Brunstad—50 Years

Brunstad—50 Years

This year we can celebrate the 50th year of the Brunstad Conference Center! This is a special day for the church internationally, but first and foremost it is a testimony to the men of faith who were led by the Spirit of faith to do God’s work in our time!

Most people probably know the story behind Brunstad, but put briefly, it was Pinehas Nilsen who saw an advertisement in Aftenposten that there was a small farm for sale in the municipality of Stokke, near Tønsberg. He immediately contacted Aksel J. Smith who went out to look at the place on a dark winter day. In those days the distance was great, and it was difficult to make headway in the winter snow. As it turned out, the owner was an old school friend of Aksel J. Smith’s, and they soon struck up a friendly conversation.

Aksel J. Smith was a man of faith, and God gave him grace to see the possibilities of this beautiful place that was so nicely situated. It had a beach as well as mountainous terrain. As a result he contacted Elias Aslaksen and Sigurd Bratlie in a spirit of enthusiasm of which they also became apprehended. These three shepherds and leaders stood together, firmly united in the same mind and in the same opinion: They were going to do everything they could in order to buy Nedre Brunstad Gård (Lower Brunstad Farm)! And, with God on their side, that is what happened. Nedre Brunstad Gård became the property of the church in 1956.

This was the beginning of a new time for the church. The possibilities that this purchase opened up also increased the tempo of the mission work in Europe. The brothers traveled around and preached the gospel and the word of the cross, and they could boldly say: Come and see! It really works! They could boldly invite people to Brunstad from far and near.

The Brunstad Conference Center has undergone a constant improvement for the better during these past fifty years. This has been a blessing for all our friends in Norway as well as in other countries. The meeting hall has already been enlarged twice, and the facilities have been adapted to current standards. We have entered into the work of others in the earthly as well as in the spiritual realm.

The preaching of the death of Christ as the only way to the life of Christ has been born of a powerful Spirit of faith, with the result that there has been a sharp sword over all egotism as well as seeking one’s own and personal honor. God could not have given such solid growth without this preaching from the podium at Brunstad. In 1 Corinthians 3:7 we see how Paul viewed the matter: “So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.” In other words, all glory belongs to God when we see how Brunstad has grown during these past fifty years. It is not difficult to acknowledge that we have entered into other people’s work and have received grace to build further on the foundation that wise master builders have laid who have gone before us. V. 10. Let all of us take heed how we build further with our lives so that others who come after us can enter into a work that God can bless with continued growth and development!

When we look back, it is with great thankfulness to God for our brothers, shepherds, and leaders who have gone before us. Johan O. Smith was faithful in the hidden and was able to bring a gospel that was hidden to the wise and prudent of his days. 1 Cor. 2:1-8. As a result he was mocked and despised, and he remained all alone during the first years. The gospel has now spread, and the work continues in more than sixty countries, firmly planted in the doctrine of victory over sin through the power of the cross, which Smith passed on to the next generation. This guarantees safety and God’s blessing precisely because the word of the cross continues to be preached with power and is still foolishness to those who are perishing. 1 Cor. 1:17-18. Thus the church is preserved under a cover of reproach, even though people admire the earthly results they can see with their eyes. Brother Johan O. Smith was succeeded by brothers such as Elias Aslaksen, Sigurd Bratlie, Aksel J. Smith, and others. They continued the work almost unnoticed under great reproach and with only a few friends. Nevertheless, they faithfully worked with God’s Word and were a blessing for more and more people. It is God who adds to the church those who are willing to be saved, also in our days. And He finds them regardless of where in the world they live! We have really experienced this! God makes sure to keep those far away who want something else, and who seek their own. This is a great blessing for the church, which is the body of Christ!

Our sincere desire and prayer to God is that we, and those whom God has given us in this important work, can walk in our fathers’ steps, to the glory of God. Among other things this means that we need to work in the same Spirit of faith in which Jesus spoke when He said to His disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you . . . .” The entire doctrine according to godliness needs to be preached. Our fathers have implanted that in us— and then we will enter into the blessing that they have left behind. As we build further, we have to build with the same precious materials and preach the same sound doctrine according to the same zealous godliness, without drifting away from it. Then God will also continue to give the increase, and Jesus can then be with us each single day. If we drift away from the sound doctrine, the church will end up as a religious assembly, organized according to human understanding, filled with people who seek their own, and without Spirit and power to be salt and a light in this world! Matt. 5:13-20.

Our forerunners were prophets in their time; that is why we can face the future with confidence and can make our dear late Brother Aksel J. Smith’s words ours with which he concluded his article “The Church and Brunstad” in Skjulte Skatter 30 years ago with the following words:

“The meeting hall will be built as simply as possible, without any luxury. All those from among the friends who realize the importance of God’s work, and the value of the mission center that Brunstad has become, will now rejoice in being along with their earthly goods with which God has blessed them. God gives so we can pass it on. He does not forget anything and rewards richly. However, He loves and blesses only cheerful givers.”

This is how it was, and this is how it is! This is also how it shall be in the future through the unselfish work of faithful servants of God when it concerns Brunstad, the local churches around the world, as well as in each person’s home and in his personal life!

May God give grace to all the friends—the small and the great, young and old, married and single— to be wholeheartedly along in the Spirit of faith when it concerns their time, strength, money, and not the least when it comes to prayer and care when we now, in our time, shall make Jesus’ words to His disciples the motto for our work in these days:

Making disciples of all the nations and teaching them to observe all of Jesus’ words!