The surprising Christianity of the Faroe Islands

Some places in God’s creation get under your skin: the Faroe Islands can haunt you, with the world-class beauty of the fjords rising from the sea and the feeling of extreme solitude in which the Faroes live. “The first thing that strikes the stranger when he approaches the port, the capital of the Faroe Islands, on the ship. » wrote Award-winning novelist William Heinesen, “is the inconsistency of this city and the immense isolation that surrounds it on all sides.”

On our flight from Copenhagen for the recent TGC Norden regional event, I sat next to one of the Danish Faroese parliamentary representatives, Sjúrður Skaale. He told me that his grandmother was involved in a Brethren church, which represents a large portion of the Christians we would meet.

As our plane began to land, it looked like we were going to attempt a water landing, as the small islands were still nowhere in sight. Suddenly, the wind becomes turbulent and the captain tells us that we will have to abandon the descent. We circled in the sky for another 15 minutes, and on our second attempt we managed to break through the clouds and land. We had arrived in the Faroe Islands.

We had done our research, so we expected physical beauty. What we didn’t anticipate was the people of the Faroes, especially the people of God.

Christianity in isolation

If you Google the Faroe Islands, you’ll see photos of waterfalls, mountain lakes, and fjords that have been cleared of all naturally growing trees. It gives them the feeling of a mountain desert that God threw into the vast ocean. It is a wild beauty unparalleled in Europe and, as an integral part of our Danish kingdom, it is surprisingly rarely featured as a destination.

These isolated islands are home to only around 55,000 people, largely supported by the fishing industry. As part of the Nordic region, the Faroe Islands share many Nordic traits of contentment and minimalism, while lacking one important characteristic: atheism.

The Faroese share many Nordic traits of contentment and minimalism, but they lack one important characteristic: atheism.

The testimony of the glory of the Lord in nature, the early presence of Celtic monks and the history of the friars’ missions to the islands made it one of the most Christian nations in all of Europe. The Danish Lutheran Church has always had a greater presence in the Faroe Islands than in other parts of the Danish Kingdom. And in the 1860s, Plymouth Brethren evangelist William Sloan came to the Faroe Islands. He preached for 13 years before seeing his first convert, but eventually he saw a significant surge of faith.

Christianity continued

From the moment we arrived, we felt the love and faithfulness of Christ spread through the words and works of Christians. The Faroe Islands have some of the most beautiful churches in the Nordic countries. They were built recently and often offer the best views of the islands. The Church of the Brethren, whose tradition lies in the vicinity of the Baptists, has no professional clergy. This kept lay people engaged in ministry and gave them a sense of shared ownership of the buildings.

When I preached at the fjord-side Saloa Church in Fuglafjørður, the service included long periods of silence, followed by participants shouting spontaneous requests from the hymnbook, as well as other prayers and Scriptures.

The Church of the Brethren has been pietistic and Anabaptist in its soteriological emphasis, but in recent years, thanks to the Internet and connections with preachers like Billy Graham and John MacArthur, there has been an opening to evangelical and even broadly Reformed theology . In a region where there are few evangelicals, we focus on what we have in common in Christ and in the Word.

Despite the small population, there is a surprising amount of creativity on the islands. Many Faroese people are highly skilled musicians in addition to their regular jobs. In an age where reading and art are being replaced by screens, Faroese still spend much of their free time reading or doing crafts like knitting and painting. The Faroe people seemed like a hidden treasure.

Never hidden from God

When we are isolated from the highways and major cities of the world, it is easy to feel hidden, even from the eyes of God. But it is often in our solitude that God makes us the best tools for his glory. Like diamonds buried under the mountains, we are hardened and refined there.

Exodus 3:1-2 says:

Moses tended the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock westward out of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire, coming out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, but it was not consumed.

The Lord had humiliated and isolated Moses as a shepherd in the deserts of Midian. It was only after this period that the Lord revealed Himself to Moses and used him to deliver the Israelites.

It is often in our solitude that God makes us the best tools for his glory.

This period of seclusion and darkness was exactly what Moses needed to strengthen his character, to help him forget yourselfand to look to the power of God that can shine through weakness.

The people of the Faroe Islands are just starting to be a blessing to us at TGC Norden. We believe they can be a blessing to God’s people around the world because they show us that we are never isolated from our omnipresent God.