“There is a change coming in the church and in Sweden. God is touching people. God is touching us. And I believe he wants to touch people all over Sweden,” said Samuel Malmqvist. “When we say we take Jesus to the streets, he touches people in wonderful ways – we are sharing his love with people. We are praying for people with different sicknesses and Jesus would come and take away the pain.”
Samuel Malmqvist is a member of Pannkakskyrkan. It is a Christian youth organization supported by different churches. The youth groups go out to town to invite people to have pancakes and they usually do this in the middle of the city. Some people go there with a caravan; or with sun loungers and carpets and candles and sound systems; or by erecting a tent in the middle of the town’s square or high street. They also talk to people who want to share about something or someone, pray for someone, talk about important issues in life that are at hand and also help someone whose life needs a lift, or follow someone to the bus- or tram-stop.
Pannkakskyrkan is not a church but it is based on churches: an ecumenical project. The Pancake Church is an all-Christian movement that is engaged and supported primarily by young people.
In the summer of last year, a group erected a tent on Avenyn the High Street of Gothenburg aka Göteborg and started attracting some passers-by by offering them freshly-made pancakes with cream. This was organized by Samuel Malmqvist on behalf of Pannkakskyrkan – Pancakes’ Church.
Samuel Malmqvist is spreading the message of God. How come a group of youngsters interested in a religious activity in Sweden? Is Sweden re-discovering God? Or, a changing is sweeping the country but undetected? Samuel spoke to www.gothenburg-400.com and shared his views stating that ‘God has not left Sweden’ and ‘God has Sweden on his mind’. Listen to the podcast.
The organizers distributed pancakes to all those who had come to their tent irrespective of races and religious. There were browns, blacks, yellows and whites who popped in and had a pancake and popped out to their destination points for the evening.
