History
The movement was initially founded 13 September 1861 in the village of Stenlille on Zealand. The movement's origins derive from pietist and Lutheran orthodox traditions. The term Inner Mission implies a domestic mission targeted at those who are already Christians, as opposed to the many organisations dedicated to undertaking missions in foreign countries and among pagans.
The movement was influential in temperance work, various collective initiatives in rural communities, and other efforts to 'civilise' the people of the 19th century. Many poor people found in the movement a community where they could be on equal terms with more wealthy members of society, as it stressed Christian fellowship through a variety of group activities. As a movement within the National Church, the Inner Mission is believed to have halted the outflow of church members to charismatic free churches and sects. In Denmark, these never achieved the following they did in other countries, for example Sweden.
The founding family of the Lego company and many of its workers in the central Jutland village of Billund were adherents of the Inner Mission movement. In 1952 the company produced a glow-in-the-dark cross, one of its only known religious artifacts.
Contemporary movement
A substantial number of adherents, but not all, can be described as Bible fundamentalists. The movement also stressed Lutheran teachings, and so was not ecumenical. In recent years, its doctrines have become less monolithic. Its traditional dogmas condemned drinking, dancing, card playing, swearing and working on a Sunday.
Traditionally, the Inner Mission's stronghold was rural western Jutland, but many communities elsewhere in Denmark, such as Haslev on Zealand and some towns, have been influenced by the movement. It is now a minor influence in most parishes where it is represented. Once there were about 1,000 so-called mission houses around Denmark, of which about 400 remain in use. These were (and are) meeting houses for Sunday school, prayer, spiritual and revivalist lectures, etc. Today, the headquarters of the movement is located in Fredericia.
The history of Denmark as a unified kingdom began in the 8th century, but historic documents describe the geographic area and the people living there—the Danes—as early as 500 AD. These early documents include the writings of Jordanes and Procopius. With the Christianization of the Danes c. 960 AD, it is clear that there existed a kingship. Queen Margrethe II can trace her lineage back to the Viking kings Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth from this time, thus making the Monarchy of Denmark the oldest in Europe. The area now known as Denmark has a rich prehistory, having been populated by several prehistoric cultures and people for about 12,000 years, since the end of the last ice age.
Dievturība is a modern continuation of the ethnic religion of the Latvians from what it was before Christianization in the 13th century. Adherents call themselves Dievturi, literally "Dievs' keepers", "people who live in harmony with Dievs". The movement is mainly based on Latvian folklore, folk songs and Latvian mythology.
Pietism, also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christian life.
The Bible Belt is a region of the Southern United States and one Midwestern state, the state of Missouri, in all of which socially conservative Protestant Christianity plays a strong role in society. Church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's average. The region contrasts with the religiously diverse Midwest and Great Lakes, and the Mormon corridor in Utah and southern Idaho.
The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark or National Church, sometimes called the Church of Denmark, is the established, state-supported church in Denmark. The supreme secular authority of the church is composed of the reigning monarch and Denmark's Parliament, the Folketing. As of 1 January 2023, 72.1% of the population of Denmark are members, though membership is voluntary.
The Christian Community is an esoteric Christian denomination. It was founded in 1922 in Switzerland by a group of ecumenically oriented, mainly Lutheran theologians and ministers, who were inspired by Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian philosopher and founder of anthroposophy. They were led by liberal theologian Friedrich Rittelmeyer, who had been the most prominent representative of liberal Lutheranism in Germany during the First World War and whose early theological work had focused on the concept of a socially engaged "Christianity of deeds" (Tatchristentum).
The Church of Iceland, officially the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, is the national church of Iceland. The church is Christian and professes the Lutheran faith. It is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, the Porvoo Communion, the Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe, and the World Council of Churches.
P'ent'ay is an originally Amharic–Tigrinya language term for Pentecostal Christians. Today, the term refers to all Evangelical Protestant denominations and organisations in Ethiopian and Eritrean societies. Alternative terms include Ethiopian–Eritrean Evangelicalism or the Ethiopian–Eritrean Evangelical Church. Sometimes the denominations and organizations are known as Wenigēlawī.
Religion in Norway is dominated by Lutheran Christianity, with 63.7% of the population belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway in 2022. The Catholic Church is the next largest Christian church at 3.1%. The unaffiliated make up 18.3% of the population. Islam is followed by 3.4% of the population.
Religion in Iceland has been predominantly Christianity since its adoption as the state religion by the Althing under the influence of Olaf Tryggvason, the king of Norway, in 999/1000 CE. Until then, in the 9th and 10th centuries, the prevailing religion among the early Icelanders — who were mostly Norwegian settlers fleeing Harald Fairhair's monarchical centralisation in 872–930, with some Swedes and Norse British settlers — was the northern Germanic religion, which persisted for centuries even after the official Christianisation of the state.
Lutheranism is present on all inhabited continents with an estimated 80 million adherents, out of which 74.2 million are affiliated with the Lutheran World Federation. A major movement that first began the Reformation, it constitutes one of the largest Protestant branches claiming around 80 million out of 920 million Protestants. The Lutheran World Federation brings together the vast majority of Lutherans. Apart from it, there are also other organisations such as the International Lutheran Council and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, as well as multiple independent Lutheran denominations.
Hans Kirk was a Danish lawyer, journalist and celebrated author, who penned the best-selling novel of all-time in his native Denmark, The Fishermen (1928). From 1926 to 1928 he was among the contributors of Kritisk Revy, an architecture magazine. Kirk was a long-time Communist Party member in Denmark and remained active until his death. In 1941, during the German occupation, Kirk and hundreds of others were arrested without charge by the Danish police in a sweep against communists and communist sympathizers. He was imprisoned and detained at the Danish prison camp of Horserød, but managed to escape in 1943, just in time to avoid deportation to the German death camps.
Protestants in Ukraine number about 600,000 to 700,000 (2007), about 2% of the total population. Nearly all traditional Protestant denominations are represented in the country. According to Christianity Today magazine, Ukraine has become not just the "Bible Belt" of Eastern Europe, but a "hub of evangelical church life, education, and missions". At present, the country is a key supplier of missionaries and a center of evangelical training and press printing for all the countries of the former Soviet Union, where the legal environment is not so favourable.
Christianity is the largest religion in Ghana, with substantial minorities of the adherents of Islam and traditional faiths.
During the Reformation, the territories ruled by the Danish-based House of Oldenburg converted from Catholicism to Lutheranism. After the break-up of the Kalmar Union in 1521/1523, these realms included the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway and the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, whereby Denmark also extended over today's Gotland and Øsel in Estonia.
The National Council of Churches in India is an ecumenical forum for Protestant and Orthodox churches in India. It provides a platform for member churches and organizations to act on common issues relating to Christianity in India.
Christianity is a prevalent religion in Denmark; in January 2023, 72.1% of the population of Denmark were members of the Church of Denmark. According to a survey based on a sample 1,114, 25% of Danes believe Jesus is the son of God, and 18% believe he is the saviour of the world. Aside from Lutheranism, there is a small Catholic minority, as well as small Protestant denominations such as the Baptist Union of Denmark and the Reformed Synod of Denmark.
The Bethania Mission House, Esbjerg is located in the centre of Esberg, southwest Denmark. Inspired by Italian architecture, its main gable has a rose window flanked by spires.
Evangelisk Luthersk Mission – Bibeltrogna Vänner (ELM) is a Christian low-church mission organization part of the Church of Sweden, which is active in Sweden and abroad.
