Lindsay, Gustaf Albert (1895–1974)

A Swedish-American pastor, Gustaf Lindsay served the church as a teacher, youth leader, treasurer, and president.

Early Life

Oldest of 8 siblings, Gustaf Albert Lindsjö was born on June 8, 1895, in Mistelås, Småland, Sweden. He was reared in a pious home. In 1912, the seventeen-year-old Gustaf left Sweden on his own to seek a future in the promised land of America. In Southampton he met his first disappointment. His boat ticket to travel on the new Titanic was exchanged for another ship, so he arrived in New York harbor April 24, having sailed on the Lusitania. There is no record as to his reaction to having been saved from the ice-cold grave of the Atlantic.¹

Gustaf enjoyed going to musicals, but on one occasion, he heard a singer make fun of a religious hymn, “My wayward son where are you going tonight” the seductive artist sang. That caused him to come to his senses, and he decided to become a Christian. His mother’s prayers were answered. Now 19, he exchanged Broadway for Broadview, the Swedish American seminary close to Chicago. Broadview had been established in 1910 to serve the many Swedish speaking congregations in the Midwest as well as in the Northwest.

At Broadview, he met his future wife, Hildur Carlsson, born in the United States to Swedish parents. She had trained as a nurse at Portland Sanatorium. When Broadview’s principal Gustav E. Nord was called to Sweden in 1921, it was not long before he called Lindsay to return to the old country to serve as a teacher/pastor. ²

Sweden

The young couple married, and their honeymoon voyage took them to Sweden in October 1922. As a Bible teacher at Nyhyttan Mission school, Lindsay was much loved, which was expressed in the school magazine when he left. Over the years, he returned as a Bible teacher, even when he had heavy administrative duties. His heart reached out to the young. One of his students during the war years became terminally ill in 1946. She wrote to him for spiritual advice knowing he was one she could confine in. “Would it be a sin to pray to God to die?” she asked since she was in enormous pain. Lindsay was at Autumn Council in Michigan, but her letter was forwarded to him. He sat down immediately to reply and wrote a letter full of comfort to this devoted young woman, quoting Romans 8:26, 27. He signed the letter, “your brother in Jesus Christ, G. A. Lindsay.”³

Leadership Roles

Lindsay’s long record of leadership included: president of the North Swedish Conference (1932-1933); youth leader in the Northern European Division (1933-1936); president of the South Swedish Conference (1936-1937); president of the East-Nordic Union (1936-1946)⁴; president of the Northern European Division (1946-1950). Lindsay took care of a number of division tasks between 1942-1946 due to the war situation which caused the office in the U.K. to be largely non-functioning.⁵ As the political situation was precarious after the war both in society and the church, Lindsay was replaced as president by a neutral South African, A. F. Tarr. However, “Lindsay graciously stayed as treasurer of the NED until his retirement in 1958.”⁶

Leadership in Times of Crisis and War

It may be that the achievement of a leader is greater than those listed in official records. No doubt that is the case with more than one wartime leader, and was true with Lindsay as well.

Lindsay read his time. In his 1936 report to the East Nordic Union, he set the tone for the next decade: “Our future lies before us both bright and dark, it depends entirely on which perspectives you adapt. The world is on its way to destruction and ruin, Evil powers seem to be reigning. The nearest future shall bring us somber bulletins.”⁷ These are remarkable words written three years before WWII broke out. At the time the great debate was about disarmament and peace.⁸ Still, Lindsay was a European Adventist reading his time in the light of the prophesies and the hope of the soon coming Christ. He continued in the same report: “But our times are also bright. It is harvest time in the world. The fields of men are ripe. We have a harvest message to bring out, and more than ever must we throw ourselves into our great task.”⁹

During the war, the East Nordic Union consisted of one neutral state, Sweden, and one, Finland, that was constantly threatened and partly invaded by its big neighbor, the Soviet Union. As Finland had to surrender its eastern territories, thousands were displaced and fled to the western part of Finland, among them many Adventists. The same happened in the Baltic states that were attached to the church in Scandinavia in several ways. Stockholm was flooded by refugees during that time. Together with the treasurer, Alf Karlman, and the effective editor of the publishing house, Mrs. Emy Grundberg, Lindsay organized a wide range of aid to those coming over the deadly cold Baltic Sea. Some needed help with visas and money to travel to the U.S. and their relatives there. Others were offered assistance to obtain jobs and housing in Sweden. This support continued through the entire duration of WWII, actually intensifying during the two last harsh years. When the war ended, Sweden continued to offer aid to a devastated Europe, and the General Conference paid half a million Swedish crowns to help compensate.

