Jordal, Odd Palmer Heilskov (1921–1984)

Odd Jordal was an Adventist pastor and administrator. His great interest in relief and development work led to his appointment as aid coordinator for the Northern European Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (NED) and NED’s first ADRA director.

Odd Jordal’s Early Years (1921-1935)

Odd Palmer Heilskov Jordal was born on August 8, 1921, in Sandnes on the south-west coast of Norway. His mother, Marie Kristine Heilskov Christensen, was born in Denmark but later acquired Norwegian citizenship. His father was Ole Jordal, born and raised in Jordalen just north of Bergen on the west coast of Norway. The family moved from town to town in southern Norway where his father served as a pastor/evangelist of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Odd had a brother, Louis, who remained unmarried, and five sisters: Erna married Keyn, Ingeborg married Bjerkan, Ruth married Glattre, Esther married Gjertsen and Mildrid married Hjort. Sadly, Mildred was widowed and subsequently married Bouit.

After completing seven years of public primary school, Odd Jordal was baptized by his father in Stavanger in 1935 (or 1936). In 1935, he traveled to Onsrud Mission School where he completed a further six years of schooling.

Odd Jordal’s Early Employment and Further Education

After completing his Norwegian schooling, Jordal spent 16 months as a full-time bookseller for the Norwegian Adventist Book and Bible House, before he was employed in the East Norwegian and Middle Norwegian Conferences as a Bible worker in the autumn of 1942. After 11 months as such, he was hired as a pastor in the North Norwegian Conference.

On September 25, 1943, Odd married Lillian Johanna Berg from the Northern Norwegian town of Narvik. They had three sons: Per Louis (born in 1945), Jan Kenneth (born in 1952) and Aage (born in 1957). During their stay in Ethiopia (see below), the Jordals adopted an Ethiopian girl named Linda Tsehay Jordal (also called Sussie) who was born in 1963.

After a year in the North Norwegian Conference, he was called to serve in the West Norwegian Conference as a pastor for four years. Then from the summer of 1948, he studied for two years at Emmanuel Missionary College in Michigan, U.S.A., where he received his B.A. in Business Administration, with Religion and History of Antiquity as minors. After finishing his B.A., he continued his studies at the Seventh-day Adventist Seminary (known as Potomac University) in Washington, D.C., where he completed his M.A. with History of Antiquity and Archeology as majors, and Religion and Hebrew as minors.

Early in 1952, Odd Jordal was back with the West Norwegian Conference as departmental director. During the first two years the family lived in Haugesund, a town south of Bergen. Then for the next four years they lived in Bergen, where the conference office was located. During his time as departmental director in the West Norwegian Conference he was responsible for literature, Sabbath school, lay work, pastors, and youth. He was subsequently ordained as a pastor in Bergen in 1954 by the then union president, Pastor Alf Lohne.

In 1958, he was elected departmental director for the West Nordic Union Conference.¹ He remained in that position for one year until he was elected lay activities director in the Northern European Division (NED), a position he held until September 1962.

Ethiopia and Sweden

In 1962, he was called to be the president of the Ethiopian Union Mission, where his term lasted for three years (1962-1965).

Odd’s ministry in Ethiopia coincided with the planning for a new Addis Ababa Hospital. The original hospital, funded by Emperor Haile Selassie I, was operated by the Adventist Church during several periods since 1933. After his time in Ethiopia, Jordal became president of the Adventist Church in Sweden. Through his connections with Norad, he secured public funding for the nursing school at the new hospital. The foundation stone for the new hospital was laid on February 5, 1968, and it officially opened on January 26, 1971.²

Jordal’s term as president of the Swedish Union Conference began in January 1966 and lasted until the end of August 1977. His interest in development work was obviously awakened during his time in Ethiopia and it grew to become the hallmark of his subsequent ministry.

