Lars Olsen Skrefsrud
Encyclopedia
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Together with Hans Peter Børresen he is regarded as the founder of the Norwegian missionary organization Santalmisjonen (from 2001 a part of Normisjon). He was followed by the missionary, linguist and folklorist Paul Olaf Bodding
Paul Olaf Bodding
Paul Olaf Bodding was a Norwegian missionary, linguist and folklorist. He served in India for 44 years , and operated mainly from the town Dumka in the Santhal Parganas-district...
.
Skrefsrud came from the small place of Fåberg
Fåberg
Fåberg is a village and former municipality in Oppland county, Norway.The parish of Faaberg was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 . On January 1, 1964 Fåberg was incorporated into the neighboring municipality Lillehammer. Prior to the merger Fåberg had 13,381 inhabitants.The district...
north of Lillehammer
Lillehammer
is a town and municipality in Oppland county, Norway, globally known for hosting the 1994 Winter Olympics. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. As of May 2011, the population of the town of Lillehammer was...
in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. As a young man he was imprisoned for three years, and during his incarceration he became a Christian and started to study both the Bible and languages, and became one of Norway's foremost linguists.
The mission he established in India has grown to a church with over 150,000 members in the Indian states of Jharkhand
Jharkhand
Jharkhand is a state in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Orissa to the south, and West Bengal to the east...
, Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
, West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
and Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
. In the 1950s it became an independent institution - The Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church
Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church
Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church is a multi-lingual Lutheran Christian church that is centred mainly in three states of North India - Bihar, Assam and Bengal. The reach of the Church extends into Nepal and the NELC also works in Bhutan....
(NELC)