Religion and religious communities

The Herrnhut established their first and largest mission station in Greenland, Neuherrnhut, 2 km south of the state mission colony of Godthåb (Nuuk). Here, traditional Greenlandic peat houses with imported European windows and chimneys are seen near the mission station on the far left of the photo. Lithograph by Lars Møller after a watercolour by Hinrich Johannes Rink, 1863.
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK, USA/ALBUM/RITZAU SCANPIX

Christianity came to West Greenland on 3 July 1721, when Hans Egede, together with his family and a large entourage, settled on an island at the mouth of Nuup Kangerlua (Godthåb Fjord). He came as a royally appointed missionary to reconnect Norway and Greenland and re-incorporate the country into the Danish-Norwegian Empire by imparting the Evangelical-Christian faith to the inhabitants. From the mid-13th century, Greenland, along with Iceland and the Faroe Islands, had been part of Norway, but by the early 15th century, contact between Norway and Greenland had ceased.

The West Greenland missions

During the 18th century, the Danish-Norwegian king’s envoys laid out a number of towns evenly distributed along the west coast of Greenland from Upernavik in the north to Nanortalik in the south. From these new settlements, Christian teachings were widely spread. A Greenlandic written language was established and locals learned to read and at the same time were taught the Christian faith. Around 1810, almost all West Greenlanders were baptised and had learned to live a Christian life, attending church and reading the New Testament and Luther’s Small Catechist in their native tongue.

The German-speaking Moravians (the Moravian Brethren) worked alongside the Danish-Norwegian state mission and, with the king’s permission, they started their missionary activities in Nuuk in 1733.

The church in Qaanaaq is one of the northernmost church buildings in the world. The inauguration was in 1954, a year and a half after the population of the settlement of Uummannaq – close to Mount Dundas in the valley of Pituffik – was moved 130 km north to Qaanaaq in connection with the establishment of Thule Air Base. The church was extended in 1988 and has the world’s northernmost pipe organ, a gift from Thule Air Base given in 1987. The altarpiece is a painting made for the church and shows Jesus in the company of Greenlandic children.
ANINGAAQ R. CARLSEN/VISIT GREENLAND, 2021

Over the next 130 years, they established a total of six mission stations in the Nuuk area and southwards all the way down to Cape Farewell (Uummannarsuaq). After 1864, relations between Denmark and Germany became tense, and against this backdrop, the Moravians abandoned their presence in Greenland. To the sorrow of the communities, they left the country precipitately in 1900. The Danish state mission took over the mission stations of the Moravians, and the communities were incorporated into what was soon to become the Church of Greenland.

Missions in East Greenland and North Greenland

In East Greenland, a mission station was established in 1894 on the island of Ammassalik. This was done on Danish initiative with the priest Frederik Carl Peter Rüttel as the first missionary in the place. His successor became the West Greenlandic catechist Christian Rosing, who had a degree from Ilinniarfissuaq (Godthåb College of Education). Christian Rosing was ordained as a priest in 1904 and then served as a missionary in Ammassalik until 1922. He baptised the last East Greenlanders in 1921.

A newly founded Danish ecclesiastical association, the Committee on Ecclesiastical Affairs in Greenland, established a mission station in Thule district (north of Cape York) in 1909 under the direction of the West Greenlandic catechist Gustav Olsen, who had been ordained as a priest that same year. He baptised the first Inughuit in 1912 and did not leave Thule until 1921. The last adult Greenlander in the district was baptised in 1934. Fearing the great power of the United States, it was not until 1937 that the Danish state dared to assert its sovereignty in the territory by taking over the church, school and medical services.

The mission in East Greenland and Thule made a great impression on the already Christian West Greenland community, and news from these areas were eagerly read, not least Christian Rosing’s book Tunuamiut on the pagan customs of the East Greenlanders, which was published by Ilinniarfissuaq in 1906.

The Church of Greenland

Queen Margrethe’s arrival for the ordination of Greenland’s new bishop, Paneeraq Siegstad Munk, at Hans Egedes Church in Nuuk on Sunday, 10 October 2021. To the right of the Queen is former Dean, Isak Davidsen, who was knighted with the Order of Dannebrog in 2018. Hans Egede’s Church was consecrated in 1971, the 250th anniversary of Hans Egede’s arrival in Greenland. In the background, on the wall, are portraits of Hans Egede and his wife Gertrud Rasch. It has the only carillon in Greenland. CHRISTIAN KLINDT SØLBECK/RITZAU SCANPIX, 2021

The Church of Greenland came into being in 1905 when the Danish Parliament passed the Greenland Church and School Bill. During the negotiations in the Danish Parliament, it was perhaps for the first time officially stated that Greenland was no longer a ‘pagan’ country, but that the country’s church was part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark. From then on, Greenland was therefore no longer a mission field, and the priests were no longer to be called missionaries.

