The church environment itself is very different in Iceland. There is a national church of Iceland, but very few of those churches hold Scripture as the final authority for faith and life, clearly preach the gospel, intentionally make disciples, and actively seek to reach unbelievers and call people to follow Jesus. 

By that definition, there are very few churches in Iceland. 

There are high levels of family fragmentation, loneliness and mental-health struggles, and an increasingly secular culture where biblical Christianity is unfamiliar to many people.

The reality is clear: Iceland desperately needs the gospel.

And because the Christian population here is so small, a relatively modest investment in gospel ministry can potentially have an outsized impact.

Paid pastoral ministry is rare outside of the national church. The financial realities simply make it extremely difficult. Iceland is a very expensive place to live. Housing is expensive. Food is expensive. Transportation is expensive. Facilities are extremely expensive. Taxes are high, and many ordinary costs add up quickly.

A relatively small congregation may be carrying an expensive building, utilities, ministry expenses, and other operating costs. By the time all of that is covered, paying a full-time pastor may simply be impossible. This has certainly been the case for our church at Loftstofan. The church has gradually increased to provide 30% of Gunnar’s salary, but donations provide the remainder.

On an ordinary Sunday we currently have somewhere around 100–150 people attending.That is a significant congregation within the Icelandic evangelical landscape. This would make us in the top 5 of largest attended churches in the country.

The church is not only multi-ethnic but genuinely multicultural. On any given Sunday we may have people from around 20 different nations worshiping together—from Iceland, Central and South America, Eastern Europe and the rest of Europe, numerous nations in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere.

And we are growing. Every year we are seeing conversions and baptisms.

Our reach beyond Sunday mornings is also increasing significantly. We have an Icelandic ministry called Trú og líf, which is broadcast through FM 102.9 as well as distributed in podcast form. Many Icelanders listen to it—including people who aren’t Christians.

Our sermons and online ministry are also reaching people across the country who have no evangelical church nearby.There are people who drive as much as an hour and a half to attend church on Sunday. Others simply live too far away and regularly listen online because there is no church available where they live.

Within Loftstofan we have five small groups, one-on-one discipleship, youth ministry, university ministry, children and family ministry, and a substantial benevolence ministry where we help struggling people and families, including providing grocery assistance.

One opportunity is to translate and publish strong theological resources in Icelandic. There is very little solid theological literature available in Icelandic compared with English. The goal would be to translate and publish one significant book each year.

A second opportunity is online evangelism and outreach. Because Iceland has such a small population, online ministry has enormous potential. Relatively modest amounts of money invested strategically into online evangelism, media, podcasting, preaching, and apologetics could put gospel content in front of a remarkable percentage of Icelanders.

A third long-term hope is to help establish a church in Akureyri when God opens that door.

Additional short-term and one-time opportunities include the purchase of technology for online ministry, discipleship resources, conferences and training, and eventually hiring additional staff who could carry some of the administrative and practical workload and free Gunnar to focus more heavily on preaching, evangelism, discipleship, and leadership development.

The Iceland Project is a 501c3 and exists to encourage a church planting movement in Iceland by inspiring people to join and give to the work of the Gospel in Iceland.

The Iceland Project seeks to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Iceland in two main ways:

First, by planting healthy, gospel-centered, Christ-exalting, disciple-making and multiplying churches.

Second, by providing theological education, financial support and resources to future church planters and ministers of the gospel.

Through present and future partnerships, we long to see Icelandic pastors and church planters raised up to permeate the country with healthy, gospel-centered, disciple-making, Christ-exalting churches for the Glory of God.