The Norwegian Church Abroad

The Norwegian Church Abroad Haley Newman

If you have ever looked at a topographic map of modern Norway, you will have noticed that there are mountains running right down the middle of the country, thousands of miles of coastline, and numerous islands along the coast.

Since ancient times, people have sailed in order to navigate this geography, leading to master shipbuilders and sailors who eventually made their way around the world.

Beginning in the 19th century, the Norwegian church followed their people to foreign lands. Norwegian Sea Churches (Sjømannskirker) sprang up in coastal towns around the world, providing a range of services to Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish sailors. Since their inception, these churches have constantly adapted to the needs of the people they serve, as industries change and world events present new challenges. While the world’s ports are no longer filled with Norwegian ships, the Norwegian Church Abroad, as it is known today, continues to fulfill its mission of serving Norwegians in other countries.

Sailors in Need

In the mid-19th century, the annual tonnage of the Norwegian Merchant Marine was only around 245,000 tons and mostly limited to the Norwegian coast. However, the repeal of restrictive trade laws, emigration, and innovations in shipbuilding led to a massive increase in Norwegian shipping.

The early ships that carried Norwegian emigrants across the Atlantic Ocean often carried iron as well. Then these ships would return to Norway with cotton, grains, tobacco, rye, and wood.

As the demand for shipping increased, Norwegian ships carried petroleum and lumber around the world, reaching Brazil, Argentina, both American coasts, and numerous other locations. By 1875, the tonnage of the Norwegian Merchant Marine had increased more than fivefold and Norwegian ships had become a common sight, especially in American ports. By 1900, Norway’s fleet was the fourth largest in the world.

Being a sailor was dangerous and difficult work at this time. These men could be away from their home country for years at a time and they typically spent days or even weeks at sea. When a ship finally reached a port, the ship’s crew could expect to be in these cities for days or weeks, as the

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ship underwent repairs and its cargo was unloaded and loaded without the aid of winches or cranes.

These sailors, many of whom were young men, would have time to wander these port cities. They were often tempted by saloons or preyed upon at boarding houses and by foreign shipmasters, losing much of their wages and forgetting their obligations at home. Being robbed, getting drunk, and getting into fights was not seen as a good way for these men to be living. In fact, one Norwegian businessman visiting New York in 1874 was said to have been shocked by the “low state of morals” among the sailors.

A few years prior, Norwegian Pastor Johann Cordt Harmens Storjohann had completed his theological education and made a few trips to Britain to study the parish-run free church. There, he made contacts with the British Seamen’s Mission, which had been founded in the early 19th century. One reverend had taken an interest in the Norwegian sailors there, but the language barrier proved to be an obstacle for him.

At this time, Norway had a state-sponsored church, the Church of Norway. To Pastor Storjohann, it seemed that the church had forgotten about the thousands of Norwegians who were members of the church but were not in Norway.

Inspired by the work of the British Seamen’s Mission, his solution was to bring the church to the Norwegian sailors.

In Bergen in 1864, Storjohann founded the Organization for the Preaching of the Gospel to Scandinavian Sailors in Foreign Ports (Foreningen til Evangeliets Forkyndelse for Skandinaviske Sjømænd i Fremmede Havne). Later, the name was shortened to The Seamen’s Mission, though the founders had intentionally avoided using the word ‘mission’ because their objective was not to proselytize. Rather, they aimed to bring the familiarity of the Norwegian Church to those who had already been baptized and raised in the church but happened to not be in Norway.

The Mission’s Work Begins

The mission began their work in English and Scottish ports, but numerous requests also began to come from the United States, where much Norwegian shipping was going on. In the 1860s, the port in Brooklyn, New York City, was seeing around 150 Scandinavian ships per year as well as

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The altarpiece was carved by Thorvald Tobiassen of Lillesand, Norway, for the first Norwegian Seamen’s Church in Brooklyn, New York, in 1879.

Vesterheim 1984.060.001 - Gift of Frank and Bert Guido and Paolo Bennici.

The painting of the Ascension was in the altar of Our Savior’s Church in Brooklyn, New York. The Norwegian painter, Ole P. Balling, lived in New York from 1856-1874. He is best known in the U.S. for his portraits of John Brown and Civil War Generals Grant and Sherman.

