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Livets Ord, literally The Word of Life, is a Swedish church, founded in Uppsala by Ulf Ekman on May 24, 1983, who also served as its leader until 2000. Ekman passed on the local pastorship in Uppsala to Robert Ekh that year and instead works on expanding the church's international work. The church is the foremost example of the Charismatic movement in Sweden, and it may be viewed as a Swedish expression similar to the Christian right.
According to its supporters, Livets Ord's primary goal is to help believers to put into practice what the Bible says. Faith, healing, prayer and answers to prayer together with a conviction that God is good are central themes in the preaching at Livets Ord. The power of attraction of the messages is that what is preached is appropriate to everyday life. From the beginning, the distinctive features of the church's worship services have been: its freer format, strong adherence to what the Bible says, much praise and worship, and plenty of space for preaching.
When it was founded the movement met with a lot of criticism from mass media and other churches, due to its claimed inhuman perspective against people suffering from physical disabilities and financial poverty, coupled with an authoritarian leadership. Since then the movement has consolidated and its views have emerged as somewhat more acceptable to mainstream society in general and among the Swedish free churches in particular.
Aside from church, the movement also runs schools from kindergarten and up. It also runs a Bible School and sends missionaries to Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Israel and India.
Popular Swedish singer Carola Häggkvist became a member of the church in 1988.
Operation Jabotinsky
Under the name "Operation Jabotinsky", named after the Russian Vladimir Jabotinsky, the Livets Ord together with Christian Zionists in the United States runs a fund that gives money to Russian Jews who want to move to Israel.
Livets Ord University
The congregation has started its own institution of tertiary education, Livets Ord University. It is 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 University offers American Bachelor's and Master's degrees in New Testament Studies, History, Education, and other fields under the auspices of Oral Roberts University, but lacks accreditation from the Swedish Government to award Swedish academic degrees.
Criticism
According to some of its critics it is considered a cult, though much of the cultishness has been tuned down. In a disputed study, forty-three former students of Livets Ord Bible School were interviewed and nearly 50 percent of them had experienced psychosis-like symptoms, and 25 percent had attempted suicide. Also common was anxiety, feelings of guilt, and emotional disorders.
There has also been some criticism against donations given to Israeli's which have promoted settlements in disputed territories. The movement advocates Christian Zionism.
The teaching methods and parts of the curriculum of schools run by Livets Ord has been under review by the Swedish National Agency for Education on several occasions.
See also
External links
Official sites
- Livets Ord - Official site
- Ulf Ekman - Site of the founder (In English)
- Livets Ord University (In English)
Other sites
- Dagens Nyheter: Ulf Ekman helps Jewish settlers
- Ulf Ekmans response to the above article
- Psychiatric Problems in Ex-Members of Word of Life
- A Long and Winding Road. Varför jag lämnade Livets Ord - Critical website by an ex-member
Christianity in Sweden | Uppsala | Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity
"Livets Ord"