History
The earliest inhabitants of Finland possibly arrived there by way of the
Volga River in southern Russia. The Finnish people benefited from relationships
with Vikings from Sweden who traded with them. Swedish influence rooted
itself deeply into Finnish culture and, in the mid-1100s, Sweden completed
total conquest of Finland.
Sweden held onto Finland until 1809 when Finland became a grand duchy of
Russia. However, when World War I and a subsequent revolution distracted
the Russian government, Finns took advantage and declared independence in
1917. The emerging Soviet government in Russia had no choice but to recognize
Finnish independence.
In World War II, Finland declared neutrality but was forced to defend itself
from the Soviet Union. After the war, Finland was forced to pay reparations.
It dealt with the presence of communism along its borders and rebuilt its
industries through the decades after WWII. Today, Finland has a democratic
parliament.
Church
History
Pentecostalism came to Finland in the 1910s. The Finnish Pentecostal Movement
was called Helluntaiheratys (Pentecostal Revival). However, it was not centrally
organized until recently. In the 1970s, a great revival occurred in Helsinki,
the capital. Fida International, the largest Pentecostal missionary-sending
organization, represents the Movement abroad. Fida International welcomed
Global University (previously called International Correspondence Institute)
into the Iso Kirja Bible College in 1994. Since then, Global University
has been using its courses to train believers to be pastors and missionaries.
The Assemblies of God sent its first missionary to Finland in 2000 and has
continued to work closely with the movement.
The
Movement Today
A majority of Finns belong to the Evangelical Lutheran church (85 percent).
Greek Orthodox and Pentecostals form one percent of the population. Almost
12 percent of Finns claim to have no religion at all. The Assemblies of
God reports the following statistics for Finland in 2003: 230 Pentecostal
Churches (Finnish speaking) with 45,417 members, as well as 33 Swedish-speaking
Pentecostal churches with 2,435 members. Fida International has sent over
412 Pentecostal missionaries to 45 countries.
Additional
Facts About Finland
Capital:
Helsinki
Area:
130,127 square miles
Population:
5,190,785
Urbanization: 58 percent
Ethnic Groups: Finnish (93 percent) and Swedish (6 percent)
Currency: Euro
Economy: Industry, mining, agriculture and strong service
sector
Industry: Fishing, mineral and metal mining, paper products,
woodworking, ship building, heavy machinery, glass, ceramics, textiles and
chemicals |
