Wiklander, Gösta (1923–2014)

Gösta Alfred Wiklander served the Seventh-day Adventist Church for about 75 years in different capacities: office worker, canvasser, canvassing leader in the publishing ministry, pastor-evangelist, Bible correspondence school director, communication director, public affairs and religious liberty director, conference and union president, executive committee member of the Trans-European Division, principal, researcher, and author.¹

Early Life 

Gösta was born on March 12, 1923, in Nyhyttan, Sweden, as the second of four children. His parents were Alfred Anderson (1894–1984) and Anna Wiklander (1897–1962). Gösta and his two brothers took their mother’s more unusual surname Wiklander in 1958 to avoid misidentifications.

Gösta’s father, Alfred Anderson, was a pioneering pastor-evangelist, conference president, and Bible teacher, and his ministry strongly influenced Gösta’s childhood. Every one or two years the family was called to move to a new area. This was the practice in the early days of Adventism, following a mission strategy to urgently warning the world and plant new churches before the advent of Christ. By the age of 11 Gösta had moved eight times. His childhood, youth, and active service in the Adventist Church are presented in his biography of his father² and his autobiography.³

After nine years in the far north of Sweden in 1925–1934, Gösta attended the Adventist church school in Stockholm until June 1937. He wanted to continue with a secondary education, but the family could not afford it, and his father advised against “worldly studies.” Instead, he found a position at Sturetryckeriet, a printing press.⁴

Education and Marriage 

In the spring of 1938, at age 15, Gösta began his lifelong service in the Adventist Church. He accepted employment at the Adventist publishing house (Skandinaviska förlagsexpeditionen). He also developed his talents for music and playing the piano. In May 1938 he was baptized by his father in Stockholm. From here on he had a constant awareness of being led by God, which continued all his life. World War II erupted in September 1939, followed by Nazi Germany’s invasion of neighboring Denmark and Norway in April 1940. Gösta felt a calling to preach the Word of God and enrolled as a student at the ministerial seminary at Ekebyholm, north of Stockholm (1940–1944).⁵

At Ekebyholm, Gösta met his wife-to-be, Astrid Sofia Rudholm (1922–2008). Astrid was especially gifted in music and poetry;⁶ she became an active partner in Gösta’s pastoral ministry. Astrid came from a large Adventist family. Two of her brothers, Bertil Rudholm (1916–2004) and Erik Rudholm (1924–1965), became ordained ministers.⁷ Gösta and Astrid married on September 3, 1944, and had three children, Bertil, Rut, and Nils.⁸ Bertil served as president of the Trans-European Division of the General Conference from 1995 to 2014.⁹

Gösta’s studies were financed by summer canvassing from 1941 to 1944. In June 1944 he became assistant leader of the canvassing work in Sweden. On October 1, 1944, his ministerial internship began in Gävle in the North Swedish Conference. One of his duties was to find and provide for Adventist families among thousands of Baltic refugees who had escaped the war and reached Gävle across the sea. His short internship was abruptly ended in May 1945, when he was drafted for national service as a conscientious objector, serving as a fireman in Göteborg for 16 months. Many experiences during his time as a fireman strengthened his conviction of being protected and led by God. Off-duty, Gösta studied English, which would prove valuable in his future church service.¹⁰

Pastor and Evangelist (1946–1962)

In September 1946 Gösta resumed his service as pastor and evangelist, now in the South Swedish Conference. The family moved to Lysekil (1946–1947), Karlskrona (1947–1949), Mjölby/Linköping (1949–1953), Borås (1953–1955), Malmö (1955–1958), Göteborg (1958–1960), and Jönköping (1960–1962). As a district pastor, Gösta also conducted evangelism in the surrounding towns and villages. The Lord blessed his work, and many converts were baptized.¹¹ In May 1952, however, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, caught from a church visitor. After six months of medical treatment and additional months of part-time rest, he fully recovered. His ordination was due in June 1952, but the illness caused the union to postpone it until July 1954.¹²

Gösta had a talent for playing the piano by ear, and music became important in his ministry—from playing his portable accordion at small church gatherings, to serving as an organist at the 1955 International Youth Congress in Stockholm. He wrote and composed songs, which he and Astrid would sing in their public evangelistic meetings.¹³

