Passion for Christ revitalized at Scandinavian conference

The 19th annual Calvary Chapel Scandinavia conference took place this past week at a venue in central Sweden as 120+ people from CC-related ministries in Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway got together to strengthen and refresh each other through prayer, worship, Bible studies and like-minded fellowship, fun and ferver. 

Through a close look at the passion of Christ, the passion for Christ was revived in attendees from across the Nordic region as a tight-knit regional congregation studied through John 12-21 at the Calvary Chapel Scandinavia conference 2017.

For the second year running, the conference was held at the Swedish lakeside camp and conference venue Hjälmargaarden, located 2 hours southwest of Stockholm. Running from Wednesday to Sunday (July 26th-30th), the conference continued a series of studies from John’s Gospel as taught by guest pastors David Guzik, Mark Walsh and Darrel Wilmoth along with a few local speakers, having taken attendees through the first half of that gospel account at the previous year’s conference.

As with all previous Scandinavian conferences, God was at work both in and between the sanctuary sessions, every day of the conference included sermons, worship sessions, prayer meetings, mealtime fellowship, and the famous Swedish “fika” (coffee and/or refreshments). The atmosphere throughout the conference was one of friends reuniting for a short, intense and much-treasured window of time. 

“Many of us only meet once a year. But when we do, something special happens. God is present in a strong way and never fails to refill us with a real sense of His love, vision and protection. I think many of the people who keep coming back to these conference do so because these gatherings are essential to us carrying on in ministry on such spiritually hostile soil as the Scandinavian. We are re-charged in a special way by huddling with like-minded, on-mission peers in Christ. The friendships up here in the Nordic region are strong, and this conference always reflects that. It sends us back with heads high, hearts honed and hungry,” says Bob Pecoraro, pastor of Calvary Chapel Turku and one of the conference organizers.

Familiar pastors return to serve
The conference was organized by a group of voluntary local ministry leaders with on-the-ground support from missions’ teams from Front Range, Colorado and Leipzig, Germany - respectively led by pastors Darrel Wilmoth and Kurt Ibbotson.

It was the 19th consecutive annual Scandinavian conference, initially started back in the late 1990's by a small group of pastors with a heart for the region, including David Guzik, who this year returned as a guest speaker after a rare 3-year absence, along with his wife Inga-Lill.

The worship sessions at the conference this year were led by Mark Walsh from Calvary Chapel Bible Institute in New Zealand, who served at his sixth Scandinavian conference.

This year's conference also included two baby dedications, a series of topical workshops, and the fun CCS conference tradition of the Viking Games (see video here).

You can download or stream the teachings from this year's conference at www.calvarychapel.dk

Click here or scroll down to see the official video of the 2017 Calvary Chapel Scandinavia conference.







2017 Conference from Calvary Chapel Scandinavia on Vimeo.