His initiatives in securing co-operation with both government and private organizations in Sweden soon spread to other countries in Europe – Denmark, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom – where he encouraged co-operation between the Adventist church and various organizations for the benefit of the third world. His role in establishing and expanding this work in Europe took place while he was simultaneously holding down a full-time job as Swedish Union president. In fact, in 1972, as part of his presidential duties the Swedish Union approved that he should have direct and personal contact with the various projects that they were involved with in Africa.

Jordal was offered a position in Washington, D.C. at the Adventist Church’s World Headquarters, but he did not want to move to the U.S.A. He did, however, accept the position of aid coordinator in the Northern European Division, based in the United Kingdom. Jordal’s interest in development work was also noticed outside the Adventist Church by such agencies as Norad, Sida and Norconsult who tried to “headhunt” him. Despite these attractive offers he chose, however, to continue serving as an employee of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Aid Co-ordinator for the Northern European Division

In the autumn of 1977, Jordal assumed his new position of aid coordinator at the Northern European Division (NED) but continued working from his home office at the house he built near Tyrifjord Junior College in Røyse, just outside Oslo. On April 20 and 21, 1983, during a joint European Division Development Aid Consultation at Oud Zandbergen in the Netherlands, the name Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) was chosen for the Church’s development and aid work in Europe. On May 17, 1983, at the NED Mid-year Council meeting, it was voted “to establish a NED Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) which will encompass the functions heretofore performed under the Development Aid Department and SAWS.” At the same Mid-year Council meeting, Jordal was elected as the NED’s ADRA director.³

Odd Jordal’s ability to obtain funds for development projects from public authorities, and his initiative in reorganizing the Adventist Church’s development work, led to a change of focus for the Adventists’ relief work worldwide. In the spring of 1983, Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) became the new name for the development work in the Northern European Division under Odd Jordal’s leadership.⁴ By the end of that year, this new name had also been approved by the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s governing body in Washington, D.C. ADRA International had become a reality.⁵ ADRA focuses on helping disadvantaged populations create dignified lives through self-help projects. While ADRA provides emergency aid during crises, its goal is to maintain individuals' self-esteem by fostering cooperation and partnership.⁶

Towards the end of his service in ADRA, Jordal moved with his wife to St. Albans in England, where the Northern European Division was then based. The Northern European Division has since been renamed as the Trans-European Division (TED).⁷

Grants from Government Organizations

In an article in the Norwegian church magazine Evangeliets Sendebud, Towards the end of 1982, Jordal reported that the Northern European Adventist community was actively involved in a major development program across several developing countries, made possible by the Church’s recognition as a channel for state development aid funds. He stated that operation was underway with state agencies in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, the U.K., and West Germany. Furthermore, development projects were ongoing in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, Upper Volta, Togo, Nigeria, Lesotho, and Swaziland, with additional projects planned in Zaire, Rwanda, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Colombia, and Bolivia. The projects included mobile medical and dental units, vocational schools, agricultural development, irrigation facilities, well drilling, and health center establishment.⁸ Jordal further reported that collaboration with state aid organizations, ADRA received 34 grants totalling over 2 million dollars from the countries in the Northern European Division.⁹

Adventist Aid Volunteer System

In addition to obtaining funding for the construction of various types of institutions, Jordal was also engaged in getting Adventists with the relevant vocational skills to take part in construction work and professional management at the start-up and development of various institutions in the Developing World. He served as “Leader of Peace Corps work in the Northern European Division,” an initiative he started back in 1972 in Sweden while he was President of the Swedish Union Conference. Since 1972, the Adventist community’s peace corps has been active in Sweden, beginning with four participants. Over the years, with support from Sida, 63 missionaries have been sent out, significantly impacting the Church’s mission work. In 1978, the community also began collaborating with Norway’s development aid agency, Norad. These volunteers, supported by Sida or Norad, are known as Adventist Aid Volunteers (AAV), and their contributions have added a new dimension to the Church’s international mission efforts.¹⁰