After some years Gösta began to have serious doubts about the efficiency of the traditional form of public meetings, which had been brought to Sweden from the U.S.A. in the 1920s and 1930s.¹⁴ He recognized that his audiences needed a spiritual encounter with Christ presented in a language they could relate to.¹⁵ Supported by the conference, Gösta initiated a ministerial magazine named Adventförkunnaren (Advent Messenger). As the first editor (1953–1955), he made it a forum for pastors sharing innovative ideas of evangelism better fitted to their Swedish context, which was both Lutheran and secular. Gösta’s experience of his first major campaign (in Malmö, 1955–1956) convinced him that efforts to communicate more efficiently with the secular public in advertising/PR, sermons, and meetings would bear rich fruit. Recognizing his need for further education as an evangelist, Gösta traveled to England in the fall of 1956 to take courses at Newbold College and to visit innovative evangelistic campaigns. Inspired by what he had learned, Gösta introduced new forms of successful evangelism in Malmö (1955–1958), including visiting the city’s central dance hall, where he challenged secular young couples face to face to accept Christ.¹⁶

Gösta’s bold methods of outreach in the language of contemporary secular people were accompanied by building amicable relations with the local pastors of the evangelical denominations, which eliminated anti-Adventist prejudice in the city. Seeking to raise an interest in the message and mission of the SDA Church, he also delivered lectures and a film produced by Adventist laypeople: Through Sahara to the Land of the Lip-Plate Women (1952). The film documented a car journey through the Sahara to Ruben Bergström’s mission station in Dogba, in northern Cameroon. Gösta traveled extensively, presenting it in about forty towns across Sweden, which generated a good deal of public interest.¹⁷

Gösta’s outlook anticipated the thinking behind modern outreach via radio, TV, and Internet, namely, efficient communication and building trust among the target audience. The promising beginnings in Malmö were put on hold, however, because of a lack of funds for public evangelism at the conference. Against his wishes, Gösta was transferred to Göteborg, ending his promising work in Malmö.¹⁸

Conference President (1962–1969)

In June 1962 Gösta was elected president of the South Swedish Conference. At 39 he was the youngest conference president serving in Sweden. His first task was assigned by the Northern European Division. Earlier the same year, the division had appointed him a delegate to the General Conference session in San Francisco. The session created in him a high regard for the international Adventist Church. His visit to the United States also included a study period at the seminary at Andrews University.¹⁹

During his service as leader-administrator until his retirement in 1986, Gösta would visit and interact with many Adventist Church leaders across the world, at the General Conference, the Trans-European Division, the Nordic countries, and Africa.²⁰

His conference leadership was characterized by innovation and good personal relations with the ministers. This resulted in a positive working spirit and a steady increase in the number of baptisms.²¹ From the beginning of his conference leadership, Gösta accepted a position as an elder in the local church of Göteborg. In 1963 he conducted evangelistic campaigns in Göteborg and Falkenberg.²² He brought with him a group of promising evangelists to London in 1966 for training in John Coltheart’s archaeological-evangelistic approach. This initiative brought a method of public evangelism to Sweden that, carried out by Ruben Engdahl (1925–2018), provided very good results.²³

Another innovative contribution to the Adventist Church was Gösta’s idea of developing a health food company owned by the church. Svenska Nutana was implemented in 1967. It became a highly profitable business, giving the union a solid financial footing.²⁴

Director of Communication (1966–1981) and of the Bible Correspondence School (1969–1977)

While serving as conference president, Gösta was elected union communication director, a responsibility held from 1966 until 1981. After the reorganization of the union into a union of churches in 1969, Gösta was elected director of the Bible correspondence school (1969–1977). In both of these assignments he was able to realize his earlier thoughts of evangelism as a spiritual encounter with Christ conveyed in a language that a Lutheran or secular Swedish audience could relate to.