The former mission districts became parishes, a concept taken over from the Faroese Church. Today, Greenland is divided into seventeen large parishes.

At the head of the Church of Greenland was from 1905 a rural dean who was under the supervision of the bishop of the Diocese of Zealand, later the bishop of Copenhagen. From 1969, the Greenland dean was given the title of national dean.

The Danish Constitutional Act of 1953 emphasises that the Constitution of Denmark applies to all parts of the Kingdom of Denmark. It has the obvious consequence that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark is also the Church of Greenland.

Confirmation day in Nanortalik, South Greenland. The special Greenlandic costume is worn on this day of celebration, just like on other religious holidays: The men in white anoraks and black trousers, the women in intricately designed dresses, kamiks and beaded collars in complicated patterns.
MADS PIHL/VISIT GREENLAND, 2016

When Greenland was given home rule in 1979, the church was the first thing to be transferred, and the national dean became a vicebishop. Not until 1993 did Greenland become an independent diocese with its own bishop. When Greenland gained self-government in 2009, the Greenland Church Act of 2010 established that the Church of Greenland, Kalaallit Nunaanni Ilagiit, was assigned to the Government of Greenland and at the same time would be part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Unity of the Realm. About 95 % of the Greenlandic population are members of Kalaallit Nunaanni Ilagiit, which is funded by the Greenland Government. No church tax is paid in Greenland.

The country’s seventeen parishes are grouped into three deaneries: Provsteqarfik Avannaa (North), Provsteqarfik Qeqqa Tunulu (Middle and East) and Provsteqarfik Kujataa (South). Each parish has a main town and one or more settlements. In total, the Church of Greenland has 67 church buildings with the Annaassisitta Oqaluffia (Church of the Savior) in Nuuk as the cathedral.

There are 25 priestly offices in Greenland, including the bishop and three deans. The Church of Greenland also makes one to two priests available to the Greenlandic community in Denmark. Long-term vacancies are common, especially in the outermost regions. In addition, there are approximately 40 part-time catechists with a short education and about 15 so-called ‘readers’ who are catechists with no education. There are organists at roughly half the churches.

Interior of the church in the East Greenlandic settlement of Kulusuk (population 215), consecrated as a school chapel in 1924. The church was partly built from ship timbers from a shipwreck with the help of surviving crew members. The votive ship, seen to the left of the photo, was also made by one of the shipwrecked sailors.
JØRGEN MALLING/ARKTISK INSTITUT, 2008

Most priests in the Church of Greenland have a bachelor’s degree in theology from Ilisimatusarfik supplemented by a pastoral theological course organised by the church. In addition, the church also conducts organist and catechist education.

The catechists

For centuries, the catechists have played a big and important role both in the church and in the community. They originally acted as the mission priests’ helpers, but have also often had ample opportunity to act more or less independently. There is no doubt that a significant part of the overwhelming success of the Greenlandic mission is due to the fact that the mission very early on allied with Greenland converts, leaving much of the mission work to them.

The catechists perform a number of pastoral functions in combination with teaching obligations and work assignments, which in Denmark are left to the parish clerks. Each parish spans large geographical distances that make it impossible for the priest to carry out all duties. The local catechists can therefore independently, under the supervision of the priest, hold church services without communion, conduct baptism ceremonies and funerals and teach candidates for confirmation. They do not undertake weddings and confirmations, nor are they allowed to hold communions without special permission from the bishop.

Zion Church in Sisimiut was built in 1926 to replace the so-called Blue Church, Bethel Church from 1775, which is today a museum. The Bethel Church was the first church in Greenland that was built by the Greenlandic congregation. It was shipped from Copenhagen as a kit and paid for with 60 barrels of whale blubber. Zion Church also ended up being too small; it was rebuilt and expanded in 1984.
ARKTISK INSTITUT, 1984

Before 1950, the church and school services in Greenland belonged together, and Greenland’s dean was the school’s chief executive. The catechists received thorough education at Ilinniarfissuaq and, alongside their ecclesiastical functions, often also acted as school teachers. When the church and school were separated, the responsibility for the catechist was transferred to the church and is today just a short course education.

Congregational representation

The Greenlandic counterpart of the Danish parochial church council are so-called congregational representations, which consist of elected representatives of the congregations in all towns and settlements, in addition to the local catechists and priests. According to Greenland Church Act, the congregational representations must ‘provide for good conditions for the service of the Gospel’ and must be consulted before a decision is made on filling a vacancy with a priest in the parishes concerned. Along with the priests of the diocese, the congregational representatives also have the right to vote in electing a bishop.

Congregational life

The Greenlandic ecclesiastical tradition has two origins: the Danish state mission, and the German-speaking Moravian mission. The period of state pietism in Denmark formed the basis of the Greenland mission, and the later more rationalist religious trends have affected Greenland less than the rest of the Unity of the Realm. The country is therefore characterised by a special spirituality and liturgical tradition. At the ecclesiastical feast and in connection with the major life events – baptisms, confirmations and weddings – there is a tradition of wearing the national costume to church.

