Religion Commons^™

Facing The Future Together: A Look At The Reasons For And The Implications Of The Merger Of The Covenant, Methodist, And Baptist Churches In Sweden, Mark Safstrom

Scandinavian Studies: Faculty Scholarship & Creative Works

This article was written to give context to the merger of three denominations in Sweden. In 2012, the Swedish Mission Covenant, Baptist, and Methodist churches merged and formed Equmenia, or The Uniting Church in Sweden. This article appeared in The Covenant Companion, the denominational magazine of the Evangelical Covenant Church (founded 1885), as the Swedish Mission Covenant is its sister denomination (founded 1878). The article explains the context of secularization in Scandinavia, the decline of denominational affiliation, and the rise of ecumenism that influenced the merger, as well as the shared histories of the three denominations that provided …