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Christianity in Finland - a brief history

The Finns are a people of Finno-Uguric descent, linguistically related to the Estonians and Hungarians, but also peoples such as the Evenki of Siberia. In Finnish Finland is known as Suomi. 

There had been a Christian presence in Finland from the 1000s. 

In 1155, Eric IX of Sweden launched a campaign to Christianise Finland, accompanied by bishop Henry of Uppsala, who was martyred in 1156. About a century later, in 1249, Finland was annexed by Sweden. The first indigenous bishop was Abo of Turku in 1298. While most of Finland became part of Sweden, to the east, Karelia remained under Russian control, and the form of Christianity planted there was Eastern Orthodoxy. 

At the time of the Reformation, a follower of Luther called Mikael Agricola came to Swedish-controlled Finland and completed translation of the Bible in 1551, as well as translating other texts into Finnish. 1593 is the date when Lutheran Christianity was officially adopted in Finland. 

An early figure in Finnish Pietism was Katarina Asplund (1690-1758).

The official evl.fi website of the Finnish Lutheran church states, "There is a strong tradition of pietism in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland". It lists four oldest active revival movements as: The Awakened Movement, the Prayer Movement, the Laestadian Movement and the Lutheran Evangelical Movement.
 
Baptist congregations were established in Finland from 1855, and Methodism from 1859.

In 1809, Finland became part of the Russian Empire. In 1869, the Finnish Lutheran Church was disestablished.  

(Finland was independent from 1917. Finland fought and won wars with for its independence in 1918 and 1939-40.)  

In Finland, Pentecostal Christianity first began with a revival in the Vasa region in 1907, which spread by 1908, and was followed by a revival in Helsinki in 1911-12, with the first visit to the country by T. B. Barratt. 

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