Yet wartime had extremely strained the economy of the Adventist work in Sweden as well as in Finland. In 1946, Lindsay reported to the first East Nordic Union conference since 1936: “It has been trying times to be able to expand the church’s operations in spite of diminishing income. This was only made possible through considerable salary reductions. The willingness our workers accepted salary reductions not only once but several times, both those in the conferences as well as those in our institutions, truly show us their unselfishness.”¹⁰

In spite of the severe conditions, not the least in Finland, membership increased as never before, and the wind of revival blew strongly in both countries. Obstacles can also give time to new solutions. As Lindsay was an open-minded and deeply caring leader, he had no problem with Finland’s way of solving the new situation. The most urgent problem that arose was when almost all the Finnish pastors were called to military service, some with great suffering when they held to the principle of being non-combatants. Instead of pastors, female bible workers took over the evangelistic meetings. The Finnish Conference President Aarne Rintala wrote in his report 1946 that “in spite of the fact that a greater part of the working force (pastors) have been taken to military service, the results are far greater than before.”¹¹ It was a surprise that the female evangelists had won hundreds of members and had planted new churches.

Sweden also experienced growth not only in membership though well-run evangelistic campaigns, but also in its focus on youth. In 1944, the campground “Västeräng” was opened, and to this day, it remains a highly loved place. Its acquisition took place due to the intense search by Union youth leader Pastor David Carlsson. He valued Lindsay greatly and recounts how on the Friday afternoon when the camp site was to open, not everything was ready. He needed to rake the open yard but saw the VIP’s arrive, Lindsay among them. David Carlsson was ashamed and excused himself to his boss. In return Lindsay replied, “Don’t you have another rake?” So off came the “ministerial jacket,” and the two of them got the yard spic and span.¹² David, like many of his colleagues, had an enormous respect for Lindsay’s leadership. He was unpretentious and kind in spite of his roles and many facetted responsibilities.

Northern European Division (NED)

In January 1947, Lindsay was on his way home to Stockholm after a meeting. The division office had formally been moved to Stockholm in 1946. For some reason, Lindsay missed his flight in Copenhagen. He stood, ticket in his hands, watching how that plane crashed right after taking off. No one survived.¹³ For a second time in Lindsay’s life, God had spared him in a miraculous way.

During his leadership of the division (1946-1950), Lindsay worked hard for the restoration of the Northern European Division. Due to the upheaval of the war, the organization of the church in Northern Europe was more or less in a shambles. Great Britain wanted a strong bond to the United States rather than Europe, and the British Union was still under the Provisional Division that had been affected in 1941. The prewar mission fields in East and West Africa were not assigned to NED.¹⁴

The satisfaction of restoring the NED was mixed with the “unpleasant surprise to the field that no mission territory in Africa was assigned to the Division as in former years.”¹⁵ The Scandinavian countries had strongly devoted themselves to mission work in Africa since 1907 with a mission in Eritrea and eventually in Eastern Africa (Ethiopia especially), but also Uganda and Kenya. When the European Division was reorganized in 1928, the NED was assigned territories in both East and West Africa when it had considerably fewer members than in 1948. A letter sent to the General Conference in September 1948 was signed by Lindsay and the division secretary Alf Karlman as well as the presidents of the East Nordic and West Nordic Unions to plead for a change at the upcoming Autumn Council.¹⁶

Remembering that in the NED the war had meant deprivation and financial difficulties for the Unions, this was a remarkable request. There had been a tradition of strong mission involvement in the Scandinavian societies, and this had enabled the Adventist annual Ingathering campaign to become a great success among all members.

“Much more could be done if people could feel that we were able to send out money that they bring in.” With no mission fields, no public recognition that the Adventist church had mission involvement-it was non-existing in all publications as well. “All church bodies in Northern Europe (meaning other denominations) of any standing whatever have their own mission field directed from the home base…these are then listed in all Foreign Mission publications and reports. This adds strength and standing to these organizations … Therefore, our work is often discredited in the eyes of the public, and our people get disheartened.”¹⁷ Lindsay had taken this document to the division meeting and had great support among all conference and Union leaders.

Legal as well as practical and inspirational aspects were emphasized. Humbly the NED asked for territories where northern Europeans had a long history of involvement. Among them were Ethiopia and Eritrea, Uganda, and the Kenya Colony. “The NED urged both that it had the resources to support mission fields and that it would find it easier to transmit mission funds from Northern Europe to the world church “if we have definite mission fields under our direction and for which we would be responsible”. In fact, NED’s foreign mission offering was the third largest of eleven world divisions.¹⁸

Lindsay’s leadership of the NED was a time of balance between restoration and regress in more ways than one. It was not until 1951 that the NED finally started to operate as the full-fledged Northern European Division that included the Scandinavian countries, Poland, the Netherlands, and the British Union as well as the mission fields in West Africa and Ethiopia.¹⁹

Post NED and Retirement

The Lindsays returned to the United States in 1958, and Lindsay became manager of the General Conference Western Transportation Bureau in San Francisco, California, until he retired in 1960. Gustaf Albert Lindsay died in his home in Portland, Oregon, on July 9,1974.²⁰ His wife, Hildur, followed him a year later on May 11, 1975.²¹ As she always was an American citizen, she had been unable to return to Sweden during the war after a visit (probably with the two sons at college at that time) in the United States. So, husband and wife were forced to endure a six-year long separation. The family was first united again at the General Conference session in San Francisco 1946.

