The Diocese of Norwich and the Diocese of Luleå, in northern Sweden, have been linked for more than 20 years.
This spring a group of young people from Luleå visited Norfolk (and the Bishop Åsa of Lulea, who is on sabbatical here.) They toured the Cathedral and Julian Shrine and joined the bishops of Norwich and Luleå, on a visit to the Thetford and Rockland Deanery. This included church services, a walk around Attleborough on market day and a tour of one of the 60 farms working to protect the environment as part of the Breckland Farmers Wildlife Network.
So, what did they enjoy most, what did they learn, and do they have any suggestions for us?
Emelinda Engholm, 21, is studying theology at university and is also a church youth worker. She said: “Our trip to a farm outside Attleborough was really interesting. It’s so amazing how they are working to regain biodiversity.
“I loved hearing all of the history that is all around Norwich and England. But the thing that I will remember most is how they have put up three new coloured windows in the cathedral to make the place not only a place for memories but also a place for the people of today.
“I think the most significant difference between the dioceses is the number of volunteers. We have a problem in Sweden with gaining volunteers so it was so amazing seeing how many people are engaged in helping in the Church of England.”
Albin Vidmark, 22, who works at a pre-school in Sweden, said: “I loved to see all the differences we have to each other, and how everything functions in your diocese. I also enjoyed looking at all of the medieval churches and learning more about biodiversity.
“I learned a lot about the areas we visited, including that some of the villages have Viking names, and about how a lot of art in churches was painted over.”
Asked about differences between the two dioceses he said: “In Luleå we have church tax which means that everyone that’s baptised into the Church of Sweden pays about 1% tax to the Church, so we have a lot of paid staff. In Norwich you make the church run on donations and lots of volunteers. It’s inspiring for us to see your church working without all the paid staff that we have.
“Another big difference is that you have really flat ground with a lot of agriculture while we in the diocese of Luleå have lots of forests, rivers and some mountains!”
Heidi Viitala is also 22 and is doing an internship with a Christian sports organisation ahead of starting a Christian leadership course this autumn.
The group stayed at All Hallows Guesthouse alongside the Julian Shrine and Heidi said: “What I enjoyed the most from our stay in Norwich was to see all the beautiful churches and learn more about the history, especially of Lady Julian.
“During our stay I learnt a lot about how the Church works in England and how different it is from Sweden. For example, one difference was how many volunteers there are, which is something I really think Sweden should take after and try to improve on.
Emelinda, Albin and Heidi would all have loved to have heard more music in the church services they attended. “Worship music, for me, is really important,” said Heidi. “But, while some of the psalms and songs that are being sung today really are timeless, I believe that we have to write new songs that young people can relate to and sing along with.”
Did you know?
Luleå is pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable, loolay, finishing with ‘o’ as in hot at the end).
It is north of Arctic circle, with dark days and nights in winter, and the midnight sun in summer.
Temperatures plunge below minus 30 degrees centigrade in winter, with lots of snow, and hit plus 30 degrees centigrade in summer.
The huge diocese covers a third of Sweden’s area and is the northernmost of its 13 dioceses.
Around 60 per cent of Swedish people identify as Christian, with more than half the population members of the Church of Sweden, which was the established church until 2000.
About a quarter of Swedish weddings and two thirds of funerals take place in church.
The 1,312 islands of Luleå make up the world’s largest brackish water (partially salty) archipelago.
The city is a port and has a steelworks, the northernmost university in Sweden and is home to part of the Swedish Air Force.
The world’s first indoor shopping mall was opened in Luleå in 1955 – named Shopping.
It has the first Facebook data centre outside the United States, built in 2011.
The Luleå algorithm of computer science, developed in 1997, is a way of for storing and searching internet routing tables, using very little memory.
It hosts the Swedish Yukigassen (snowball fighting) championship every winter.
Pictures: Luleå, Creative Commons/Miraj/Andreas Harnemo. Visit to Attleborough, Diocese of Norwich.
