The Evangelical Free Church of Sweden (Evangeliska Frikyrkan, EFK) has appointed Linnea Åberg as its new mission director, marking a leadership transition for the denomination's global mission strategy. Åberg returns to Sweden after more than ten years of missionary service and regional leadership in Asia, where she was most recently based in Thailand. The appointment was reported by the Swedish Christian newspaper Sändaren on 22 July 2026.
EFK is one of the three founding traditions that merged in 2011 to form Equmeniakyrkan (the Uniting Church of Sweden), alongside the Mission Covenant Church and the Baptist Union of Sweden. The mission director role carries responsibility for the denomination's international partnerships, missionary sending, and relationships with the global free evangelical family — including connections through the International Federation of Free Evangelical Churches (IFFEC). Åberg steps into the role at a time when many Nordic free church mission bodies are rethinking traditional sending models in favour of mutual, reciprocal partnerships with churches in the Global South.
In her first interview after the appointment, Åberg described an international congregation in Chiang Mai, Thailand, that shaped her vision for mission. The church drew members from across the world, including many who had left their home countries or were carrying deep personal wounds. She argues that churches where people can be honest about their struggles — what she calls a "vulnerable church" — become naturally outward-facing. "When people are secure in their relationship to Jesus and to one another, they also gain the courage to go beyond the community," she told Sändaren. "The congregation becomes a place of strength that reaches out and serves society." For Åberg, authentic Christian community is not a programme to be managed but the foundation from which all mission flows.
(Originally published in Swedish. Summary translated by CC / Connexion.)
Source: Equmeniakyrkan / Sändaren — sandaren.se