Under Gösta’s leadership the Bible correspondence school became one of the most successful forms of evangelism in Sweden for many years. With the local churches as base, seminars were organized, and personal contacts were developed with the students. Gösta also initiated annual consultations with the Adventist correspondence schools in the Nordic countries and the Netherlands, where the mission of the church faced similar challenges. He wrote several new correspondence courses, among them a course on the book of Daniel, Evighetsljus över livet och framtiden: Daniels bok (1971), and a unique course named Archaeology and History in Bible Lands (1971), which was translated and used by the correspondence schools in Denmark, Norway, Finland, and the Netherlands. He also led the work of producing a new Swedish course on biblical beliefs, Utväg (1976).

Already in 1965 Gösta had founded Adventistsamfundets tonbandscentral (Adventist Office of Audio-Tape Recordings). Anybody could order recorded Sabbath services and sermons free of charge. Eventually the recordings embraced services from most of the Adventist churches in Sweden. This service was especially important for isolated Adventists and the sick, and it had a vital evangelizing function in that members were able to invite friends and neighbors to listen in their homes. Through the growth of the radio ministry in Sweden, these recordings continued to be used for many years.

Gösta became a pioneer of the radio ministry in Sweden and the first leader of the Swedish department of The Voice of Hope, transmitted by shortwave from Portugal from 1972 to 1977. The transmissions were made possible by generous donations from a Swedish-American, Dr. Olof Blomqvist. The programs were produced in the studio of the Swedish Voice of Hope in Göteborg, where Gösta had undergone training in the public Swedish Broadcasting Corporation. A state monopoly rendered it impossible to transmit radio programs within Sweden. However, Gösta contacted the responsible minister in the Swedish government, and, together with representatives of other Christian churches, he contributed to the government’s permission in 1977 for local churches to transmit radio programs. Many local Adventist churches started to broadcast radio in Sweden under the name Radio Adventkyrkan²⁵—an important vehicle of mission outreach, which helped to break down much prejudice against Adventists in Sweden.

Union President (1977–1985)

Gösta was elected Swedish Union president in June 1977, a position he held until August 1985, when he announced his decision to retire, which was mainly because of Astrid’s deteriorating health.²⁶

When Gösta was union president, evangelism remained his highest priority. In the Adventist Church paper Missionären he constantly promoted the idea that “the gospel must be brought to the whole of Sweden.”²⁷ In his ministry since 1962, he had initiated the three main forms of evangelistic outreach that were used in Sweden until the end of the twentieth century:

1. The biblical-archaeological model of public evangelism.

2. The Bible correspondence school and its links with the local churches.

3. The radio ministry and positive relations with Swedish Radio/TV.

Gösta supervised the development of the local Adventist churches in Sweden. In 1980 he led the celebration of the 100 years of ministry in Sweden by the Adventist Church, an event that received significant radio, TV, and press attention and included a visit to His Majesty the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf.²⁸

However, much of Gösta’s time was occupied by administration, in a union without conferences and only two serving officers until 1984. This included travel to sessions, committees, and seminars arranged by the world church. As a member of the Trans-European Division, he took an active part in the affairs of the church in Europe and delivered sermons and devotionals as needed. His journey to Africa in 1981 is an example of a very particular kind of responsibility. In the course of the 1970s the Swedish Union was able to obtain large grants from the Swedish government agency SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency) for relief and building projects in developing countries, particularly Africa.²⁹ As union president Gösta had a responsibility to the government for how these funds were used, and therefore he visited various Adventist projects in Ghana, Upper Volta, Togo, and Nigeria.³⁰

Gösta chaired the union executive committee, various councils, and the boards of four of the five institutions operated by the Swedish Union: the school, the publishing house, and two health institutions (the health food company and, from 1980, the school board were chaired by Olle Eriksson).

