Ecumenical summer in Sweden

Every year, the Oas Movement, the charismatic movement in the Lutheran Church of Sweden, organizes a summer meeting. This year's meeting was held at Gullbrannagården near Halmstad. Among the speakers were Hans Weicbrodt, Berit Simonsson and the Anglican bishop Philip North. From us in the CHARIS NSC Nordic team, Maria Fischer participated. Maria writes that the SummerOas has a very good setup with ecumenical breadth. Last year, our catholic bishop Anders Arborelius was a guest speaker. Anders Phil, who is chairman of the Oas Movement, has called for new ideas.  Maria is in talks about further opening up and developing the ecumenical dimension. 

One of the themes this year was to use one's spiritual gifts and take steps forward when God calls. We are all needed with our various gifts, but often we are too afraid and withdrawn. Priest Johan Norén talked about how it is easy to think that you have to have "so much in place" before you can start to be there for others, but that it is rather in giving that we grow, are established and healed.

Another ecumenical meeting was Sweden Worships Jesus on August 8 with 10 hours of uninterrupted worship in Kings Garden, Stockholm. For the second year in a row, this arrangement was held, and there were many thousands of people who participated from most Christian denominations. Many expressed gratitude and joy to be able to gather in the public space and discover together that we are many who cannot hold back our joy in being Christians and exalting Jesus.

Christoffer and Patrik. Photo: private

The initiators and driving force behind the event are Christoffer Ahlbäck and Patrik Sandberg. They have gathered around them a broad ecumenical network that has prepared the gathering in prayer and practical efforts. Patrik was previously the leader of the prayer network Sverigebönen (Intercession for Sweden). He is a preacher and has had the well-known Pentecostal pastor Kjell Sjöberg as his mentor. Christoffer is a priest in the Church of Sweden's revival movement EFS and the leader of Kings Garden Ministries, a missionary and media organization on an Evangelical Lutheran and charismatic basis.

– We want to focus on Jesus, not on anyone else, and therefore we don't use a lot of different names and logos. We gather around the simple, to lift Jesus up in the heart of Sweden's capital," says Christoffer Ahlbäck to the newspaper Dagen.

Kings Garden Stockholm August 8th 2026 Photo: Bengt Malmgren

Within CHARIS NSC Nordic, we cooperate in the way we find fruitful with all good forces within Christianity for the benefit of evangelization in accordance with the Pope's expressed wish. Together we offer our charisms and share them with each other. In this way, ecumenism is promoted, and evangelism gains new power when people see that Christians cooperate instead of competing with each other. 

/Bengt Malmgren coordinator CHARIS NSC Nordic

This article is from CHARIS NSC Nordic Newsletter August 2026