Good values weren’t enough for Linda Hamfors of Stockholm, Sweden. Hamfors, who grew up in an atheist family, believed Jesus was “a really amazing guy” and learned values from her parents like forgiveness, acceptance and love.
But good values couldn’t sustain the singer/songwriter through the tumultuous years when her parents began drinking more and pursuing materialistic gain.
Feeling “left alone with my good values, I wasn’t feeling good,” Hamfors said.
Struggling with addiction, Hamfors searched for God. She found a church. She began singing in church and the gospel songs moved her to tears.
Then she heard church planters Eric and Anissa Haney — also musicians — perform at an event in her city. They sang songs Anissa had written about life, hope and love.
“(I write songs) about the value of life,” Anissa Haney said. “All the songs I’ve written in the last few years (are) about the value of life, how valuable you are to God and that He has a purpose for your life.”
The second time Hamfors heard the Haneys play during a street performance she “came over to me in tears,” Anissa Haney recalled. “She had all these questions and she wanted to get together sometime.”
Hamfors explained, “My mind was going, ‘Oh this is too much about Jesus and God,’ but my heart was saying, ‘Yes.’”
“Yes” is an answer the Haneys know all too well. Eric describes the initial calling to international service as “a hurricane in our souls” — a deep stirring that drove them to pray. The young musician told his wife, “Whatever this is, the answer is ‘yes’ to God.”
That “yes” eventually led the Haneys and their three children to Stockholm. As the first International Mission Board (IMB) church planters in Sweden they help start churches within a culture steeped in secularism and post-modern thought. They are funded through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering (LMCO) for International Missions and the Cooperative Program, Southern Baptists’ provision for missions and ministry.
Charles Kridiotis, a church planter with the Simple Church network who partners with the Haneys, estimates that 3.5 percent of Swedes attend church. Of that he said about 1.5 percent could be considered evangelical Christians.
Because Stockholm is a secular society and Swedes “just don’t talk about God,” Kridiotis and Eric Haney agree a small group approach to church planting is necessary.
“The resistance is not (toward) Jesus,” Kridiotis said. “The resistance is (toward) what church is perceived to be in this nation.”
The strategy is simple: listening that leads to relationships that lead to biblical community and authentic small group worship.
Eric Haney said, “We really care about their stories. So their story leads to our story, which is God’s story.”
Approaching conversations about God through music has the ability to “cut through walls,” Anissa Haney explained, noting the countless times people have approached them after a song and shared a piece of their story because the music moved them.
“Music has a power … to bring about healing … and to bring purpose and hope,” she said. “We play a lot of music in pubs and during open mics so a lot of times we are the only believers there, the only little piece of light in the darkness.”
Read more about the Haneys’ songwriting at bpnews.net/41998/singer-shares-story-behind-set-her-free. Hear Anissa’s music on her SoundCloud page: soundcloud.com/anissarose.
Go to imb.org/offering for resources to help promote the LMCO in your church.
(BP)
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