The SDA Church in Sweden had developed amicable contacts with other Christian denominations in the 1970s. Membership was already held in STT, a body appointed by the government to ensure a fair distribution of state subsidy to religious organizations, and in SAMRÅD, a regular, amicable forum of the free churches for counseling together. Based on his positive experiences from 1955 to 1958 (see above), Gösta now developed contacts with Christian leaders at the national level and initiated an Adventist membership in the Swedish Bible Society and the Swedish Missionary Council. The Bible society welcomed the Adventist Church, and pronounced the Sabbath as an alternative “Day of the Bible,” celebrated once a year by Christian churches in Sweden. The Missionary Council ensured a fair distribution of SIDA’s development and relief aid that was channeled to local churches working in developing countries.³¹

Later Life 

Gösta retired early in 1986, but continued to serve the union as director of public affairs and religious liberty, beginning in 1977. In this capacity he was a member of the Committee on Religious Liberty of the Free Churches in Sweden from 1991 to 1997, contributing to the preparation of the new law on religious liberty in 1998, which from 2000 abolished the state church role of the Swedish [Lutheran] Church instituted in the sixteenth century.³²

Gösta served as interim principal at Ekebyholmsskolan during the autumn semester in 1989. His main occupation as a retiree, though, was his research into the history of the Adventist Church in Sweden and Africa. Besides numerous articles in church papers, he published some monographs and placed some of his research at the disposal of HASDA Sweden. Especially noteworthy for an international audience are his biographies of two significant Swedish missionaries in Africa, Ruben Bergström (2006) and Julius Persson (2007). His main publications were as follows:

Arkeologi och historia i Bibelns länder [Archaeology and History in Bible Lands], BCS Course. Gävle: Skandinaviska bokförlaget, 1970.

Evighetsljus över livet och framtiden: Daniels bok [Eternal Light Shed on Our Life and Future: The Book of Daniel], BCS Course. Gävle: Skandinaviska bokförlaget, 1971. 

Under an Open Heaven. Grantham: Stanborough Press, Ltd., 1985 (published in many languages, including Swedish).

I vår Herres tjänst: Missionsarbetare inom Adventistsamfundet i Sverige 1880–1997 [In Our Lord’s Service: Workers in the SDA Church in Sweden 1880–1997]. Göteborg: Adventistsamfundets Svenska Union, 2001 (available at HASDA [the historical archive of the Swedish Union]; see [email protected]).

De kallade honom Baba Duniyary, ”Landsfader:” Missionären och bergslagssonen Ruben Bergströms pionjärverksamhet i norra Kamerun 1930–1965 [They Called Him Baba Duniyari, “Father of the Land”: The Pioneer Work in Northern Cameroun of Ruben Bergström, Missionary and Son of Bergslagen]. Stockholm: SDA media, 2006.

Julius Persson: Svensk predikant och den förste svenske missionären till ett land utanför Europa [Julius Persson: Swedish Minister and the First Swedish Missionary to a Non-European Country]. Stockholm: SDA media, 2007.

Från stabbläggare till förkunnare: En personlig levnadsbeskrivning av min far Alfred Anderson [From Log-Stapler to Preacher: A Personal Biography of My Father, Alfred Anderson]. Stockholm: Skandinaviska Bokförlaget, 2012.

Astrid struggled with ill health for several years, and Gösta nursed her in their home. She passed away on May 24, 2008.³³ Gösta passed away in Göteborg on February 18, 2014, and was buried beside his wife, Astrid, on March 17 at Fridhem’s Cemetery near his home in Hisings Backa, Göteborg.³⁴

Contribution

A Swedish Church Dictionary summarizes Gösta Wiklander’s significance for the Adventist Church as follows:

His entire life was characterized by service to the Lord, in which he joined visionary creativity with a deep and warm gospel-oriented view combined with the Adventist understanding of the prophetic message of the Bible. He was one of the most significant Adventist preachers setting the tone in the last part of the twentieth century. He led the Adventist Church in Sweden into a more Christ-centered and open outlook.³⁵

Regardless of the capacity in which he served, finding new forms of evangelism remained his constant focus. This meant leading men and women to Christ in a language they could understand while removing prejudice against the Adventist Church by building on what we have in common.

Sources

Lindén, Ingemar. “Sweden.” In Heirs of the Reformation: The Story of Seventh-day Adventists in Europe. Ed. H. Dunton et al. Grantham: Stanborough Press, Ltd., 1997.

Refsbäck, Rainer. “Bertil Wiklander: One Man, Many Visions.” In Faith in Search of Depth and Relevancy: Festschrift in Honour of Dr. Bertil Wiklander. Ed. R. Bruinsma. St. Albans, UK: Trans-European Division, 2014.