In 1983, Jordal wrote the following about the efforts of such Adventist volunteers:

We have had construction projects underway in thirteen locations in seven different countries, and 60 volunteers have worked in various occupations at Seventh-day Adventist institutions and projects in 15 different countries. These workers come from 10 countries and represent many different professional groups.¹¹

Untimely Death and Legacy

On March 3, 1984, Odd Jordal died in Gambia aged just 62. At the time of his death, as NED ADRA director, he was heading a team of several Adventist Church representatives and government donor organizations’ officials from Europe, who came to inspect some and formally open other institutions.¹²

In his obituary, Jan Paulsen, the NED president, described Jordal as “a giant in Israel”.¹³ He praised Jordal’s efforts to form strong relationships with several government donor organizations in Northern Europe that, as a result of his work, gained deep trust in the dependability and expertise of the Seventh-day Adventist development aid groups and made large donations to support various projects proposed and successfully completed by the Adventist Church in Africa, Central America, and South America. Paulsen further remarked that Jordal was valued as a Church leader, administrator, passionate preacher, and person of original and independent thinking, who was always guided by a deep care and love for the Church.¹⁴ Øivind Gjertsen, Odd Jordal’s brother-in-law, pointed out in his obituary that Jordal believed in empowering people in the third world to help themselves through education, job training, the establishment of hospitals, and providing opportunities for future generations to be equipped for this work.¹⁵

Sources

Andersen, Helge. ADRA Danmark/Norway’s history, 1985 – 2000. Unpublished document. In author's private collection.

Biographical Information Blank, Personnel Information file, and Employee service record of Odd Jordal, Northern European Division. Trans-European Division archives, St. Albans, the United Kingdom.

Eckhoff, Finn F. The story of ADRA Norway – at the service of those who need it most. Unpublished, 2024. In author’s private collection.

Evangeliets Sendebud, membership magazine for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Norway.

Gjertsen, Øivind. Obituary of Odd Jordal, unpublished. In author’s private collection.

Northern Light, Northern European Division magazine.

Seventh-day Adventist Church. General Conference Annual Council minutes 1983; Northern European Division, ExCom minutes 1983 and 1984; Northern European Division, Spring Meeting minutes 1983. Trans-European Division archives, St. Albans, the United Kingdom.

WoldeSelassie, Truneh. Adventism in Ethiopia. Own publication, 1st edition, 2005.

Notes

1. Odd Jordal’s Service Record lists September 1957 to September 1958 as the period of service in the West Nordic Union Conference. Jordal’s son’s school documents indicate their time in Oslo was from 1958 to 1959.↩

2. Finn F. Eckhoff, The story of ADRA Norway – at the service of those who need it most (unpublished, 2024), 3; and, Truneh WoldeSelassie, Adventism in Ethiopia, 1st edition (own publication, 2005), 280.↩

3. Seventh-day Adventist Church, Northern European Division, Spring Meetings Minutes 1983, May 17.↩

4. Ibid.↩

5. Seventh-day Adventist Church, General Conference Annual Council minutes 1983, p. 165.↩

6. Helge Andersen, ADRA Denmark/Norway’s history, 1985-2000, unpublished., p. 10. Helge Andersen (1928-2019) was head of ADRA in Denmark and Norway from 1985 to 1993.↩

7. See https://www.adventistarchives.org/ted-territory.↩

8. Evangeliets Sendebud, no. 1, 1982, p. 11.↩

9. Evangeliets Sendebud, no. 3, 1983, p. 1.↩

10. Evangeliets Sendebud, no. 2, 1981, p. 7.↩

11. Evangeliets Sendebud, no. 3, 1983, p. 1.↩

12. Northern Light, April 1984, Vol. 34, p. 3.↩

13. Ibid.↩

14. Ibid.↩

15. Unpublished obituary of Odd Jordal by Øivind Gjertsen, his brother-in-law.↩