Livets Ord, literally ''Word of Life'', is a

megachurch A megachurch is a church with an unusually large membership that also offers a variety of educational and social activities, usually Protestant or Evangelical. The Hartford Institute for Religion Research defines a megachurch as any Protestant C ...

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Located north of the ca ...

, within the

Swedish 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 ...

Word of Faith Word of Faith is a movement within charismatic Christianity which teaches that Christians can get power and financial prosperity through prayer, and that those who believe in Jesus' death and resurrection have the right to physical health. The ...

movement. Livets Ord is the foremost example of the

Neo-charismatic movement The Neo-charismatic (also third-wave charismatic or hypercharismatic) movement is a movement within evangelical Protestant Christianity that is composed of a diverse range of independent churches and organizations that emphasize the post-biblical ...

in Sweden, closely related to

, and it may be viewed as a Swedish expression similar to Pentecostal elements in American Christianity.

History

The congregation was founded in

Ulf Ekman Ulf Ekman (born 8 December 1950) is a former charismatic pastor and the founder of the Livets Ord (Word of Life) organization in Sweden, which brought the Word of Faith movement to that country. Ekman is now a Catholic. Ekman is married to Bir ...

on May 24, 1983, who also served as its leader until 2000. Ekman passed on the local pastorship in

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. It sends missionaries to Russia,

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. In 2007, Livets Ord was a

with an attendance of 3,000 persons. In 2016, the attendance was 4,000 persons.Warren Bird
World megachurches
Leadership Network, USA, Retrieved September 3, 2016

Operation Jabotinsky

In conjunction with the

Christian Zionists Christian Zionism is a belief among some Christianity, Christians that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land and the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 were in accordance with Bible prophecy. The term began to be used in the mid-20 ...

in the United States, the Livets Ord operate a fund to supply money to Russian Jews who want to move to

. The fund, named "Operation Jabotinsky", is named after Russian

Vladimir Jabotinsky Ze'ev Jabotinsky ( he, זְאֵב זַ׳בּוֹטִינְסְקִי, ''Ze'ev Zhabotinski'';, ''Wolf Zhabotinski'' 17 October 1880 – 3 August 1940), born Vladimir Yevgenyevich Zhabotinsky, was a Russian Jewish Revisionist Zionist lead ...

Livets Ord Theological Seminary

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 Oral Roberts University (ORU) is a private evangelical university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Founded in 1963, the university is named after its founder, evangelist Oral Roberts. Sitting on a campus, ORU offers over 70 undergraduate degree programs ...

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...

, the largest charismatic Christian university in the world, accredited by

The Higher Learning Commission The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is an institutional accreditor in the United States. It has historically accredited post-secondary education institutions in the central United States: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa ...

of the

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), also known as the North Central Association, was a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states engaged in educational accreditation. It ...

. Livets Ord Theological Seminary offered American

Bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...

and Master's degrees in

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

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 The Swedish National Agency for Higher Education ( sv, Högskoleverket) was a Government agency in Sweden. It was in charge of inspecting and promoting higher education sector activities, through follow-up and evaluation of higher education, qual ...

to award Swedish

academic degree An academic degree is a qualification awarded to students upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions commonly offer degrees at various levels, usually including und ...

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

Criticism

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. Some of its critics consider it a

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. Thi ...

because of its connection with, and usage of theology from within, the

movement, though its teachings now are broadened with other, more classical theology. (See the article about

). In an article published in the

Cultic Studies Journal The International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) is a non-profit anti-cult organization focusing on groups it defines as "cultic" and their processes. It publishes the ''International Journal of Cultic Studies'' and other materials. History ...

in 1992, forty-three former students of Livets Ord Bible School were interviewed. Nearly 50 percent of the forty-three students had experienced

psychosis Psychosis is a condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not real. Symptoms may include delusions and hallucinations, among other features. Additional symptoms are incoherent speech and behavi ...

-like symptoms, and 25 percent had attempted suicide. Also common were

anxiety Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...

, feelings of

guilt Guilt may refer to: *Guilt (emotion), an emotion that occurs when a person feels that they have violated a moral standard *Culpability, a legal term *Guilt (law), a legal term Music * ''Guilt'' (album), a 2009 album by Mims * "Guilt" (The Long Bl ...

, and emotional

disorder Disorder may refer to randomness, non-order, or no intelligible pattern. Disorder may also refer to: Healthcare * Disorder (medicine), a functional abnormality or disturbance * Mental disorder or psychological disorder, a psychological pattern ...

s. There has also been criticism, published in the Swedish paper ''

Dagens Nyheter ''Dagens Nyheter'' (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record. History and profile ' ...

'', against donations given to Israelis which have promoted settlements in the

Israeli-occupied territories Israeli-occupied territories are the lands that were captured and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. While the term is currently applied to the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, it has also been used to refer to ...

. 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 The Negev or Negeb (; he, הַנֶּגֶב, hanNegév; ar, ٱلنَّقَب, an-Naqab) is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its sout ...

desert. The movement advocates

Christian Zionism Christian Zionism is a belief among some Christians that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land and the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 were in accordance with Bible prophecy. The term began to be used in the mid-20th century in ...

. 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. Ulf Ekman has been accused of homophobia.

Popular culture

A parody of the congregation exists in ''

Berts bekymmer ''Berts bekymmer'' ( sv, Bert 's worries) is a diary novel, written by Anders Jacobsson and Sören Olsson and originally published in 1994. It tells the story of Bert Ljung during the calendar year he turns 15 during the autumn term in the 9th ...

'', where Klimpen returns to

Öreskoga Öreskoga is a fictional town in Sweden, where most of the fictional novels and later TV Series Bert-diaries take place. The main character of the novels, Bert Ljung, lives in Öreskoga, at ''Klosterstigen 18''. In the books, he lives in a three ...

, now as a member of the congregation "Lennarts ord". The congregation runs a

bible school A Bible college, sometimes referred to as a Bible institute or theological institute, is an evangelical Christian or Restoration Movement Christian institution of higher education which prepares students for Christian ministry with theological edu ...

Motala Motala () is a locality and the seat of Motala Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 29,823 inhabitants (41,956 in the entire municipality) in 2010. It is the third largest city of Östergötland, following Linköping and Norrköping. ...

, and is led by a person named Lennart.

References

External links

Other sites

''Dagens Nyheter'': Ulf Ekman helps Jewish settlers

Ulf Ekmans response to the above article

– Critical website by an ex-member. Last retrieved on June 15, 2007. {{Authority control 1983 establishments in Sweden Swedish Pentecostal Movement Christian new religious movements Christian organizations established in 1983 Uppsala Christian Zionism