The mountains may shake and the ground
may tremble
Of all the difficult things in life that we have to cope with, change is probably one of the most demanding and disorienting. Human beings thrive on familiarity. We are ‘creatures of habit’ as the English saying goes, and change threatens to disrupt those habits and deprive us of certainties we cherish.
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Unwelcome, uninvited change can threaten our confidence in everything that we assumed to be true. In Psalm 46, the writer describes the kind of changes he and his people were experiencing as ‘seismic’. He writes “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth shakes, and the mountains slip into the heart of the sea”. He wasn’t discussing the geology of Palestine. For him and many Israelites, the political disruption they were experiencing made it feel as if the ground under their feet was shaking. : Invasion by ‘pagan’ foreign powers, the failure of Israel’s political and religious system, the enforced exile of tens of thousands of his people – these undermined everything he had believed to be true, about himself, Israel’s status as the chosen people and even God Godself. It was as if the world itself was dissolving.
Change can threaten our identity, our confidence and even our faith, especially when those changes shake our most cherished traditions and deepest relationships. Sometimes it can feel as if the earth is giving way, as if there is no longer any solid ground under our feet. But that is not true. “I will not fear…” he says. God always remains solid…even when everything else proves to be insubstantial. “God is our refuge and our strength,” he writes. The mountains may move and the ground shake but God’s love is everlasting.
“Be still and know that I am God” says the divine voice at the end of the Psalm. Change will come for all of us – some of it necessary and welcome and some of it most unwelcome. But we need not despair. We need only understand that in every change God is somehow present, bringing life and purpose to the creation…and to us.
May each of us find the grace to face the changes of our lives, not in terror or denial but with hope and trust, finding that ‘stillness’, that peace, that the world cannot give.
Hugh Doyle,
Pastor, International Fellowship
Book launch for GLÖD – an autumn devotional book
Glow contains 40 devotionals themed around autumn. With the seasons as inspiration, the Nelly Network – the writers’ collective – have now written four devotional books for summer, winter, spring, and now, with this final book, autumn. The series is now complete.
📍Sunday, October 12 at 6:00 PM
The evening offers readings from the book by the authors and music by A Treehouse Wait. Free admission!
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🍂 Glow contains 40 devotionals themed around autumn.
With the seasons as inspiration, the Nelly Network – the writers’ collective – has now written four devotional books for summer ☀️, winter ❄️, spring 🌸, and now, with this final book, autumn 🍁. The series is now complete.
Autumn represents maturity and fruitfulness.
It is the season of harvest – but also a reminder of life’s impermanence: the great shedding, and the winter that inevitably awaits us all.
In this landscape, the authors have created a book that moves between the big global questions, where change happens quickly, and the smaller, everyday moments of our lives.
🎶 The evening offers:
📖 Readings from the book by the authors
🎵 Music by A Treehouse Wait
☕ Light refreshments, the opportunity to purchase the book and get it signed.
✝️ Two of the authors are Carin Dernulf and Charlotte Höglund, both pastors in Immanuel Church.
Other contributing authors include: Anna-Carin Abrahamsson, Lisa Fredlund, Eleonore Gustafsson, Maria Ledstam, Åsa Molin, Jenny Peterson, Anna-Lena Thoursie, Hanna Wärlegård, and Linnea Åberg.
Free admission – a warm welcome to an evening for both soul and senses.
Hi Daniel Wramhult, Head of Operations!
We are pleased to welcome Daniel Wramhult as our new Head of Operations! In his new role, he will work closely with the Senior Pastor and the internal office organization, follow up on the operational plan, and work with internal communication.
Daniel began his position on October 1.
What did you do before coming here?
Before coming to Immanuel, I worked as pastor and senior minister in the Immanuel Church, Jönköping. I have also worked as a Bible teacher and as the director of a retreat centre.
What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done?