Legacy

In Sweden, Lindsay’s legacy of “shepherd leadership” was to remain an influence for many years. Lindsay’s diplomatic manner and his eye for the need of members regardless of status fitted well in a time of many critical challenges. His stalwart love for his church was evident when dealing with conflicts. That, as well as his international experience, made him the right man to lead in this season of great changes and restoration within the church in Northern Europe.

Sources

Carlsson, David. Anteckningar [Notes from his life], 1957, no pagination, private manuscript.

“Lindsay, Gustav A” (obituary). ARH, October 10, 1974.

“Lindsay” (obituary). British Advent Messenger, July 11, 1975.

Lindsay, G. A. “Ordförandens rapport – över verksamheten i den Östnordiska unionkonferensen för fyraårsperioden 1932-1935” [Chairman’s (president’s) report for the East Nordic Union Conference for 1932-1935]. Missionären, September 1936.

Lindsay, G. A. “Rapport över verksamheten i den Östnordiska unionkonferensen under åren 1936-1945”, Missionären, September 1946.

Memorial to the Officers of the General Conference from J. L. MCelhany, president, Stocksund, Sweden, September 1, 1948.

Rintala, A. “Rapport från den Finska konfernsen.” Missionären, September 1946.

Trim, David. A Passion for Mission. Bracknell, U.K.: Newbold Academic Press, 2019.

Wiklander, Gösta, I vår Herres Tjänst: Missionsarbetare inom Adventistsamfundet i Sverige 1880-1997 [In Our Lord’s Service: Workers in the Adventist Church in Sweden 1880-1997]. Göteborg: Adventistsamfundets Svenska Union, 2001.

Notes

1. Gösta Wiklander, I vår Herres Tjänst^: Missionsarbetare inom Adventistsamfundet i Sverige 1880-1997 [In Our Lord’s Service: Workers in the Adventist Church in Sweden 1880-1997] (Göteborg: Adventistsamfundets Svenska Union, 2001), 68.↩

2. Ibid, 68.↩

3. G. A. Lindsay to Iris Ljungström, October 18, 1946, private letter, collection of Mrs. Birgitta Norlin (sister of Iris Ljungström). Copy at HASDA Sweden. The letter was sent from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Sadly it arrived the day before her funeral.↩

4. Gösta Wiklander, I vår Herres tjänst, 68,160. Sources differ as to GAL’s start as president of ENU: 1932,1934,1936.↩

5. David Trim, A Passion for Mission (Bracknell, UK: Newbold Academic Press, 2019), 89-93. Part of NED was also administered from the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in Washington D.C. (now in Silver Spring, Maryland), which was more difficult after the United States had entered the war in 1941.↩

6. Ibid., 125.↩

7. G. A. Lindsay, “Ordförandens rapport – över verksamheten i den Östnordiska unionkonferensen för fyraårsperioden 1932-1935” [Chairman’s (president’s) report for the East Nordic Union Conference for 1932-1935], Missionären September 1936, 136.↩

8. Remark by Neville Chamberlain on “Peace in Our Time” after meeting Hitler in Munich in October 1938↩

9. G. A. Lindsay, “Ordförandens rapport – över verksamheten i den Östnordiska unionkonferensen för fyraårsperioden 1932-1935,” Missionären September 1936, 136.↩

10. G. A. Lindsay, “Rapport över verksamheten i den Östnordiska unionkonferensen under åren 1936-1945”, Missionären, September 1946, 137-146.↩

11. A. Rintala, “Rapport från den Finska konfernsen”, Missionären, September 1946, 140.↩

12. David Carlsson, Anteckningar (Notes from his life) 1957, no pagination, Private manuscript, typed copy.↩

13. On board was the heir to the throne, Prince Gustav Adolf, the father of five young children including the present king of Sweden, then an infant not even one year old.↩

14. Trim, 110.↩

15. Cited in Trim, 120.↩

16. Memorial to the Officers of the General Conference from J. L. MCelhany, president, Stocksund, Sweden, September 1, 1948.↩

17. Cited in Trim, 120.↩

18. Ibid., 120-121.↩

19. Ibid.,123-127. For the sake of Poland, the original name of the “new” division, the North Atlantic Division, was changed back to the original Northern European Division, something that was far more neutral.↩

20. “Lindsay, Gustav A.” (obituary), ARH, October 10, 1974, 31.↩

21. “Lindsay” (obituary), British Advent Messenger, July 11, 1975, 6.↩