The first worship service of the International Methodist Church Oslo (IMCO) was held the second Sunday of October 2008.  Five people came. It was Ki Sung Kim, his wife and three students from Nepal, Kenya and Nicaragua.  Ki Sung Kim is the main-leader of the work. Today there is no specific church-planting team, except a group called “Project Group”, in which are district superintendent Vidar Bjerkseth, two ordained Methodist pastors, a lay person and Ki Sung. The group gathers about once every other month to discuss the project.

The work is hosted by Grunerlkka, Oslo, and is both a student ministry and a church-plant. In Oslo there are some 2000 international students altogether. There are up to 30 nationalities represented in the work.  The biggest national group is Dutch. Some Norwegian students come too. The services and fellowship gatherings are held in English.

I ask Ki Sung Kim to explain what he means by “church”. What is it they are planting together? He says:

- In my opinion, “church” is also defined in Eph.2.19-22 and I Timothy 3:15. The Church has many local churches (congregations). The church is the gathering of people who have Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour; gathering for the purposes of worshiping God, being nourished and trained by His Word and fellowshipping with one another. The church is open to all, both believers and non-believers. A Christian cannot grow normally toward Jesus' likeness without belonging to a church.  A church, to me, is a power station where Christians should be strengthened and trained to be 'good soldiers of Christ Jesus' (II Tim.2:3). At the same time it is a love center where both Christians and non-Christians are comforted, encouraged and experience God's love.  

- According to the vision I have, I prayerfully try to establish IMCO as a self-supported church, a church which can function as described above.  I work on building a team and want to train them so that we can be fellow-workers in the task of establishing the kind of church I have explained. My vision is to train all lay people in IMCO to be soul-winners, to preach and teach God's Word and to serve the Lord the way the Bible shows.  Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church. Being a part of the church and serving the church is something way more valuable than whatever task in the world.

 - Every second Thursday we meet for something we call International Dinner Fellowship Meeting (IDFM). Usually a guest has been invited and he/she shares about his work. Some 30 to 50 people usually show up. Once there were 110! The work is somewhat instable since students come and go. They might stay for one semester or more and then they leave. 

- Every other Thursday we do a Bible-study and every Sunday there is a worship service.  This is my way of training leaders, Ki Sung Kim says. 10-14 people attend. However, most of them that attend come from other churches so I also see the Sunday worship services and the fellowshipping after worship as a kind of training course! 

- Our worship service is both traditional and contemporary, Ki Sung Kim shares. Most college students would actually prefer to have the latter. We use UMC hymnals, but since we do not have a regular pianist or an organist it is not easy for us to sing together.  I wish we had a musician who can play both piano and guitar. The church building and its sanctuary and other facilities are excellent and very beautiful!  Even Moslem students who attended our worship services for the first time in their lives said repeatedly that the sanctuary is so beautiful.

- My main sources of inspiration are The Project Group that gathers once every other month and the correspondence I have with all the members. I also have some friends overseas who pray for my ministry.

Camilla Klockars