The bravest thing I’ve probably done is becoming a parent and getting to know myself. From there, I’ve encountered many different situations where I’ve been more or less brave.
What do you do when you’re not working?
I enjoy reading, listening to music, playing golf, cooking, and doing DIY projects such as carpentry and painting. I also love spending time with my family and friends.
A very warm welcome to our next congregational meeting!
We are delighted to introduce two new staff members, to share an update on the church’s finances, and give a report from the Church Conference. We will also be conducting a by-election.
📍Sunday October 12, at 13:00, Congressen.
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This time, we will introduce Hanna as Principal of the Music School and Daniel as Executive Director. We look forward to an open and constructive meeting.
Agenda
- Presentation of new staff members
- Hanna Ekstedt – Principal of the Music School
- Daniel Wramhult – Executive Director
- By-election to the Election Committee
- Information: Update on finances
- Information: Report from the Church Conference
Welcome!
/ Peter Dobers and Carin Dernulf
HQ – Afternoon Activities for Children & Youth
Welcome to HQ – Holy Quarters, our open after-school program located on Källarplan 3 in Immanuel Church.
Here you’ll find space for play, creativity, music, sports, snacks, homework help, and community – right in the city, right in the middle of the week. Everything is free, and no registration is required.
Open from 21 October! Come as you are!
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📅 Our Weekly Schedule:
🧁 Tuesdays 15:30–18:30 – for children up to age 9 and their families
A safe and playful afternoon with sports, crafts, music, snacks, and cozy corners. Perfect for young explorers and their parents.
🔊 Wednesdays 15:30–18:30 – for teens ages 13–18
A relaxed hangout with music, sports, arts, snacks, and study spaces – where you can be yourself, meet new friends, and find your place.
⚡ Thursdays 15:30–18:30 – for kids ages 10–12
A creative and active after-school space with sports, arts, music rooms, snacks, and homework help – for those who want to hang out with friends and try new things.
HQ is your midweek base – a place where there’s always someone who cares, something fun to do, and room for both laughter and calm.
📍 Location: Basement Level 3, Immanuel Church, Stockholm
💸 Cost: Free
💬 Drop-in: No registration needed
Welcome to HQ – Holy Quarters: After school – for real!
Help out at the Christmas Market – We’re looking for volunteers
On Saturday 29 November, it’s time for the Christmas Market again! We’ll need lots of helping hands, and we’re looking for both new and returning volunteers. Think about how you’d like to get involved — read more and register your interest!
Preparations for our annual Christmas Market are now in full swing.
All proceeds go to support projects in the congregation’s sister churches in N’Djili (Congo) and Panvel (India), Tahan Theological College in Myanmar, as well as the international work of the Uniting Church in Sweden (Equmeniakyrkan).
A Shower a Week is changing time!
Would you like to help out?
For many years, Immanuel Church has offered shower facilities to EU/EES citizens living in vulnerable circumstances here in our city. For many in this group, being able to take care of personal hygiene is not something to be taken for granted — due to lack of housing or financial resources.
That’s why, every week, we open the shower rooms located next to the church’s sports hall on basement level 3.
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NEW TIME!
Thursday mornings, 08:30–09:30
Please help us spread the word to anyone in need of a free weekly shower.
The new time is due to the long-awaited children and youth programme taking place on the same floor level in the afternoons.
We’re looking for more volunteers!
No prior experience is needed — only a willingness to care for others.
As a volunteer, you’ll be part of a team with a rotating schedule (every 2–3 weeks), always two volunteers working together.
If you’d like to contribute your time and compassion, please join — your help is deeply appreciated by those we meet in this work.
Sign up or contact our Diaconal Assistant to learn more:
ulrika.grevin@immanuelskyrkan.se
Counselling – Share your life situation with someone
Everyone faces different challenges in life, and if you would like to share your thoughts and life situation with someone, you have the opportunity to book a meeting for counseling with a deacon.