———. “Pastor Gösta Wiklander har somnat in (obituary).” Missionären, April 2014.

Rudholm, Gustaf. Min och Kristinas kamp för sanning och rättfärdighet [My and Kristina’s Battle for Truth and Righteousness]. Unpublished notes in 1960 by Astrid’s father, Gustaf Rudholm, concerning his and Kristina’s conversion to the Adventist faith in 1894–1912. Ed. Gösta Wiklander, 2004. A copy is kept by the author; information available at [email protected].

Steele, Allen M. Loud Let It Ring! Adventist World Radio: Twenty-five Years of Miracles. Boise, Idaho: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1996.

Svenskt Frikyrkolexikon [Swedish Free Church Dictionary]. S.v. “Wiklander, Gösta” (Rainer Refsbäck and Yvonne Johansson Öster). Stockholm: Atlantis, 2014.

Wiklander, A. Vi vandrar såtysta. Lune, 1973.

Wiklander, Bertil. “Astrid Wiklander Till minne (Obituary).” Missionären, September 2008.

———. “Gösta Wiklander (Obituary).” Missionären, July-August 2014.

Wiklander, Gösta.“En resa i Afrika: Jag fick en ny syn på livet” [A Journey in Africa: I Received a New View of Life]. Missionären, August 14, 1981.

———. “Evangelisationen i Sverige” [Evangelism in Sweden]. Missionären, March 17, 1978.

———. “Evangelium till hela Sverige” [The Gospel to All Sweden]. Missionären, November 18, 1977.

———. Från stabbläggare till förkunnare: En personlig levnadsbeskrivning av min far Alfred Anderson [From Log-Stapler to Preacher: A Personal Biography of My Father Alfred Anderson]. Stockholm: Skandinaviska Bokförlaget, 2012.

———. “Hög tid för totalevangelisation” [About Time for Total Evangelism]. Missionären, January 5, 1978.

———. “Inför årets bönevecka” [Facing This Year’s Week of Prayer]. Missionären, October 7, 1977.

———. “Jubileumsåret avslutas med audiens hos konungen” [The Jubilee Year Concluded by a Meeting With the King]. Missionären, January 16, 1981.

———. Styrda steg: Minnen från tider som flytt [Guided Steps: Memories From Times Gone By]. Unpublished manuscript. Göteborg, 2001. A copy is held by HASDA Sweden [the historical archive of the Swedish Union]; see [email protected].

———. “Sverige behöver Kristus!” [Sweden Needs Christ!]. Missionären, January 2, 1981.

Notes

1. Unless otherwise indicated, information contained in this article is from the personal knowledge of the author as son of Gösta Alfred Wiklander.↩

2. Gösta Wiklander, Från stabbläggare till förkunnare: En personlig levnadsbeskrivning av min far Alfred Anderson [From Log-Stapler to Preacher: A Personal Biography of My Father Alfred Anderson]. Stockholm: Skandinaviska Bokförlaget, 2012.↩

3. Gösta Wiklander, Styrda steg: Minnen från tider som flytt [Guided Steps: Memories From Times Gone By] (unpublished manuscript), Göteborg, 2001 (a copy is held by HASDA Sweden [the historical archive of the Swedish Union]; see [email protected].).↩

4. Ibid., 51-54.↩

5. Ibid., 54, 55, 61, 62.↩

6. In the 1950s Astrid received a singing education. Later she published a collection of poems: A. Wiklander, Vi vandrar så tysta (Lund, 1973) (G. Wiklander, Styrda steg, 190, 300).↩

7. For Astrid’s family, G. Wiklander, Styrda steg, 300–303; see also Gustaf Rudholm, Min och Kristinas kamp för sanning och rättfärdighet [My and Kristina’s Battle for Truth and Righteousness] (unpublished notes in 1960 by Astrid’s father, Gustaf Rudholm, concerning his and Kristina’s conversion to the Adventist faith in 1894–1912), ed. Gösta Wiklander, 2004 (a copy is kept by the author; information available at [email protected]); Rainer Refsbäck, “Bertil Wiklander: One Man, Many Visions,” in Faith in Search of Depth and Relevancy: Festschrift in Honour of Dr Bertil Wiklander, ed. R. Bruinsma (St. Albans, UK: Trans-European Division, 2014), 29, 30.↩

