them, pushing them in a certain direction.” In one of the most homogenous and beautiful regions of the world the temptation to go with the flow is magnetic. If we are not careful, the beauty of the forests, mountains, and fjords can become an end in and of itself. Instead of letting the heavens declare the glory of God—we allow nature to merely provide a self-affirming feedback loop to the glories of our world. In the Nordics, all the pressure is to swim with the Nordic school of fish. The strategy of state churches in some of the Nordic countries has at times been simply to accommodate—creating space for as many different interpretations of Christianity as people like, making room for all individual expressions of identity, etc. One can see how tempting it may be to take this approach in such post-Christian settings, merely to get people through the church doors.
On the other hand, some Christians feel that there is no way to be truly “Nordic” while maintaining their biblical convictions. They create reactionary sectarian churches and fellowships that are caught up in tertiary matters and find outreach and interaction with average Nordic citizens to be strained or even impossible. Once these Christians are settled into the anxious rut of creating a parallel culture, every hill seems like one that they need to die on. They find themselves backing slowly into a more marginalized corner of culture.
A better way
The evangelical churches of the Nordics that want to hold fast to the gospel of repentance and faith often find that they must take a clear stance of resistance to the invitations of secular Nordic culture. Often this involves finding inspiration from resources and networks from the English-speaking world (like we are doing with TGC Norden), but more importantly, it means a commitment to preaching God’s word with kindness, courage, and patience. This commitment is not common here, nor is it often welcomed. As mentioned in a previous article, there are many churches and denominations that claim to stand on “sola scriptura,” but when asked what the content of biblical authors are or when encouraged to preach sequentially through a book of the Bible, one is often met with a yawn or a sneer. We must have courage to stand firm even in the face of cultural disdain, while not giving into a cynical marginalized mentality. This is what I call being “counter-culturally biblical.”
In John 17:15, Jesus prays to the Father not that the church would be taken out of the world, but that we would be delivered from the evil one. This occurs not by our own might nor by our own will power, but as he clarifies in verse 17, that we would “be sanctified in the truth.” If there were any doubt, he then defines “the truth” for us saying “your word is truth.” In the tradition of Luther, the Word with a capital “W” is Christ himself, and in the gospel of John this is certainly true. However, this passage in particular shows us Christ “giving” the word (v. 14), indicating that it is not his person, but rather his communication that is in view here. It is the very words of Scripture that will sanctify us and keep us from falling in love with this beautiful yet wayward world.
This is the picture of being counter-culturally theological that we want to stand upon. Not seeking to plant churches that isolate themselves from the culture, while at the same time neither letting the draw of cultural acceptance woo us into a spirit of tolerance that makes space for error and false teaching. We believe that this way forward creates a fellowship of leaders and churches in the Nordics that is distinct from other networks and provides value to those who would partner with us.