Our European Division Meetings-No. 7 by Arthur Grosvenor Daniells

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 4, 1913

Our European Division Meetings—No. 7

By Arthur Grosvenor Daniells

The Our European Division Meetings — No. 7

Our series of general meetings in the European Division Conference closed with a ministerial institute for the workers in the Scandinavian Union Conference. This institute was held in our school buildings at Nyhyttan, Sweden.

Nyhyttan is located in a beautiful rural district in the central part of Sweden. For thirteen years our Swedish brethren have been struggling to provide a good school in which to train their young people for the work of the Lord. They have a large farm and comfortable buildings. The farm produces vegetables and fruit for the students, and pasture and grain for their horses and cattle. The school is free from indebtedness, and is so managed as to meet its operating expenses without loss.

We have not enough young people in Sweden to make a large school, but the brethren are doing their best to give those we have a good, practical, Christian education. In this way they are binding them to the cause of God and drawing them into the Lord’s work. The school is bearing excellent fruit.

Our ministerial institute was attended by nearly every minister and Bible worker in the Scandinavian Union. Several of the leading canvassers also were present. In all, there were just ninety enrolled,—twenty-seven from Denmark, twenty-five from Norway, twenty-eight from Sweden, and ten from Finland. But few of these workers had ever attended a meeting of this kind. They wanted help, and believed they would get it. They were prompt in attendance, gave close, studious attention to the instruction given, and sought the Lord whole-heartedly for new life and power for service. The blessing of God came upon us all.

We shall never forget the blessed days we spent together in those beautiful timber-covered hills at Nyhyttan. Many prayers were offered in the forest surrounding the buildings. A new surrender and consecration of the life was made by ministers, Bible workers, and colporteurs. At times the Lord came graciously near to all. The revelation he gave us of his unspeakable love for this lost world, and of our poor, half-hearted efforts for the perishing, led to deep repentance before God. Hearts were broken, confessions were made, and a new standard of Christian living and service was lifted.

The instructors in the institute were Elder L. R. Conradi, president of the European Division Conference; Elder J. C. Raft, president of the Scandinavian Union Conference; and the writer. Our general topics of study were the ministry, the Holy Spirit, and pastoral and evangelical work. The careful study of these subjects for ten days gave a new and more exalted view of the Christian ministry; and if the instruction is followed and the good resolutions are kept, the result will be a new ministry, with larger results in winning souls to Christ. This was the main theme of the institute.

The cause is progressing encouragingly in all parts of the Scandinavian Union Conference. This is especially true of the evangelical work in Finland. The Lord is raising up earnest young men and women to proclaim the message, and many are accepting it.

The sale of our publications is still being carried on successfully in all parts

of the union. Surely this seed sowing must ultimately bring a harvest.

A very pleasant day was spent at the Skodsborg Sanatorium, in Denmark, on my way to Sweden. This institution is enjoying a large patronage. During the past summer there were two hundred and thirty patients taking treatment at this institution.

Since it was opened, its patronage has grown steadily from year to year. Dr. J. C. Ottosen has been with this sanatorium from the first day, and, with his associate workers, has reason to rejoice in the splendid growth of the institution. The management has added buildings from year to year to care for the growing patronage, and when we were there they were about to begin the erection of another large addition. This building they were able to erect with the summer’s earnings and with gifts from some of their guests. The present policy of the board of directors is to reduce their indebtedness as rapidly as possible. The outlook is encouraging.

A great change for the better has come to our cause in all parts of Scandinavia since the financial crisis in 1900, when our brethren in America resolutely took their stand to pay every dollar of the loss our Christiania publishing house sustained. The payment of sixty-six thousand dollars under the circumstances gave the public great confidence in the integrity of our people. The results fill us with gratitude and rejoicing. Truly the Lord has wrought for us!

A. G. DANIELLS.