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Alf Lohne served in various leadership positions in the Seventh-day Adventist Church for more than 50 years. Most of the time his influence was felt primarily in the Scandinavian countries and Northern Europe, but as a milepost in his service was his work at the General Conference for the Church in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe during the communist era.
As an evangelist and leader in the Adventist Church in Denmark and Norway for many years, Jens Madsen was well known and appreciated for the contribution he made. In a time when secularism and moral decline increasingly impacted the society around him, he was steady like a rock, when the church needed a calm and firm hand at the helm. His focus on the soon coming of Christ, and the hope we have in Him, characterized his leadership and preaching.
The Middle East Messenger was the official organ of the Middle East Division from 1945 to 1980.
Middle East and North Africa Union Mission Periodicals/Book/Electronic Text
The Middle East Union Mission was operational in two separate periods from 1941-1951 and again from 1970-2011.
Middle East and North Africa Union Mission Church Administrative Unit
Frithjof Muderspach served most of his life as a missionary in East Africa. He was respected and loved by nationals as well as fellow missionaries. His faithfulness and sacrificial service were legendary and an inspiration to many young people in his homeland, Denmark.
Trans-European Division Biography Missionaries Died/Imprisoned for Faith
John Muderspach was a highly respected leader who was known for his professional skills in business and finance and who in the middle of the hustle and bustle of his work found time to be human in the best sense of the word. He served the church for 47 years in Denmark, West and East Africa, as well as at the Headquarters of the Northern European/Trans-European Division.
Louis Muderspach served the Seventh-day Adventist church as pastor-evangelist, teacher, school principal, editor, writer, and administrator. He helped form and grow the Adventist work in the Nordic countries as well as among the Scandinavians in North America. Evangelism was always high on his agenda along with his interest in education and the youth. Also, temperance and health ministry were close to his heart. His books found their way into many homes. He started early in his ministry and was faithful and loyal to the end.
Peter Gustav Nelson worked in many capacities in the church in Denmark and Norway, where he had a keen interest in education and youth. He is especially remembered for his 12 years as president of the West Nordic Union Conference, when he led the church through the difficult years of World War II.
Andreas Nielsen is known as a pioneer for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Greenland. As a missionary, literature evangelist, and pastor, he served in Denmark, Germany, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland.
Trans-European Division Biography Groundbreakers Missionaries
Niels Balle Nielsen was a lifetime missionary, serving the Seventh-day Adventist church for 50 years, most of which were spent in the mission field overseas. He worked primarily as a secretary-treasurer at different levels and for a few years as a union president. He was known for his quiet but friendly and helpful character and faithfulness in service.
Nile Union Mission (NUM) was organized in 1951 as part of the newly organized Middle East Division. Its territory included Egypt, Libya, northern Sudan, the portion of Arabia bordering on the Red Sea, and Aden. NUM had a brief history and was dissolved in 1962.
Middle East and North Africa Union Mission Educational Institutions
Originally owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Nutana was a health food factory in Denmark.
Oscar Olsen (or Olson) served as a missionary, first in Sweden as a publishing director and later in Persia as an education, publishing, and youth director.
Middle East and North Africa Union Mission Biography Groundbreakers Missionaries
The Norwegian Olaf Johan Olsen, also known as Iceland-Olsen and the Apostle to Iceland, had a remarkable mission career in the Seventh-day Adventist Church as a missionary pastor, leader, and administrator. In Iceland, over a period of 33 years, he raised up the local church from almost nothing to eight congregations, second only to the Lutheran State Church.
Trans-European Division Biography Groundbreakers Missionaries
Kenneth Samuel Oster, with his outgoing personality, linguistic skills, and intellectual capacity, was a trend-setter among Seventh-day Adventists who developed a respectful and less confrontational approach to share the good news with the Muslim population of the Middle East.
Dr. Carl Ottosen was a founder, promoter, and leader of the Seventh-day Adventist health work in Scandinavia. Together with his wife, Johanne Pauline, he founded Frydenstrand Sanatorium and Skodsborg Sanatorium in Denmark, following Dr. John Harvey Kellogg’s model from Battle Creek in America. His influence and groundbreaking work set a new trend for preventive and curative health work in Denmark and earned him the respect of his colleagues and the order of Knight of Dannebrog from the Danish king.2 He was a strong supporter and participant of the Adventist church work in his home country, Denmark.
Trans-European Division Biography Groundbreakers Medical Workers
The Palestine-Transjordan Mission of Seventh-day Adventists comprised the territory of the British protectorates of Palestine and Transjordan in the Middle East and had an estimated population of 1.2 million when it was organized in 1929. It had a brief history of about nineteen years until a reorganization took place with the formation of the State of Israel.
Middle East and North Africa Union Mission Church Administrative Unit
Emanuel W. Pedersen lived on four continents and in six different countries while serving at all levels of the Adventist Church organization from colporteur, teacher, and pastor in his homeland to general field secretary at the General Conference. In his lifetime of more than 100 years, he saw his Church grow from fewer than 100,000 members to more than 13 million.
Known as the friend of the youth, Steen Rasmussen played a major role in developing the youth work of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, first in Scandinavia and later in the rest of Europe. As an energetic person with organizational skills and a winning disposition, he served as the head of the Home Missionary Department of the General Conference.
Sine Renlev was Denmark’s first female Seventh-day Adventist preacher. With her pleasant personality, her guitar, and her beautiful singing voice, she drew large numbers to her Bible lectures in public halls, tents, or the homes of interested people. Having become a Seventh-day Adventist in 1879, she almost immediately set out to preach the present truth, and no one could stop her from sharing her newfound faith.
Trans-European Division Denmark Biography Groundbreakers Women