Vikings in North East return as thanks for Christianity

SpeakInSilence · #1 Jul 30, '12, 8:18 pm

Quote:

A Viking longship has returned to the banks of the River Tyne to say thank you to the north-east of England for bringing Christianity to Norway 1,000 years ago.

Hundreds of young Norwegians arrived in Newcastle on Sunday, as part of a community project working alongside more than 70 churches in the region.

The last time the Vikings were in the region in the 1400s it was to invade and pillage. This time, they are saying thank you for their Christian Heritage, birthed and enabled from the city

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I thought it was a cute article.

**Dale_M** · #2 Jul 30, '12, 8:25 pm

Here is a link to the news article cited in the first post

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-19049987

Its a nice story.

**Dale_M** · #3 Jul 30, '12, 8:36 pm

Here is a bit more, from a Norwegian newspaper. The translation is by Google, so its a little rough

Quote:

Ship sailed up the River Tyne, and during a ceremony at the Millennium Bridge was the English thanked for their contribution in giving the gospel to Norway.

The city's mayor, the Bishop of Newcastle and Member of Parliament, Sir Alan Beith was there to accept the stack. A letter from Bishop Ole Christian Kvarme was read, and Bishop Ingeborg Midttømme was also present, according to University of Oslo. 300 other Norwegians were also there to thank, they've already been to Newcastle a week and worked with about 70 local churches. They have included holiday club for children, blessed the community and held events for youth.

Quote:

Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Norway is an interdenominational missionary movement that has approximately 270 employees in Norway. They operate schools, training, mission and development work in the world. YWAM currently has about 100 field worker in long-term service in other countries.

YWAM has had major celebrations and evangelization campaigns in all Olympic Games since Munich in 1972. During the Olympics jobs UNIVERSITY in cooperation with the umbrella organization More Than Gold, which is an official partner of the International Olympic Committee.

http://www.vl.no/kristenliv/vikinger...%20evangeliet/

**Holly3278** · #4 Jul 30, '12, 10:33 pm

That is pretty cool.

It would have been awesome to see the Viking long ship in person!

Trebor135 · #5 Jul 30, '12, 11:17 pm

The timing of this event is ironic given how irreligious both Norway and Britain are nowadays. The subjects of both kingdoms would have deemed the gesture far more meaningful in, say, 1812.