Congregations in southern Sweden gather in Helsingborg this weekend for “Bygga hopp” — Building Hope — a conference organised by Equmeniakyrkan Region Syd around a single question: what can the church actually contribute to the society around it? Friday evening opens with a service open to all, while Saturday draws around 130 registered participants into talks, seminars, a café and worship.
The idea grew out of last year’s national church conference, where members asked for a clearer focus on how the church takes part in building a good society. “It needs to become clearer that we are not only, or should not only be, a church you go to in order to escape what happens outside the church walls, but that we really do contribute,” said Lasse Svensson, regional church leader in Region Syd and one of the organisers. Congregations do not need to arrive with ready-made answers, he suggested; a first step can be simply to make yourself available, look at what is needed locally and ask what you can offer.
Svensson believes the conditions for that engagement have shifted. “I think I see less religious touch-phobia in society at large. There is a greater openness to religiously motivated organisations also doing good,” he said. Because Region Syd consists of relatively few congregations and many small ones, the programme deliberately highlights examples that work without large resources. Among them are the brunches at Betlehemskyrkan in Gothenburg — a simple meeting place of the kind that has largely disappeared from Swedish life or moved online, and where Svensson argues the church has something valuable and human to offer. Participants will also hear from Hjärta för Tibro and the Gothenburg City Mission, and discuss everything from generational questions to international engagement. The study association Bilda has produced supporting material for congregations to work through in advance.
The weekend carries a lighter side too: Equmenia general secretary Marcus Lind preaches on Friday and later appears as DJ-Mac, and the old Christian teenage band Zebra Crossing reforms for a set. “We haven’t written any songs since our teens and it’s a bit cringe and there’s some bad theology too, but in between there is actually some really good theology,” Svensson admitted. Behind the festival atmosphere, though, lies the theme of hope in a period when the climate crisis and the world situation generate anxiety. The church’s task, he argues, is twofold: “We are called to help drive change so that we can live in a more sustainable world. But we are also called to always share a hope — it is not over. In the end God has set his seal and said that it will be good.”
(Originally published in Swedish. Summary translated by CC / Connexion.)
Source: Equmeniakyrkan / Sändaren — https://sandaren.se/nyheter/2026/10/08/konferens-vill-vacka-hopp-och-forandra-samhallet/
