Baptistic Theologies, 2009

church sanctuary was one important move. Lammers began to exclude the unsaved from participating in the Lord's Supper. In 1855 Lammers took a trip to Sweden where he became acquainted with the famous evangelist, singer and preacher Oscar Ahnfeldt. It is said the two affected one another more and more in the separatist direction. Ahnfeldt visited Skien many times. Diesen. Norges Vekkelseshistorie gjennom 1000 dr, p. 64. 46 Ian M. Randall, ‘Pious Wishes, Baptists and wider renewal movements in nineteenth century Europe’, The Baptist Quarterly, Vol. 38, No. 7 (2000), p. 316-331. Although he taught that new converts should be immersed upon profession of faith, Lammers did not consider that those who had previously been 114 Baptistic Theologies Disillusioned by the Lutheran Church, Lammers, on 22 nd June 1856, preached his farewell sermon in Skien Lutheran Church. He had come to doubt the views of the Lutheran Church concerning ordination, the administration of the sacraments and church organisation. Lammers concluded that it was best for him to resign. In Skien alone his reputation was without blemish, and he had great influence upon the religious life in the town. On 2 nd July 1856, Lammers left the church along with 38 people - ten men and twenty-eight women. They gathered at the pastor’s residence and founded ‘The Free Apostolic Christian Congregation in Skien’. Lammers was chosen as the congregation’s pastor and was installed with prayers and with laying on of hands led by Knudsen, who was previously a member of the Moravians. This, of course, would prepare the ‘soil’ for future Baptist work in Skien. In the later part of the 1860s and in the 1870s many of the Lammers churches declined. The Baptists benefitted when many Lammers members joined various Baptist Churches. 47 Baptist Beginnings in Norway Frederik Ludvig Rymker, the Norwegian Baptist pioneer, was born in Stige, near Odense, in Denmark on 22 nd September 1819. He grew up in a strong Christian family. They were poor and, as a result, education was limited. Like many young men of his day, at the age of nineteen he became a merchant mariner which he continued to do until 1846. The ship travelled along the Eastern sea coast of America, from Maine to South Carolina. In 1845, in New York City, Rymker came in contact with members of the a o First Mariner’s Church. His conversion did not happen in New York as stated by Arnold T. 0hrn in Baptist Work in Norway (p. 53), but in a hospital in Charleston, SC. As a result of an accident aboard ship, he was admitted to this hospital where he had his leg amputated. After his recuperation, returning to New York, he made contact with the Mariner’s Church. He was baptised and became an active member. In 1848 he was licensed to preach. 49 Rymker wanted to return to Denmark, and ‘The Bethel Union’ supported him economically with 100 dollars a year. The money had been donated by a Norwegian, Nils Shobart