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Bishop Ole Borgen dies at 83

A UMNS Report
By Linda Green*

March 27, 2009


Bishop Ole Edvard Borgen

Bishop Ole Edvard Borgen, the first non-American president of the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church, died March 24 at Akershus University Hospital outside Lillestrøm, Norway.

Borgen, 83, who was installed as president of the council in 1985 and served a one-year term, called United Methodists to a “spiritual and holy life.” In 1983, during a meeting of the denomination’s evangelical caucus, he said, the primary reason that the church has not been effective in mission was because “it shifted from a sectarian movement to a denomination.”

According to Bishop Richard Wilke of Winfield, Kan., Borgen was “Christ-centered” and “had an evangelical passion and a social concern. He was conscientious, faithful and serious about the well-being of the church. Borgen was a man of absolute integrity and everyone respected him.”

Born Nov. 8, 1925, in Lillestrøm, Borgen received his early education in Norway. He grew up as an active member of the local Methodist church and responding to God’s call on his life in 1956, he came to the United States to study. He received an A.B. degree from Greensboro, (N.C.) College, a B.D degree from Duke Divinity School, Durham, N.C. and a doctorate from Drew University Graduate School, Madison, N.J.

He served as a minister of music and assistant pastor at the Edgemont Baptist Church in Durham, N.C., while attending Duke and served West Side Avenue United Methodist Church in Jersey City, N.J., while attending Drew. He was ordained an elder in the Western North Carolina Conference in 1963.

“We give thanks for the life and ministry of Bishop Ole E. Borgen,” said Bishop Øystein Olsen of The United Methodist Church, Nordic and Baltic Area.

Return to Europe

According to Olsen, Borgen’s leadership skills prompted Bishop Odd Hagen of Stockholm, Sweden, to invite him to return to Europe. He transferred his ministerial membership in 1966 to the Norway Conference and he became the bishop's assistant and a pastor in Sweden in 1968.

In 1970, he was appointed as secretary and leader of the World Methodist Council's office in Geneva, Switzerland. In September that year, he was elected bishop of the Northern Europe Central Conference.

After having served 19 years as an active bishop, Borgen retired in 1989. Between 1989 and 1992, he served as scholar in residence at Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Ky. He and his spouse, Martha, returned to Lillestrøm in 1992, where they became active again in the local church.  

Internationally Borgen was a significant theologian and church leader. He was a member of the executive committee of World Methodist Council and delegate to several World Council of Churches meetings. He received several awards for his contributions to Methodist history and theology. He authored several books, among them, “John Wesley: The Man and His Thought” and “John Wesley on the Sacraments.” He was chairperson of the Commission on Central Conference Affairs and was president of the World Methodist Historical Society.

60th birthday honor

In honor of Borgen’s 60th birthday, church officials in Stockholm, Sweden, planted an apple tree in his honor. During his lifetime, he collected one of the largest known private collections of John Wesley literature. During the last few years, “he graciously gave it away for the benefit of future generations,” according to Olsen, and some items can be seen in Tallinn, Estonia, and Oslo, Norway.

“As the episcopal leader in the Nordic and Baltic Area, Ole E. Borgen combined a clear leadership profile with his sincere wish to see the revival heritage from John Wesley continued in our time. He was a preacher and teacher with an evangelist heart,” Olsen said.

Bishop Woodrow Hearn agrees. He said Borgen was a strong voice during his active days in the Council of Bishops. “He always expressed his convictions for evangelism and spiritual life with strength and conviction,” he added.

Martha Borgen died in 2003. The Borgens are survived by two children, Odd-Erik and May-Brit. The funeral service will take place April 2 at Skedsmo church outside Lillestrøm.

*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.

News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

Resources

The United Methodist Church in Northern Europe

The Council of Bishops

Board of Global Ministries

World Methodist Council

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