Calvary Chapel is an association of independent and like-minded evangelical Christian churches numbering around a thousand congregations worldwide and growing (www.calvarychapel.com/). The life and ministry of Calvary Chapel churches is based on the Reformation principle of Sola Scriptorum exhibited throughout the movement by an emphasis on verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter, book-by-book expository teaching of the Bible. Calvary Chapel work in Denmark brings with it this distinctive approach to Bible teaching.
This approach resonates with me because it was always my own emphasis in pastoral ministry. From what I have come to know about Denmark thus far suggests that such an expository method of teaching and preaching is not a common approach in the churches. In fact, to our knowledge there is a great dearth of solid expository teaching throughout Denmark. Calvary Chapel envisions a distinctive ministry in Denmark (www.calvarychapel.dk) and has several ministers of Danish nationality in place and seeking God’s direction in church planting.
It is not easy getting started in church planting in Denmark, especially when it involves “new wine in new wineskins," i.e. new churches in new denominations. We have been tracking Calvary Chapel’s efforts at church planting since the inception of Pray for Denmark.com and have been in contact from time to time with leaders Theis Brøgger and Daniel Jacobsen. Daniel has had a Calvary Chapel weekly Bible study in the northern Sjaelland city of Hillerød for the past three years. Meeting as a house church, the work is slow and as with many new works has had its share of ups and downs, but the Lord has been blessing. True to form, Daniel has based his ministry on systematic verse-by-verse, chapter- by-chapter, book-by-book teaching of Scripture. Currently he is finishing a study of the gospel of Matthew and then plans to begin a study of the Old Testament Book of Exodus. Click on “Hillerød Bibelstudie” on the www.calvarychapel.dk page for Daniel’s teaching available for Mp3 upload (in Danish). While the group in Hillerød is small, the year 2009 saw two persons radically converted, both of whom are now studying at a Calvary Chapel Bible College.
Daniel was born in Denmark and reared in a Christian family. How he came to be involved with Calvary Chapel is an interesting story best told in his own words: “In 1996, my family and I were vacationing in California where the Lord had a divine appointment with me. We were finishing up dinner [at a restaurant] and as we were leaving my dad saw some people sitting at a table with their Bibles. He looked a little bit too intently and a woman among them asked, ‘Are you born again?’–not a question you’re used to getting in Denmark. My dad answered, ‘Yes,’ and after some conversation she asked him, ‘Where are you from?’ He answered, ‘Denmark,’ and the woman replied, in Danish, ‘So am I!’ She was a Danish American who at the time attended Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa. The rest is history, but I saw her love for Jesus and her knowledge and love for the Word of God and I wanted that for myself. So, in the year 2000 I became a student at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Murietta, California, and graduated in 2002.”
This approach resonates with me because it was always my own emphasis in pastoral ministry. From what I have come to know about Denmark thus far suggests that such an expository method of teaching and preaching is not a common approach in the churches. In fact, to our knowledge there is a great dearth of solid expository teaching throughout Denmark. Calvary Chapel envisions a distinctive ministry in Denmark (www.calvarychapel.dk) and has several ministers of Danish nationality in place and seeking God’s direction in church planting.
It is not easy getting started in church planting in Denmark, especially when it involves “new wine in new wineskins," i.e. new churches in new denominations. We have been tracking Calvary Chapel’s efforts at church planting since the inception of Pray for Denmark.com and have been in contact from time to time with leaders Theis Brøgger and Daniel Jacobsen. Daniel has had a Calvary Chapel weekly Bible study in the northern Sjaelland city of Hillerød for the past three years. Meeting as a house church, the work is slow and as with many new works has had its share of ups and downs, but the Lord has been blessing. True to form, Daniel has based his ministry on systematic verse-by-verse, chapter- by-chapter, book-by-book teaching of Scripture. Currently he is finishing a study of the gospel of Matthew and then plans to begin a study of the Old Testament Book of Exodus. Click on “Hillerød Bibelstudie” on the www.calvarychapel.dk page for Daniel’s teaching available for Mp3 upload (in Danish). While the group in Hillerød is small, the year 2009 saw two persons radically converted, both of whom are now studying at a Calvary Chapel Bible College.
Daniel was born in Denmark and reared in a Christian family. How he came to be involved with Calvary Chapel is an interesting story best told in his own words: “In 1996, my family and I were vacationing in California where the Lord had a divine appointment with me. We were finishing up dinner [at a restaurant] and as we were leaving my dad saw some people sitting at a table with their Bibles. He looked a little bit too intently and a woman among them asked, ‘Are you born again?’–not a question you’re used to getting in Denmark. My dad answered, ‘Yes,’ and after some conversation she asked him, ‘Where are you from?’ He answered, ‘Denmark,’ and the woman replied, in Danish, ‘So am I!’ She was a Danish American who at the time attended Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa. The rest is history, but I saw her love for Jesus and her knowledge and love for the Word of God and I wanted that for myself. So, in the year 2000 I became a student at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Murietta, California, and graduated in 2002.”
As yet there is no officially organized Calvary Chapel in Denmark. For the present there is much ground work yet to be done made harder by the necessity of Daniel having to support himself for the time being through secular employment, but the Lord will bring the work to fruition in His own timing. Calvary Chapel’s distinctives will mean a great deal for evangelicalism in Denmark through promoting and hopefully igniting deeper study of the inerrant Word of God.
PRAY for wisdom for Daniel and his wife Lisa in knowing how to prioritize family, secular work, and the ministry while at the same time maintaining faithfulness in all three areas. The life and work of a bivocational church planter is not an easy one as other church planters can attest.
PRAY that the Lord will lead a committed worship lead to the Hillerød Bible Study. (Note that Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California and Maranatha Music were pioneers in the development of praise and worship music.)
PRAY for the two individuals from the Hillerød Bible Study who are now students at Calvary Chapel Bible College.
PRAY for the guest teachers and attendees expected at this year’s Calvary Chapel Scandinavian Conference to be held August 4-8 at Ekebyholm Castle, 30 minutes outside Stockholm, Sweden. The focus of indepth Bible teaching will be on The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Last year’s conference was attended by 120 people.