The Swedish Free Church Council ( sv, Sveriges frikyrkosamråd) is an association of

free church A free church is a Christian denomination that is intrinsically separate from government (as opposed to a state church). A free church does not define government policy, and a free church does not accept church theology or policy definitions from ...

es in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. It is part of the Christian Council of Sweden ( sv, Sveriges kristna råd) . The Swedish Free Church Council was established in 1992. In total the member churches have about 250,000 members, with almost double that figure involved in the churches' activities. The largest member church is the

Uniting Church in Sweden Uniting Church in Sweden ( sv, Equmeniakyrkan) is a united Protestant denomination in Sweden. History It was established on 4 June 2011 by the merger of the United Methodist Church, Baptist Union of Sweden, and Mission Covenant Church of Swede ...

, with approximately 85,000 members. The free churches belong to various

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

denominations:

Baptists Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

Reformed Reform is beneficial change Reform may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine *''Reforme'' ("Reforms"), initial name of the ...

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

etc. Most of the free church denominations in Sweden began during the nineteenth century when an

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

revival broke out. The Swedish free church family has many branches, often quite different, but united in the common bond of the necessity of a personal

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people often ...

Members

(''Equmeniakyrkan'', established on 4 June 2011 out of the

Baptist Union of Sweden The Baptist Union of Sweden ( sv, Svenska Baptistsamfundet) is the oldest of several Baptist bodies in Sweden. The first-known Baptist church in Sweden was organized on September 21, 1848, in Vallersvik, where a group of people committed the firs ...

(''Svenska Baptistsamfundet''), the United Methodist Church of Sweden (''Metodistkyrkan''), and the

Mission Covenant Church of Sweden The Mission Covenant Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska Missionskyrkan), founded in 1878, was a Swedish evangelical free church. It was the second-largest Protestant denomination in Sweden, after the national church, the Church of Sweden. In 2011, t ...

(''Svenska Missionskyrkan'', incorporating the

Swedish Salvation Army Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

, which is a separate organisation from the international Salvation Army, which also operates in Sweden)) *

Salvation Army Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

in Sweden (''Frälsningsarmén'') *

Swedish Alliance Mission The Swedish Alliance Mission, ''SAM'', (Swedish language, Swedish: ) is a Christianity, Christian denomination in Sweden, mainly based in the town of Jönköping. Its roots are in the 19th-century Christian revival, revival. , the denomination ha ...

(''Svenska Alliansmissionen'') *''

Vineyard Norden The Association of Vineyard Churches, also known as the Vineyard Movement, is a neocharismatic evangelical Christian denomination.Despite the fact that some might see denominational labels as divisive, the founder of the movement John Wimber sai ...

'', see

Association of Vineyard Churches The Association of Vineyard Churches, also known as the Vineyard Movement, is a neocharismatic evangelical Christian denomination.Despite the fact that some might see denominational labels as divisive, the founder of the movement John Wimber said ...

Evangelical Free Church in Sweden The Evangelical Free Church in Sweden ( sv, Evangeliska frikyrkan is a Baptist Christian denomination in Sweden. The headquarters is in Örebro Örebro ( , ) is the sixth-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capit ...

(''Evangeliska Frikyrkan'') *

Swedish Pentecostal Movement The Swedish Pentecostal Movement ( sv, Pingströrelsen i Sverige) is a Pentecostalism, Pentecostal movement in Sweden. Many, but not all, of these, are members of the The Pentecostal Alliance of Independent churches, Pentecostal Alliance of Indep ...

(''Pingströrelsen i Sverige'') *

Seventh-day Adventist Church in Sweden The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Sweden ( sv, Adventistsamfundet i Sverige) is a small Christian denomination in Sweden with a reported 2,902 members as of June 30, 2020. The first Seventh-day Adventist Church congregation in Sweden was establi ...

(''Adventistsamfundet i Sverige''), observing members

References

External links

Official website
National councils of churches Protestantism in Sweden 1992 establishments in Sweden Christian organizations established in 1992 {{christian-org-stub