Livets Ord
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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. 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.
When it was founded the movement met with a lot of critique 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. There has also been some criticism against donations given to Israeli's which have promoted settlements in disputed territories. The movement advocates Christian Zionism.
Aside from church, the movement also runs schools from kindergarten and up, but its teaching methods and parts of its curriculum has been under review by the Swedish National Agency for Education on several occasions. 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.
Mixed views
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, they say, 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.
According to its critics it is considered a cult, though much of the cultishness has been tuned down since the founder Ulf Ekman stepped down and instead worked on expanding internationally. In one 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, but claims are disputed.
See also
External links
- Livets Ord (http://www.livetsord.se/) - Official site (In Swedish)
- Ulf Ekman (http://www.ulfekman.org/) - Site of the founder (In English)
- Psychiatric Problems in Ex-Members of Word of Life (http://www.csj.org/pub_csj/csj_vol09_no1_92/abst_problems_ex.htm)fi:Elämän Sana