Two of Finland's largest Protestant mission agencies — SVK Mission, the global outreach arm of the Evangelical Free Church of Finland, and Fida International, the mission organisation of the Finnish Pentecostal churches — have formalised a growing cooperation that now spans three continents and supports six shared missionary placements, with two more in preparation.
The partnership began informally in the early 2000s, when Finnish Free Church and Pentecostal missionaries working in Asia began meeting regularly and discovering a natural alignment in their methods, goals, and theology. In 2019 the relationship took a formal step with a shared worker placement in Tanzania, followed in 2021 by joint missionaries sent to Thailand. "On the mission fields we have met and been together. Behind Fida and SVK Mission I see much common ground — I have not experienced any difference in working methods, aims, or theology," said Fida executive director Jyrki Palmi.
SVK Mission director Nanna Rautiainen emphasised that the cooperation grew from the grassroots rather than through institutional design. "The connection has been there at the grassroots level for a long time," she said. "I remember during my own term in Asia in the early 2000s that we had joint meetings between Free Church and Pentecostal missionaries." Both leaders acknowledged one structural difference — Fida operates a child sponsorship-style programme that SVK Mission does not use — but described it as a complement rather than an obstacle. Both agencies expect the partnership to deepen further, viewing it as a model of like-minded mission bodies pooling resources for the sake of the gospel.
(Originally published in Finnish. Summary translated by CC / Connexion.)
Source: Suomen Vapaakirkko / Suomen Viikkolehti — svl.fi