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We have experience working with people of all ages and in various life situations, where we both listen and offer guidance. This may include life crises, relationships, existential questions, mental health, and stress. Deacons are bound by confidentiality. No records are kept, and the conversations are free of charge.
You are welcome to contact us:
Frida Fritzon
Social worker, deacon with experience working with children, youth and social services
frida.fritzon@immanuelskyrkan.se
Margret Josefsson
Social worker, deacon, licensed healthcare counsellor with experience in primary care centre
margret.josefsson@immanuelskyrkan.se
Diaconal weeks, November 3–16.
Save the date!
Well, actually, the diaconal weeks are all 52 weeks a year, because diaconal work is part of the soul of the congregation. But in the beginning of November we want to raise more awareness of what diaconal work is. This will be done, among other things, through lectures, conversations, worship and in an exhibition of artworks made from recycled materials by Stefan Sjöblom. More information to come!
“Believe in Yourself”
Immanuel’s Project in Ecuador
For many years, Immanuel’s international projects have mainly consisted of cooperation with our partner congregations in N’djili (Kinshasa, DR Congo) and Panvel (India), as well as Tahan Theological College in Myanmar. In recent years, our international involvement has expanded in collaboration with our denomination, Equmeniakyrkan.
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One of these projects, “Believe in Yourself”, focuses on Ecuador. The project addresses domestic violence: physical, psychological, and sexual violence – where teenagers are a particularly vulnerable group. The project leadership, together with around fifteen volunteers, visits schools in the areas around Manta and Montecristi. So far, they have reached about 600 teenagers with a program aimed at preventing domestic violence. In addition, 150 people have received psychological support.
We are delighted to support this important work. Immanuel Church’s Mission and Aid Committee receives ongoing reports from “Believe in Yourself”, and the cooperation is budgeted through 2027.
Bake and pray – preparations for the Christmas market
Would you like to help bake for the Christmas Market café? On two Mondays in November (3/11 and 20/11), 14:00–15:30, we plan to bake cookies for the Christmas Market café.
Would you like to join us?
Register with Anna Berndes:
Email: anna.berndes@immanuelskyrkan.se
Please sign up no later than 27 October.
Welcome!
/ Housekeeper Ulrica and Pastor Anna
Opening Address by the Chair
At the congregational meeting on September 14, 2025, I spoke to the congregation for the first time in my role as Chair.
I made an effort to share what has been on my mind as I begin this assignment, as well as what I believe is important moving forward.
Several members, especially those who were not present at the meeting, have expressed an interest in reading what I shared. The text is now available below on the “READ MORE” tab, and also our member’s page on our website, where you can read it in Swedish, English, and (soon) Korean.
Are you a member of Immanuel Church but have forgotten the password to the members’ page? Contact Alice Forss at alice.forss@immanuelskyrkan.se.
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Community Meeting – 14 September 2025
Opening Talk by Peter Dobers
It is with great joy – and with humility – that I welcome you to the first congregational meeting of the autumn. But before we begin, let me share a few words.
We stand in a living and well-appreciated church. Just in the past few weeks we have seen it clearly:
- a full church at the confirmation service last Sunday,
- the Ecumenical Week, partly hosted here in Immanuel – a historic continuation of the Ecumenical Week in 1925,
- and soon, in just two weeks, we will host the national conference of the Uniting Church in Sweden (Equmeniakyrkan) here in our house.
Immanuel Church is therefore not just a building in the heart of Stockholm. We are a meeting place that is valued and that counts:
- in the very center of the city and the pulse of the metropolis,
- in the broad fellowship of the Uniting Church in Sweden,
- in Christian and interfaith collaboration,
- in diaconal work, compassion, and music – yes, in society at large.
When we met at the annual meeting this spring, and I had just been presented by the nominating committee as the proposed chairperson, I was asked a question along the lines of: “How do you see Immanuel Church?”