8. G. Wiklander, Styrda steg, 67–74, 91–93, 215–218.↩

9. Refsbäck, “Bertil Wiklander: One Man, Many Visions,” 27–54.↩

10. G. Wiklander, Styrda steg, 75–98.↩

11. Ibid., 98–191.↩

12. Ibid., 129–133.↩

13. For the vital role of music in Gösta’s ministry, see Ibid., 61, 62, 190, 191.↩

14. For the influence of an aggressive, prophetic preaching style of some Swedish-Americans in the decades following the end of World War I, see, for instance, Ingemar Lindén, “Sweden,” in Heirs of the Reformation: The Story of Seventh-day Adventists in Europe, ed. H. Dunton et al. (Grantham: Stanborough Press, Ltd., 1997), 218, 219.↩

15. G. Wiklander, Styrda steg, 147–150.↩

16. This successful event was covered in the evening paper Kvällsposten on March 17, 1957.↩

17. For example, the local newspaper Örnsköldsviks Allehanda wrote on September 13, 1957: “The film is considered one of the best documentaries ever to have been shown to a Swedish audience.”↩

18. G. Wiklander, Styrda steg, 152–175.↩

19. Ibid., 191–197.↩

20. These experiences occupy a significant portion of the autobiography (ibid., 193–288).↩

21. This is shown by the conference’s statistical information and personal comments of pastors (note the comments in ibid., 206, 226).↩

22. Ibid., 198–204.↩

23. Lindén, 224.↩

24. G. Wiklander, Styrda steg, 200, 201.↩

25. See Allen M. Steele, Loud Let It Ring! Adventist World Radio: Twenty-five Years of Miracles (Boise, Idaho: Pacific Press Publishing Association,1996), 76; Lindén, 223, 224.↩

26. Astrid was granted a disability pension in 1981 (G. Wiklander, Styrda steg, 303, 304).↩

27. See, e.g., his editorials: Gösta Wiklander, “Inför årets bönevecka” [Facing This Year’s Week of Prayer], Missionären, October 7, 1977, 2; Gösta Wiklander, “Evangelium till hela Sverige” [The Gospel to All Sweden], Missionären, November 18, 1977, 2, 3; Gösta Wiklander, “Evangelisationen i Sverige” [Evangelism in Sweden], Missionären, March 17, 1978, 2, 3; Gösta Wiklander, “Hög tid för totalevangelisation” [About Time for Total Evangelism], Missionären, January 5, 1978, 1, 12; Gösta Wiklander, “Sverige behöver Kristus!” [Sweden Needs Christ!], Missionären, January 2, 1981, 4, 5.↩

28. Gösta Wiklander, “Jubileumsåret avslutas med audiens hos konungen” [The Jubilee Year Concluded by a Meeting With the King], Missionären, January 16, 1981, 1, 11, 12; G. Wiklander, Styrda steg, 244, 245.↩

29. SIDA did not sponsor churches, but gave grants for “development projects” in needy parts of the world. These were often run in conjunction with local churches and members to provide “on the ground” support for the project.↩

30. Gösta reported from his African visit (with pictures) in “En resa i Afrika: Jag fick en ny syn på livet” [A Journey in Africa: I Received a New View of Life], Missionären, August 14, 1981, 12, 13.↩

31. G. Wiklander, Styrda steg, 229–233.↩

32. Ibid., 257, 258, 309, 310.↩

33. Bertil Wiklander, “Astrid Wiklander Till minne (Obituary),” Missionären 112, no. 9 (September 2008): 18.↩

34. Rainer Refsbäck, “Pastor Gösta Wiklander har somnat in (Obituary),” Missionären, April 2014, 4; Bertil Wiklander, “Gösta Wiklander (Obituary),” Missionären, July-August 2014, 14.↩

35. Svenskt Frikyrkolexikon [Swedish Free Church Dictionary], s.v. “Wiklander, Gösta” (Rainer Refsbäck and Yvonne Johansson Öster) (Stockholm: Atlantis, 2014).↩