October 20, 2016

Norwegian Bible Society Honors Adventist Couple for Scripture Songs

by

By Tor Tjeransen, Norwegian Union Conference

The Norwegian Bible Society has honored a Seventh-day Adventist pastor and his wife for promoting the Bible through song for more than four decades.

Ingeborg Mongstad Kvammen, secretary-general of the Norwegian Bible Society, presented the prestigious Bible Prize 2016 to the couple, Per and Monica de Lange, during an inter-denominational ceremony in the Kristiansand Cathedral in Kristiansand, Norway.

“Many have come in contact with the Bible through Per and Monica’s appearances on radio and television,” Mongstad-Kvammen said. “Through their ministry in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, they have exemplified the message of the Bible.”

The ceremony was part of the 200th-anniversary celebration of the Norwegian Bible Society, which was founded in 1816 and is the oldest inter-church organization in the Scandinavian country.

“We want to honor you for your work in uplifting the Bible,” Mongstad-Kvammen told Per de Lange, an Adventist pastor in the church’s West Norway Conference, and his wife, Monica.

For years, de Lange has been the best-known Adventist pastor in Norway. With his wife, Monica, he has released a number of music albums under their artistic name “Per & Monica.” Per de Lange also has a collection of objects from the Middle East and elsewhere that he uses to illustrate the biblical message.

“We never expected anything like this,” Per de Lange said at the award ceremony. “Yes, we have been engaged in this work for many years. We have been digging in the Middle East to find things to support the Bible. We have been fascinated by such things.”

The couple then sang a favorite song of Christians across Norway.

A major task of the Norwegian Bible Society is to foster a renewed use of the Bible in congregations, schools, and society. The Bible Prize, which consists of a luxury edition of the Bible and a framed page of a Bible translation from 1633, has been awarded since 1995.

The aim of the prize is to recognize one or more people who have contributed to promoting the reading of the Bible or to a revival in reading the Bible. The prize is usually awarded to contributors in the area of culture, but it has also gone to those active in promoting Bible reading among children and young people in schools.