Baptistic Theologies, 2009

ct confrontation between Lammers and Rymker took place in June 1858. Lammers visited Rymker and wished to speak to him about baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Rymker writes in his journal ‘Lammers judged the Baptists as formalists and that it had to be something unclean behind their beliefs’. ET from Norwegian. Ibid., p. 73. 17 In a letter to Wiberg he wrote, after holding a meeting in Larvik one Sunday night: ‘In the evening the Bishop of the Diocese held a meeting to discuss the “Baptist wild escapades”. On Monday, Rymker went to the Bishop and talked with him and concludes “He is no believer; I did not find him as bitter against us as others. He said even that he wished those that were ‘sick’ and gone out of the Church, to be organised to be Church under my guidance." This was a positive sign and he, in his yearly report, states that in his opinion the first church could possibly be in Larvik since at his meeting here were gathered around 30-40 for each meeting.’ ET from Norwegian. Ibid., p. 74. 58 Ibid., p. 75. Baptist Beginnings in Norway 117 Rymker writes in his journal ‘in the evening Carl Gundersen came and wished to be baptised, which with joy I agreed to do after the Lord’s command, even though it might cost me my freedom or expulsion to Denmark. May the Lord’s will be done. Amen.’ 59 1859 was also a year of similar difficulties, but Rymker’s tenacity and hard work began to bear fruit. More of those he had made contact with in 1858 now wanted to be baptised. 60 On 19 th May, Rymker travelled, together with Jeppe Olsen, a Danish preacher, to Bergen. It was the beginning of a route which included most of the largest towns in the south western part of Norway. It included Stavanger, Kristiansand, Rispr, Larvik, Tpnsberg, Horten and Christiania, before he came home to Porsgrunn on 18 th June. During his travels he made contact with pastors in the Lammers Churches and the Moravian Brethren and was given opportunity to preach. He continued to distribute pamphlets and sold Bibles. In every town he visited, he made thirty home visits each day. As the year 1860 began, the dream of establishing a Baptist Church in Norway was to be realised, and as a result a new face of Baptist work in Scandinavia was begun. 61 Church Planting in Porsgrunn and Larvik A letter to A. Wiberg in January 1860 was one of the most positive letters written by Rymker during his time in Norway. Even though only nine people had been baptised, he felt it was time to constitute a church, though he personally wondered if it was wise with so few members and without a z: i~\ qualified brother as pastor. He thought it was correct to be recognised officially as Baptists with a statement of faith. It might hinder the newly baptised to be left ‘free’ or ‘disappear’, or end up in the Lammers Free Churches. In a further letter in February to Wiberg he again mentions the constitution of a Baptist Church. In April, in another letter,