Word of life movement

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This article is about Livets Ord, a Swedish church. For the Word of Life youth ministry, see Word of Life (disambiguation).

Livets Ord
Livets Ord in Uppsala in 2014
Classification	Evangelicalism
Orientation	Neo-charismatic movement
Senior pastor	Joakim Lundqvist, since 2013
Headquarters	Uppsala, Sweden
Origin	1983
Members	4,000
Official website	livetsord.se

Livets Ord, literally Word of Life, is a megachurch in Uppsala, within the Swedish Word of Faith movement. Livets Ord is the foremost example of the Neo-charismatic movement in Sweden, closely related to Word of Faith, and it may be viewed as a Swedish expression similar to Pentecostal elements in American Christianity.

History[edit]

The congregation was founded in Uppsala by Ulf Ekman on May 24, 1983, who also served as its leader until 2000.^[1] Ekman passed on the local pastorship in Uppsala to Robert Ekh that year and instead began working on expanding the church’s international work. In 2013 Joakim Lundqvist, become the senior pastor.

Aside from church, the movement also runs academic schools for all ages and Bible Schools.^[2] It sends missionaries to Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Israel and India.

In 2007, Livets Ord was a megachurch with an attendance of 3,000 persons.^[3] In 2016, the attendance was 4,000 persons.^[4]

Operation Jabotinsky[edit]

In conjunction with the Christian Zionists in the United States, the Livets Ord operate a fund to supply money to Russian Jews who want to move to Israel.^{[citation needed]} The fund, named «Operation Jabotinsky», is named after Russian Vladimir Jabotinsky.

Livets Ord Theological Seminary[edit]

The congregation had its own institution of tertiary education, Livets Ord Theological Seminary, between 1994 and 2014. It was affiliated with an American institution, Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the largest charismatic Christian university in the world, accredited by The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Livets Ord Theological Seminary offered American Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in New Testament Studies, History, Education, and other fields under the auspices of Oral Roberts University, but it was never accredited by the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education to award Swedish academic degrees.

In February 2014, Livets Ord announced its decision to close the seminary, because it had been operating under a loss for some time.^[5]

Criticism[edit]

When it was founded, the movement met with criticism from mass media and other churches, due to what was perceived as an inhumane perspective against people who suffer from physical disabilities and financial poverty, coupled with its authoritarian leadership. Since then, the movement has consolidated, and its views have emerged as somewhat more acceptable to Swedish free churches.^{[citation needed]}

Some of its critics consider it a cult because of its connection with, and usage of theology from within, the Word of Faith movement, though its teachings now are broadened with other, more classical theology.^{[citation needed]} (See the article about Ulf Ekman).

In an article published in the Cultic Studies Journal in 1992, forty-three former students of Livets Ord Bible School were interviewed. Nearly 50 percent of the forty-three students had experienced psychosis-like symptoms, and 25 percent had attempted suicide. Also common were anxiety, feelings of guilt, and emotional disorders.^[6]

There has also been criticism, published in the Swedish paper Dagens Nyheter, against donations given to Israelis which have promoted settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories. Ekman countered the statement, saying that the donations have never gone to occupied territories, but to settlements on Israeli ground, for example in the Negev desert. The movement advocates Christian Zionism.

In November 2015, the investigative journalism program Uppdrag granskning aired an episode, hosted by Anna Lindman, that examined the financial practices of Livets Ord, including Ekman’s habit of soliciting donations and honoraria in cash, as well as the exploitative way in which the organization handled its lower-level employees, contributing little to nothing to their pensions, even as those in leadership roles received lavish pension contributions.

Livets Ord have been exposed as promoting child abuse.^[7][8]

Ulf Ekman has been accused of homophobia.^[9]

Popular culture[edit]

A parody of the congregation exists in Berts bekymmer, where Klimpen returns to Öreskoga, now as a member of the congregation «Lennarts ord». The congregation runs a bible school in Motala, and is led by a person named Lennart.^[10]

See also[edit]

• List of the largest evangelical churches
• List of the largest evangelical church auditoriums
• Worship service (evangelicalism)

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Official sites[edit]

• (in Swedish) Livets Ord – Official site
• Ulf Ekman – Site of the founder (In English)
• Livets Ord Theological Seminary (In English)
• Livets Ord Bibleschool (In English)

Other sites[edit]

• (in Swedish) Dagens Nyheter: Ulf Ekman helps Jewish settlers
• (in Swedish) Ulf Ekmans response to the above article
• Psychiatric Problems in Ex-Members of Word of Life
• (in Swedish) Livets Ord och dess ledare Ulf Ekman: Is Word of Life a cult? – Critical website by an ex-member. Last retrieved on June 15, 2007.

What does the Gospel say we should do when we are annoyed, when we are dealing with a difficult person, when we are tired, or meeting someone for the first time? Focolare emphasizes living the Gospel in all of life’s situations. The words of Scripture can become an “instruction manual” for living, or simply “words of life.”

The Focolare Word of Life is a phrase chosen each month and shared around the world that we’re all invited to live by. The accompanying commentary is translated into some 90 different languages and dialects, reaching millions worldwide through print, radio, TV and other media. There are special versions for children and teens as well.

Chiara Lubich explained how the Word of Life began. “World War II was still raging. Every time the air-raid siren sounded, the only thing that my friends and I would take into the shelter with us was one small book: the Gospel.

“We opened it and, as we read, the words were lit up as if they had a candle beneath them, even though we already knew them quite well. But now they inflamed our hearts and urged us to put them into practice immediately. We were attracted to them all and tried to live them one after another.

“We read for example, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Mt 19:19). Our neighbor. Where was our neighbor? There, next to us in all the people who had been hurt by the war, wounded, without clothes, without houses, hungry and thirsty. We immediately dedicated ourselves to them in many ways.”

Chiara and her close friends began to live one phrase from the Gospel at a time. Then they shared their experiences of how it went, helping one another and growing closer along the way.

This experience led them to realize that not only can we study the word of God, discuss it, memorize it and pray over it, but most important of all, we can live it and share our experiences of doing so. This sharing can be a barometer of how well we are really living. We also learn from one another about the many different ways that the Word of Life can be lived each day.