Vesterheim 1984.059.001 - Museum purchase in honor of J. Harry and Josefa Andersen with funds from Inez Schaefer, Clarence and Marilyn Engwall, Harold and Doris Campbell, Rolf Erickson, Ruth Wickney, Merald and Sue Wrolstad, Elsie Melby, and Marion and Lila Nelson.

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the numerous Norwegian sailors who worked on American ships. After a short, temporary arrangement with a local pastor in Brooklyn, the mission decided to establish a separate and independent station for Norwegian sailors in 1875. It opened in 1878, making it the first Norwegian Sea Church in the United States.

The establishment of Sea Churches in other American port cities soon followed. These churches hosted a wide range of services for sailors. Pastors would visit sailors on ships upon their arrival, sometimes distributing religious materials and inviting the men to the church. They would also hold regular services where possible and visit sick sailors in hospitals.

The church’s services also expanded beyond typical religious activities. A principal part of their mission was to provide an alternative to the saloons and to keep these men out of trouble. They did this with reading rooms. This space, which became a staple of most sea churches, was a place where sailors could go to meet other Norwegians, read books and newspapers from their home country, and write letters. Some even sold coffee and sandwiches. Sailors would hear about these places from the pastors that visited their ships, and they had a good reputation among the people in Norway’s coastal cities.

Some of these churches, such as the ones in Brooklyn, New York, and Pensacola, Florida, were also well known for their events and celebrations. Christmas seemed to garner the most fanfare. In Brooklyn, these festivities could draw a crowd of around 2,000 people. Norwegian families would send gifts to the churches for the sailors. Typically, these were useful items such as books, socks, and sweaters. The church would also host a meal for the men.

The church also provided practical services such as money keeping. Beginning in the 1880s and continuing well into the 20th century, sea churches provided a place for Norwegian sailors to deposit money for safekeeping and a way for them to forward money to their families in Norway.

The Church During Crisis

The first and second world wars were unprecedented times that presented unique challenges to everyone, including Norwegian sailors. While Norway was occupied during World War II, 30,000 Norwegian sailors were cut off from their country and their families. For these people unable to return home, the sense of community and familiarity provided by the Sea Churches was especially important. Beyond that, new services were established to fulfill new needs, and services such as the safekeeping of money were greatly expanded.

Another one of these services was known as the Letter Central. Established in 1918 and centered at the Sea Church in Brooklyn, this service connected Norwegians with their relatives in the United States. If they were uncertain of their relative’s address, they could simply send their letter to the Letter Central. Seamen would inform the church of their address as it changed, or they could rent a post box at the Letter Central. Their mail would be readdressed and forwarded to the correct location.

Additionally, the Seamen’s Church in Brooklyn maintained a bureau of missing persons. When sailors lost contact with their families in Norway, the family could submit a request and the church would help find them. More than 60% of cases were successfully solved.

Shipping Declines

As long as the Sea Churches have existed, they have experienced changes that affected who they served and how. Early on, a decline in Norwegian shipping and the subsequent loss of ship building from Norwegian coastal towns in the 1880s meant a loss of work for Norwegians in

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those industries. Many seamen crossed the Atlantic Ocean, finding work on American ships and in American harbors, among other places. Some even tried their luck in the California Gold Rush. As time passed, more crises, wars, and similar declines in shipping led to a decline in the number of sailors.

These declines meant a shift in the kind of people the Sea Churches were serving. At certain times in the church’s history, there were fewer sailors passing through port cities and more immigrants that had settled there or individuals who were working on American ships. During the first shipping decline in the 1880s, reaching Norwegians became more difficult as people were more spread out. In 1889, this caused the administration in Bergen to decide that the pastors should focus on serving traveling Norwegians and those staying in the city for only a short time. By this time, thousands of Norwegian immigrants had permanently settled in foreign cities, such as Brooklyn, and the administration thought they should join local congregations. However, these immigrants did still provide support for the mission and its churches.

During World War II, half of Norway’s fleet had been sunk and over 3,000 seamen had been killed. After the war, the fleet was replaced with modern cargo ships and tankers.

