Pastor Anniina is the outreach pastor at the oldest Free Church in Finland, which was established back in 1884. She is passionate about church planting and evangelism, and on today’s episode of The Evangelism Podcast, she shares some of the ways they reach people for Jesus in Finland. One of her favorite methods is an Evangelism Explosion course, where they teach people how to have spiritual conversations with their friends and family. Anniina is also in the process of planting a new church. They started with just 7 people two and a half years ago, and now they have around 30 adults and 10 kids. Today you will be blessed as you hear about what God is doing in Europe!
Transcript:
Evangelist Daniel King (00:00):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King. I’m excited about telling people about Jesus today. I have a very special guest with me, pastor Anina here in Tampere, Finland. Thank you for being on the Evangelism Podcast.
Anniina Halonen (00:14):
Yeah, such a privilege.
Evangelist Daniel King (00:16):
First, I want to say thank you so much for hosting our team here. We have been at your church each day this week, and you have fed us such delicious meals and opened up the church, and thank you so much for your hospitality.
Anniina Halonen (00:32):
You’re welcome. And we really enjoyed having you guys.
Evangelist Daniel King (00:36):
So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do at the church.
Anniina Halonen (00:43):
Yeah, well, first of all, I’m a mom, three kids and I have a husband and we live here in ra and I work for the Evangelical Free Church here. And I’m the outreach pastor. So my responsibilities are church planting and evangelism, which both are things I love so much.
Evangelist Daniel King (01:04):
What a great job to have. That’s wonderful. Now tell me a little bit about the history of the free church, because it is here right in the center of the city and it has been here for many years. When was it first begun?
Anniina Halonen (01:18):
Yeah, it’s actually the oldest free church in Finland and it was established 1884.
Evangelist Daniel King (01:25):
So it’s very historic.
Anniina Halonen (01:26):
Yeah, it was a really long history.
Evangelist Daniel King (01:29):
So as an outreach pastor, you want to reach people for Jesus.
Anniina Halonen (01:34):
Yes.
Evangelist Daniel King (01:35):
How do you do that? What are some of the ways that you reach out to people here in Finland?
Anniina Halonen (01:40):
Yeah, great question. Well, one of my favorites is an EE course. I get to teach people how to have evangelize and every week we meet someone like our friends or relatives and we have spiritual conversations. We get to share the gospel and we see a lot of people come to Christ through that. So that’s really special because things don’t like that much to talk to strangers, so that’s really easy to talk to someone they already know. So things are sometimes shy and they don’t like to talk to strangers. So we found out that it’s a very easy way to talk to the people they actually know and invite them into spiritual conversations. So that’s wonderful and it’s a great way to reach people.
Evangelist Daniel King (02:24):
That’s wonderful. And so you are currently planting a church nearby here. Talk to me about that process of planting a church.
Anniina Halonen (02:33):
Yeah. Yes. We are planting a church. It’s my first church plant.
Evangelist Daniel King (02:38):
Congratulations.
Anniina Halonen (02:39):
Third church plant of our church. So we are being a mother church and planting many churches. And now we’ve been like, our church plant is two and a half years old and we started with seven people and now we’re about 30. So we have 30 adults and about 10 kids. Most of them have been already believers, but we have few that have come to know Christ and we’re dreaming that we’re going to reach a lot of new people because when we started God said that the harvest is ripe and we should take courage. So we’re hoping to reach limb palace for Christ. That’s where I’m planted.
Evangelist Daniel King (03:15):
The other day, my wife Jessica went out witnessing with you and she told me that she was even learning from you about some of how you were approaching people. And one of the things she said is that people would say, no, I don’t want to talk about it. And you would ask them, where are you on your journey with God and are you at the beginning? Are you at the middle? And people would begin to respond to that and answer. And my wife says, oh, that is such a good way to reach people for Jesus because then they could open a conversation and start to
Anniina Halonen (03:50):
Talk. Yeah. And we do street evangelism also. Once a month we have a tent here at the Center Square and we offer coffee and tea for people. And that’s also a great way to interact with people. But once you’re offering something to eat or drink and people, they are actually interested in spiritual things though many times we have this feeling that they’re not, but they actually are.
Evangelist Daniel King (04:14):
What do you feel is the spiritual atmosphere here in Finland? And for the people who are listening, how can they pray for the Church of Finland?
Anniina Halonen (04:24):
Yes, we need prayer. I think things are open. We’re open nowadays since because of the wars that are going on in the world and the pandemic and everything. But one thing we are lacking is a great discipleship culture. The things are pretty lonely and pretty. You have to survive on your own. So at my church plan, I’m trying to create this culture where the church is like a family. They actually get to know other people and invite them into your lives. And you want to share your life and learn together how to follow Christ. So I think you can pray for spiritual mothers and fathers and mother and fatherhood would rise up and the Church of Finland. And also that we would have more courage and boldness to share the gospel. And I’ve love to have you guys here to support us and go together to the streets. That has been so amazing and such a big blessing. That’s been also our prayers.
Evangelist Daniel King (05:26):
It’s been really wonderful to see that the team of Americans and the team of Fins going out together and really seeing God do great things.
Anniina Halonen (05:34):
That’s true. I’ll be so excited about that too.
Evangelist Daniel King (05:37):
Well, thank you so much for your hospitality and again, thank you so much for inviting us here and it’s beautiful to see what God is doing in Tamara.
Anniina Halonen (05:47):
Yeah, thank you so much.