From the beginning, both the state mission and the Moravian mission placed great emphasis on speaking the Greenlandic language. At an early stage, Greenlandic hymns were composed, first by the foreign-language missionaries, later also by Greenlandic poets. Today, the church therefore has a rich repertoire of well-known Greenlandic hymns, translations of hymns from especially Denmark and Germany and hymns originally composed in Greenlandic.

Peqatigiinniat

The Christian association, Peqatigiinniat (those who want fellowship), is the country’s oldest association. It emerged as a revivalist movement in 1907 under the inspiration of the Home Mission and Grundtvigian movements in Denmark and quickly spread throughout the west coast.

Members meet for Bible reading, joint prayer and hymn singing in settlement halls and private homes and also do voluntary social work. This purely Greenlandic language movement has had great importance in building national consciousness and church life, but has less impact in the present than it has had in the past.

The Missions to Seafarers

Indenlandsk Sømandsmission – the Danish Missions to Seafarers – is a Danish organisation that has worked in West Greenland since 1969, and currently operates three seamen’s homes and one hotel. The seamen’s homes serve as both hotels and Christian drop-in centres from which the words of God are preached. Based on the Missions to Seafarers, the Danish Christian movement, Kristeligt Forbund for Studerende (KFS), has started a student mission in Nuuk in recent years.

The Catholic community in Greenland belongs from an organisational perspective to the Catholic diocese in Copenhagen. The only Catholic church building in Greenland is Christ the King Church in Nuuk, an important ecclesiastical and social meeting place for the growing foreign population, particularly of Filipino origin. Catholic masses are also occasionally held in other towns.
EMIL HELMS/RITZAU SCANPIX, 2021

Religious communities outside the Evangelical Lutheran Church

With the amendment of the Danish Constitutional Act in 1953, Greenland had freedom of religion, and a number of Christian and non-Christian religious communities emerged outside the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Some of them disappeared again.

The Catholic Church

Catholic Christianity came to Greenland around 980 with the Icelandic speaking Norse who disappeared during the 1400s. In more recent times, the Catholics had missionary activities from the 1930s, and in 1972 they were able to consecrate their own church building in Nuuk, Christ the King Church. There are approximately 300 Catholics in the country, more than 80 % of whom are of Filipino descent.

The Pentecostal Church

Since 1953, evangelical free churches have worked in Greenland, primarily the Evangelical Free Church of Denmark, the Apostolic Church and Pentecostal communities in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. These three denominations joined forces in 2000 under the name Inuunerup Nutaap Oqaluffia (The New Life Church), which today is a Pentecostal church with some 13 communities around Greenland with approximately 500 adherents.

The Evangelical Christian Community

This religious community was established in Nuuk in 1970 by missionaries from the main free church in the Faroe Islands, Brøðrasamkoman, which is rooted in the British revivalist movement The Plymouth Brethren. Known for their mission house Ebenezer, the community purchased a larger building in Nuuk in 2021, which was named Naalakkap Jiisusip Oqaluffia (Church of the Lord Jesus). In addition to the ecclesiastical activities, since 1975, the Evangelical Christian Community has run the Naalersitaq summer camp at the head of the Ameralik Fjord to the delight of many families with children. The community is financially supported by fellow believers in the Faroe Islands and also conducts missionary activities elsewhere in Greenland. The community has approximately 100 adherents.

The Baptist Church

A Baptist priest from Independent Baptists in the United States has been conducting missionary activities in Ilulissat since 2007. Today there is a church building and a small community, Ilulissani Baptistit Oqaluffiat (the Ilulissat Baptist Church), supported financially by a group of American Baptist churches.

The Salvation Army

The Salvation Army commenced their activities in Nuuk in 2013. In addition to the ecclesiastical activities, the movement has extensive social activities.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church

The Seventh-day Adventist Church erected a church building in Nuuk in 1958 and was active in Greenland until 1992. Today, the former Adventist Church is an art museum.

The New Apostolic Church

The New Apostolic Church was established from 1989 in three towns in Greenland. Today, the religious community has only very few followers; occasional church services are held by an itinerant priest from Germany.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints (Mormon Church)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints had missionary activities in Greenland from 1998, but stopped their activities in 2014.

Jehovah’s Witnesses

Jehovah’s Witnesses have been active in Greenland since the 1950s. Today, the religious community has about 150 members and is represented with kingdom halls in five towns.

Bahá’í

The Bahá’í religious community came to the country in the 1950s and today has about 150 followers spread across eight towns and settlements, as well as a meeting house in Nuuk established in 1974.

Further reading

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  • Flemming A. J. Nielsen

    (b. 1964) Ph.D. and MTheol. Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Theology, University of Greenland.