Introduction
Welcome to WeGoInFaith! We are Matt and Deborah Stanghelle. Our family is church planting in Norway with the Presbyterian Church in America. We’re so glad you’re here!
Matt is leading a team to plant the Presbyterian Church in Norway. Atheism and paganism cover Norway in spiritual darkness. Many Christians in Norway are sheep without shepherds. Norway needs Christ to be preached and healthy churches to be planted. Matt is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is serving his call with the Ministry to the Military and Internationals, a commission of the Southeast Alabama Presbytery.
Support by Mail
Ministry to the Military and Internationals
P.O. Box 4247
Montgomery, AL, 36101
Support Online
To support Matt and Deborah through MMI’s donations page, click here.
The Mission
Our mission is to plant the Presbyterian Church in Norway by establishing healthy, Christ-centered churches, through the ordinary means of expository preaching, biblical worship, and devoting ourselves to prayer, discipleship and evangelism.
Four goals outline the mission.
Plant an International Church in Stavanger
We are planting First Presbyterian Church of Norway in Stavanger, the third largest city-region in Norway. Stavanger is a global city. It is home to NATO’s Joint Warfare Center and an international oil industry. First Presbyterian has a core group of Norwegians and internationals waiting for us to move to Stavanger to plant the church: FPCNorway.org.
Expand Gospel Ministry to Norwegians
We are connected to a growing network of Norwegians who are hungry for the gospel and sound doctrine. One way we are advancing this cause is by our team of Norwegians who are translating the Westminster Standards into Norwegian for the first time. We built WestminsterStandards.org as a platform to host this translation.
Form a Church Planting Network
We desire to see Presbyterian church plants in Norway’s six major city regions. We pray that God would enable us to send church planters into those regions and raise up a new generation of Norwegian pastors and church planters.
Establish a Norwegian Presbyterian Denomination
We pray that through this church planting movement, God would enable us to establish a healthy, evangelical denomination—the Presbyterian Church in Norway (Presbyteriansk Kirke i Norge).
We go in faith to Norway resting in our sovereign God who delights to build his church and to do so in ways far more abundantly than all that we could ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20-21)!
The City
Stavanger is a beautiful and thriving international port city on Norway’s southwest seaboard. It is the 3rd largest city region in Norway with 320,000 inhabitants. The region is projected to surpass 400,000 by 2030. English is the trade language widely spoken by Norwegians and internationals.
The People
Stavanger’s English-speaking, international climate creates a strategic location for reaching Norwegians and internationals with the gospel. English-speaking church planting is effective because English is the trade language connecting Norwegians and internationals. Like New Testament times when Greek was the trade language that allowed the gospel to spread throughout the Roman Empire, so it is today with English in the global marketplace.
Norwegians
Stavanger’s Norwegian citizens love art, music, culture and the outdoors. Norwegians have the fifth highest per capita income in the world. A significant challenge for Norwegians is recognizing their need for Christ amidst such affluence.
Internationals
Stavanger hosts a thriving international community. NATO’s Joint Warfare Center and the oil industry draw a global force of internationals. A significant challenge for military or international business families is loneliness and the loss of a home church.
The Need
Atheist & Pagan
Church of Norway Attendance
Presbyterian & Confessionally Reformed
Norway’s spiritual climate is dark. The vast majority identify as atheist or pagan. The former Lutheran state church, the Church of Norway, is liberal and draws very few (although formal membership is high). Cheap grace and prosperity theology is prolific. The largest church in Norway does not preach sin or hell from the pulpit. Some Norwegians have to drive 2-3 hours to go to a church that preaches the Bible. On the whole, God has no place in modern Norwegian society and many believers in Norway are sheep without shepherds. Norway needs Christ to be preached and healthy churches to be planted.
The Global Team
Planting the Presbyterian Church in Norway is a global project. We are partnered with churches and believers from America, Norway, the United Kingdom and beyond. We are formally connected with the Presbyterian Church in America and the Ministry to the Military and Internationals, a commission of the PCA’s Southeast Alabama Presbytery. In the field, we are partnered with a Norwegian family, Jonas and Pattie Stava.
Presbyterian Church in America
Matt is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). The PCA is an evangelical and Reformed denomination that is “faithful to the Scriptures, true to the Reformed faith, and obedient to the Great Commission.” Within the PCA, Matt is serving his call with the Ministry to the Military and Internationals (MMI), a commission of the Southeast Alabama Presbytery.
Jonas & Pattie Stava
Jonas Stava is a native Norwegian. He is a teaching elder in the Philadelphia Presbytery and is also serving his call with MMI. Jonas and Pattie are currently living with family on the island of Karmøy and they plan to move to Stavanger this fall. Jonas and Pattie have previous experience as missionaries in Thailand. Jonas has a heart for evangelism and apologetics as well as a thorough knowledge of the secular Norwegian mind.
Join Us
Support by Mail
Ministry to the Military and Internationals
P.O. Box 4247, Montgomery, AL, 36101
Make checks payable to “Ministry to the Military and Internationals.” Please include a note that your gift is designated for “Matt Stanghelle.”
Support Online
To support us through MMI’s donations page, click here.