Tony and Elsebeth Butenko visiting in Nuuk
The pastor’s house, clinic, and church in Nuuk
J
uly 3, 2021, marked 300 years since Hans Egede, a Danish-Norwegian Lutheran minister, traveled to Greenland to bring Christianity to this cold and extensive region in the far north. Then 67 years ago, in 1954, another courageous and dedicated Christian minister, Adventist pioneer Andreas Nielsen, set foot on the island. He was sent by the Northern European Division to share the gospel message with the people. Nielsen began his ministry by visiting Amon Berthelsen in Sisimiut, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) north of Nuuk. Berthelsen and his son had been introduced to Adventism through literature that fishermen from the Faroe Islands had distributed, and they began keeping the Sabbath. Later that year Berthelsen was baptized.
REACHING THE PEOPLE
FaithInAction
Sharing the Gospel in Greenland A history of commitment and self-sacrifice The daughter of pioneer Adventist missionaries to Greenland follows in her parents’ footsteps in a renewed effort to bring the three angels’ messages to the largest island in the world.
Nielsen and his wife, Aase, and their two children settled in Greenland’s capital city, Nuuk. They visited Nuuk residents in their homes, and Pastor Nielsen also traveled by boat to places along the coast to tell as many as he could about Jesus. Soon after Nielsen’s arrival in Greenland, the tract titled Look Up (Ardlorit in Greenlandic) was translated and distributed throughout the island. The books Steps to Christ and The Great Controversy were also later translated. These books and other Adventist literature were sent to many remote places and helped to break down prejudice to the gospel. Nielsen became known throughout many regions of Greenland. NO ROOM AT THE INN
When the Nielsens first arrived in Greenland, opposition from the Lutheran State Church was severe. On one occasion, when Nielsen and a fellow minister, Ernst Hansen, arrived in Ilulissat, in western Greenland, they learned that the rural dean of the Lutheran State Church in Nuuk had sent a letter of warning to the residents against the “heretics.” When their baggage
Photos courtesy of Elsebeth Butenko