Norwegian shipping was again alive and well, but these vessels required fewer crewmembers, which meant fewer sailors visiting port cities. However, this was not true for every city. While Brooklyn was seeing a decrease in visitors, San Francisco was seeing an increase, which necessitated the establishment of a Norwegian Seamen’s Church in San Francisco in 1951.

The San Francisco church was largely possible due to the efforts of a local organization, Tabitha (Sjømannsmisjonsforeningen Tabita). Established in 1934, this local women’s group was responsible for the initial fundraising, and by the late 1940s, they influenced the Seamen’s Mission, individuals, clubs, and shipping interests to become involved. To this day, Tabitha continues to provide support for the church, especially with their fundraising efforts.

The Norwegian Church Abroad Today

Today, the era of the Norwegian sailor around the world has mostly passed, but that has not stopped the Sea Churches from continuing to operate. The churches are now known as the Norwegian Church Abroad (Norsk Kirke i Utlandet) and have 28 locations in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Five of these are in the United States, in Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and San Francisco. These churches are independent organizations that do work on behalf of the Norwegian church and government. This means that the Norwegian Church Abroad receives a portion of its funding from the Norwegian government’s Cultural Department, but the rest comes from private donations.

While there may not be a steady flow of seafarers through these churches, there are still Norwegians abroad.

The Seamen’s Mission aims to serve all Norwegians living abroad for both short and long periods of time. Many are students and employees, as well as some tourists.

All of these churches provide religious services such as baptism and confirmation, and some do weddings. These churches also continue to be cultural centers and social spaces for Norwegians in other counties. They offer a lot of lunches and events, especially around the holidays, including waffles and coffee. Many churches also have Norwegian items available for sale, such as chocolate, jams, cheeses, and books.

The Norwegian Church Abroad also provides a unique kind of support that an embassy cannot. Many people visiting or living in a foreign country can feel as though they

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Christmas at the Norwegian Seamen’s Church in Pensacola, Florida. Photo: Courtesy of the UWF Historic Trust.

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Seamen’s Church in San Francisco, California.

are completely on their own, with their embassy providing only emergency support. For Norwegians, however, the Norwegian Church Abroad provides services complementary to those of an embassy or consulate.

If Norwegians find themselves in trouble while in another country, they can contact the church. Just last year, when a Norwegian lost his passport, the church in Miami gave him a place to stay while the consulate got him new documents.

But people do not need a crisis to seek help from the church. The church is there for people even in situations of homesickness. In addition, churches can serve very large areas with pastors traveling to meet Norwegians, ensuring that no one is forgotten or left out.

The sense of familiarity provided by the church is especially reassuring during times of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past, the church provided a physical space; however, the pandemic made it unsafe to gather in person.

The usual services and gatherings could not occur, but the Internet allowed services to move online. Technology was particularly helpful, and some churches saw an increase in the number of people reaching out to them.

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Throughout the history of the Norwegian Church Abroad, this organization has constantly adapted to serve the needs of its people outside Norway’s borders. Initially, many of these people were sailors passing through the world’s port cities. They needed help managing their money, staying in contact with their families, and connecting with their home country through religion, reading material, and social gatherings. As the church has always done when presented with a challenge, it has continued to find new ways to help Norwegians based on their needs. In the past, they offered services such as money keeping and the Letter Central, but today their help comes in the form of getting people in contact with healthcare providers and helping to get medication and groceries. While the types of needs abroad have changed throughout time, the church continues to provide support and to help people stay in touch with their home country, making Norway feel less far away for Norwegians living and traveling abroad.

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Display of sailor’s knots made by Adolf Abrahamsen Hillevaag.

This was first exhibited in 1944 at a hobby exhibit at the Norwegian Seamen’s House in Brooklyn, New York.

Vesterheim 1984.043.003 Museum purchase.

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About the Author

Haley Newman is a recent graduate of Luther College, where she studied biology and Nordic Studies. She enjoys digging through libraries and digital archives to explore the past, especially when it relates to Norway. She spent the spring of 2022, her final semester, studying in Kristiansand, Norway.

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