The Scandinavian Union Conference
By L. R. CONRADI
OF the five unions in the General European Conference, the Scandinavian has by far the least number of inhabitants, as it contains only about twelve and one-half millions of people. One great advantage the laborers here have over the workers in other parts of Europe is that Scandinavia is almost entirely Protestant, and religious liberty is well nigh universal. Scandinavia is one of the first fields we entered in Europe. The Danish Conference was organized in 1880, the Swedish in 1882, and the Norwegian in 1887. In the Latin Union Conference, the first, or present French-Swiss Conference, was organized in 1884. The first German Conference was organized in 1898, and the first British Conference was organized in 1902. As early as 1891, Sweden had the largest membership of any field outside of the United States, save Australia, which had twenty-five members more. At that time the three Scandinavian conferences contained half the membership of Europe—1,132—and they had half the European tithe. While this promising field started so well in raising up a number of live churches under Brother Matteson, times changed, and our brethren in Scandinavia began to give more of their time to institutional work. They established the first foreign sanitarium and school, in Denmark, and their publishing house in Christiania was completed shortly after the erection of the Central European Publishing House in Basel. All our brethren are conversant with the financial perplexities in which the Scandinavian publishing house found itself later on, and these troubles naturally had a very disastrous effect upon the progress of the evangelical work in the entire field. We find to-day that this union, although it is the smallest of any of our European unions in point of population, has more money invested in institutions than any of the other unions—about $205,000. But its growth has been much slower, so that its present membership is not one fourth that of Europe, and its tithe is only one fifth. Instructive as is such a view of the past, we are glad to tell our brethren in other lands that Scandinavia is again lifting up its head, and the cause of God is rising. Even before the Christiania crisis, we had to begin publishing in Finland, as the existing laws of that country would not allow canvassing for any books produced outside of Finland; and during the Christiania crisis, when it seemed that the house must be dissolved, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden were able to conduct their book work only by establishing local and independent book missions. To this end they secured five thousand five hundred dollars from the Basel house, and of course by operating these small book missions in these small fields, the three conferences engulfed themselves still further in debt. Finland was also in debt, and its depository was losing. The conferences were in debt. The Danish Conference owed about five thousand dollars, and the Norway Conference owed about one thousand dollars. Had there been indebtedness on only one institution, the people could have rallied much easier; but as almost everything was in debt, and there were so many institutions, it meant a long, hard, steady pull. We are glad to-day to say to our brethren in America who so faithfully helped to supply the Scandinavian institutions, that the Lord has helped us, and that we have brighter reports to give. To-day every one of the conferences and mission fields is free from debt. The same is true of the individual book missions;16and the publishing houses have enough capital to pay cash as they go, although they are naturally much hindered by having so little capital. With the money raised in the field and the help of the Mission Board, debts to the amount of twenty thousand dollars have been wiped out in the last five years. One great thing that we have tried to accomplish was the organization of the Scandinavian Union Conference, and the creation of a union treasury. By this arrangement we have endeavored to so shape matters that we could carry each local conference on nine tenths of its tithe, so that one tenth of its tithe and all its offerings could go toward the support of the mission fields in Iceland and Finland, and toward a partial support of the union president. We had to go about this step by step, and it was not until the past summer that the arrangement was finally completed. This year (1904) Denmark, as the first of the three Scandinavian conferences to lead out, will carry on its evangelical work with nine tenths of its tithe, and devote one tenth of its tithe and all its offerings to the work carried on by the union treasury. At the council meeting held in Christiania (November 24-27), Norway pledged itself to do the same thing for 1905, and Sweden will likewise follow suit during 1905, with the exception of two hundred and fifty dollars. By this arrangement, the Scandinavian Union will soon be able to become fully self-supporting. Up to this time, Finland has received but little help. But the plans now being executed will enable us to assist Finland more with workers and means. We have considered the advisability of transferring some of the workers from Sweden, where the conference funds are quite short, to Finland, so that the finances of their own field would be relieved, and the work in the Finnish Mission be replenished with laborers. One worker has already gone from Sweden to Iceland. At the council we presented a call from Brother Pilquist, of China, asking that the Scandinavian field find and support a missionary in China. As Brother Pilquist is from Sweden, some special donations have already been raised for the Chinese Mission in that country. We encouraged our people to continue this good work, and as soon as the union finances will permit, we expect to dedicate the First-day offerings of the Scandinavian Union to the support of a missionary in China. We feel sure that as the conferences of Scandinavia become self-supporting, and the eyes of the people begin to turn to the regions yet beyond, God's blessing will rest upon them in a still greater degree. While we can not see all the growth we naturally might expect, yet there is continual advancement. The membership at the close of the second quarter of 1904 was 2,341, and the quarter's tithe was $2,899. The tithe for the first quarter of 1904 was $3,126. For the year 1903 the tithe was $12,800. The offerings for 1903 were about $2,400. The union committee meeting was very profitable to us all. We are pleased also to be able to report to our brethren that, while the Christiania house has heavy mortgages and a high interest to pay, yet, in spite of it all, it is to-day gradually gaining. Perhaps one of the greatest problems we have on our hands now is the proper disposition of the former Frederikshavn High School property. It is being used as a health institution, and Dr. Nelson is barely able to make the work self-supporting. We would be very glad if we could in some way dispose of this property later on, as really so small a country as Denmark does not seem to need more than one well-equipped sanitarium. The Skodsborg Sanitarium has had a greater income this year than for any previous twelve months, but the institution is still greatly crippled for lack of sufficient funds. The Danish brethren have raised about two thousand dollars for a much-needed, modest building at Skodsborg. They expected that additional help would be given them from America, and thus the institution could be provided with the necessary rooms. At present they must accommodate a number of their patients in rented buildings in the neighborhood, and for these quarters the sanitarium must pay a heavy rent. As our brethren in America are so busily engaged with their own enterprises, the Danish brethren have thought best to wait quietly. However, we would like to ask if there are not among some of our good Scandinavian friends in the United States those who would feel it a privilege to assist the Skodsborg Sanitarium in securing additional rooming facilities? A few thousand dollars would help us out of this difficulty nicely. It would also seem to us a wise thing for the Scandinavian brethren in America to unite with their friends on this side of the Atlantic in supporting a Scandinavian missionary in China. There would be a blessing in this to our brethren in America and in Europe. Another question that received considerable attention was that of the co-operation between the College View publishing house, and the Christiania and Stockholm and Helsingfors houses. This would aid the houses here to increase their capital, and they could do a great deal more and better work for the fields around them, in sending out the printed page in these languages. We are thankful to God for the good omens of brighter days to come in Scandinavia. We are sure that if all will pull together, the Scandinavian Union Conference will yet prove a strong factor in the closing work of the last message.