History of the Free Churches

Many free churches trace their roots back to the very first church, which began in the year 33, when Jesus was first crucified, then rose from the dead, to eventually - 40 days after his resurrection - return to heaven again (the Ascension of Christ). The Church's' birthday 'is Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came to earth — 10 days after the Ascension of Christ.

For the first 300 years of the history of Christianity, the church was in many ways comparable to a contemporary NGO - it had grassroots structure, a great social commitment and in many ways challenged state power and the established order, where slavery and lack of gender equality, among other things, were the norm. It was first with Emperor Constantine I. The Great (280-337) that the concept of a state/royal church or king/imperial church arose — which is the prerequisite that centuries later one can begin to speak of free churches in the sense of non-state churches.

For the next several centuries, the state/imperial church was the primary form of church. At that time Christianity was largely equal to the Catholic Church including the Orthodox Church, which however split off in 1054.

With the Reformation at the beginning of the 16th century also came into being the Protestant Church, of which the Free Churches, like the People's Church, are a part - just in some currents other than the Lutheran current of which the People's Church is a part. For example, the Methodists come out of the Anglican current, which in turn gave birth to the Salvation Army, while the Baptists come out of the Anabaptic current.

American Christianity is deeply marked by the Reformed wave (Calvin/Zwingli), and the Pentecostal movement (the Pentecostal Churches) draws on both the Anabaptic and the Reformed currents.

The roots of the free churches that we have in Denmark today can thus be traced back to the Anabaptists that existed in the 16th century. The movement, despite opposition from Luther and others, was quite viable, and by the middle of the seventeenth century there were thus more than 100 Baptist churches in England.
Then, in 1727, the herrnhutes (Brethren Congregation) appeared in Germany, who in 1773 founded the town of Christiansfeld in Denmark.
Next came the Methodist Church (England, 1784), the Adventist Church (USA, 1863), the Salvation Army (England, 1865), and the League of Missions (Sweden, 1878).
The early 1900s saw the emergence of Pentecostalism (1906), which in Denmark is primarily represented by the denominations Apostolic Church, Mosaik, Vineyard and Hillsong.

Most free churches in Denmark have only come into existence after the Constitution Act of 1849, when the free churches received official recognition. The exception is the Baptist Church, which was founded on October 27, 1839. Baptists, moreover, played a central role in the struggle for religious freedom, which was introduced by the Constitution almost nine and a half years after the founding of the Church.

Formally, the Catholic Church is also a free church in that it is not affiliated with the state - just as, for example, the Reformed Church and the Orthodox Church are. Normally, however, these are not counted in the category of free churches.