It’s still winter in Norway, but Hønefoss Seventh-day Adventist Church, just north of Oslo, is already preparing for next fall.

Like several other Adventist churches across the country, the Hønefoss congregation is planning an evangelistic meeting series in the fall of 2022. Before the series, the church is working purposefully on contact-creating activities in the surrounding community. “These activities connect us, and we get to know new faces in the surrounding area,” local church leaders said.

The Lifestyle Club

The church’s Lifestyle Club is a monthly offering in which people can come together and enjoy a delicious, plant-based meal. The ingredients are often locally sourced from the vegetable gardens of church members.

Every evening, the church also holds a lecture about wholistic health and then informal fellowship time. These evenings have proven to be a great blessing for both members and guests, organizers said.

Activities for Children

The Hønefoss congregation has many children in it. Members regularly organize field trips and other activities for them. The local church children have also helped create a mission booklet with drawings and Bible texts. Several of the children have joined forces to “adopt” two peer children from an orphanage in Africa, and the mission booklet is one of the sources of income. 

“Our children have been singing in the main town square and at a local shopping center, and then they’re handing out their mission booklet,” a Hønefoss church leader reported. “This has been very positive. A dad who listened to the children’s song got so excited that he wanted to know more. He took his daughter to Sabbath School and has now begun to stay for church services and other activities.”

A Unique Art Gallery

In the fall of 2021, the Hønefoss church hosted a unique art gallery with paintings from 24 artists from five continents. The art gallery focused on Bible prophecies, with all the paintings having a prophetic motive. In the banquet hall, on the ground floor of the church, members mingled with guests as they got to know each other better around some refreshments. Visitors received a gift bag with reading material and healthy sweets.

Unfortunately, pandemic-related restrictions meant that the church was forced to cancel some of the planned activities, including an open church day with good food and fellowship for those lonely at Christmas. Church leaders said, however, that they are grateful for the activities that they have been able to carry out and look forward to more creative, contact-creating activities leading up to the meeting series in the fall of 2022. 

“Our prayer is that the church can be a beacon in the city and that the gospel can make a difference in the lives of people — in this life and for eternity,” they said.

The original version of this story was posted by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Norway.