My answer then is the same as today: I see a congregation full of committed people – with different backgrounds, unique talents and gifts – who, regardless of where they come from, find in Immanuel both a spiritual home and a social community. Here we worship in English, Korean, and Swedish. Here there are activities and meeting places that touch people’s daily lives. It is good. It is blessed.
And precisely because it is so good and blessed, we also have opportunities – and perhaps even obligations – to contribute even more – especially to the Uniting Church in Sweden and its important mission priorities: to spread faith in Jesus, to strengthen adult education, and to support higher education and research.
I am thinking of the work that will follow after the weekly magazine Sändaren,
- I am thinking of the five folk high schools,
- I am thinking of University College Stockholm (Enskilda Högskolan Stockholm), and
- I am thinking of all the wonderful sister congregations in and around Stockholm.
Here, Immanuel can take part and make a difference.
At the same time, we have great opportunities to deepen our presence here – in the neighbourhoods around the church and our properties, throughout Greater Stockholm. To build more cooperation with others in civil society, with the public sector, with business and academia – and to be a voice, a hand, a force in our city.
That is the development I want to encourage, and where I see Immanuel contributing. Development in our congregation, in the Uniting Church, in Stockholm.
/ Peter Dobers, Chair
Do you play golf? Immanuel Open 2026!
We’re a few golfers in the congregation who would like to revive an old tradition – a fun golf tournament open to church members and their friends!
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If there is enough interest, we will try to book a golf course in the Stockholm area during late spring/early summer 2026 – sometime between 18 May and 17 June.
The tournament will take place on a weekday and conclude with a shared meal and prize ceremony.
Please note: The event is not financially sponsored by the congregation.
This is an expression of interest, not a binding registration!
If you’re a golfer at Immanuel Church and interested, please send your name and handicap (HCP) to:
Thure Thorgren
Mail: thure.thorgren@gmail.com
If you have friends who might be interested, talk to them and register their interest as well!
More information will follow later.
Golf greetings
/ Thure Thorgren, member of the Congregation
Swedish Service at 11.00 in the big Sanctuary
10:45 Quiet Music · 11:00 Worship Service. Children’s Church every Sunday. You can also watch the services online on Facebook, our website, and every Sunday, we serve coffee and refreshments after the service in the church foyer.
Welcome!
Korean Service at 11.00 in the Waldenström Hall
The services can also be viewed online on our website, Sunday school
in Korean is offered every Sunday. Join us for coffee after the service.
Welcome!
International Service 11.00 in Congressen on level K1
All Sunday services can also be viewed online on our website and on YouTube.
Sunday School in English is offered every Sunday for children ages 3–14.
Faith Builders Sunday School for ages 12–14 will be on a summer break.
Join us for Fika after the service in Paus on level K1.
Welcome!
Celebrating birthdays
Christina Nelson Södersten 60 yrs 13 October
Grace Obura 65 yrs 29 October
Hans Bong Lee 90 yrs 6 November
Kaari Solja 90 yrs 7 November
Gone to be with the Lord
Karin Stefenson
*August 10 1932 † September 1 2025
Lars-Göran Allbrandt
*February 24 1946 † September 1 2025
Maj-Britt Lindquist Wallin
*September 22 1926 † September 4 2025
Hi-Chul Lee
*March 23 1945 † September 18 2025
New members
Göran Tomson
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GE DIN GÅVA / GIVE YOUR OFFERING / 헌금안내
Svenska Swish nr: 123 418 32 24
International Swish nr: 123 189 13 08
Korean Swish nr. 123 184 98 43
Tack för alla gåvor i pengar, tid och engagemang.
Thank you for all gifts through money, time and commitment.
모든 헌금에 감사드립니다.
Copyright © 2025 Immanuelskyrkan, Stockholm, All rights reserved. You are receiving this newsletter because you had signed up to receive the Immanuel Church Newsletter. info@immanuelskyrkan.se
