Fifth European Missionary Council

Again, in 1887, Mrs. White spent the month of June in Scandinavia. In company with Mrs. Ings she had attended very interesting meetings with the little companies of Sabbath keepers in Voh-winkel and Gladbach, Germany. In these meetings Elder L. R. Conradi had acted as guide, interpreter, and fellow laborer.LS 300.1

At Copenhagen there was seen an encouraging growth in the church since the last visit. A busy week was spent there.LS 300.2

The fifth annual session of the European Council of Seventh-day Adventist Missions was to be held June 14-21 in Norway. The place selected for this meeting was Moss, a beautiful town of eight thousand inhabitants, about two hours’ ride from Christiania. The delegates were as follows:LS 300.3

Central Europe: B. L. Whitney, Mrs. E. G. White. W. C. White, and L. R. Conradi.

England: S. H. Lane, Wm. Ings, J. H. Durland.

Norway: O. A. Olsen, K. Brorsen, and N. Clausen.

Denmark: E. G. Olsen.

Sweden: J. G. Matteson.

Russia: J. Laubhan.

United States: S. N. Haskell, J. H. Waggoner, D. A. Robinson, and C. L. Boyd.

In conjunction with the Missionary Council was held the first camp meeting of the Norway Conference. Ten tents had been pitched in a beautiful grove, and in these about one hundred were accommodated, while fifty more found lodgings in near-by houses. The delegates from America and Central Europe were cared for in a large, comfortable house overlooking the Christiania Fiord.LS 300.4

In the camp the prevailing language was the Norwegian, and there the usual program of a local camp meeting was followed. In the big house the prevailing language was English, and there very many precious seasons of prayer were enjoyed, also profitable councils were held regarding the means to be used for broadening and strengthening the work in all the countries of Europe.LS 301.1

Tuesday, June 14, cheering reports were made regarding the marvelous development during the year in the colporteur work. Elder Matteson related wonderful experiences during the preceding winter in his school for colporteurs and Bible workers; Elder Conradi reported the success of workers in Germany and Switzerland; Elder Olsen gave cheering reports from Norway, and Elder Henriksen from Denmark. Elder Lane reported good progress on the part of the colporteurs in England.LS 301.2

The Missionary Council went busily on with its work for several days after the people from the churches in Norway had returned to their homes. Plans were laid and resolutions adopted looking to the education of men for the ministry, and the establishment of a ship mission in Hamburg. The subject commanding the most enthusiastic attention was the development of schools in each conference for the training of colporteurs. That which called for the most anxious study was the question of preparing and publishing the most suitable literature.LS 301.3

Much interest was added to the meetings of the Council by the presence of Elders C. L. Boyd and D. A. Robinson, who were on their way from America to the great South African field. They joined heartily in the study of the difficult questions regarding the work in Europe; and they also brought in many of their South African problems for informal consideration.LS 301.4