"Smith's Friends"
Brunstad Christian Church, also known to some as Smith’s Friends, began with a Norwegian Naval Officer named Johan Oscar Smith. Smith was born in Fredrikstad, Norway in 1871 and grew up in a good and harmonious family, which was actively involved in Christian missionary work.
When he was 15, Smith went to sea in an old sailing ship, but after a couple of years of sailing abroad, he enlisted in the Norwegian Naval Military Corps in Horten. He trained as a student petty officer and served in the Navy for about 40 years. It was as a young naval officer that he gave his heart to Jesus Christ on the 17th of May 1898 after he had attended a meeting in the Methodist Church in Horten. He was overcome with happiness because he had received Jesus as his "friend and brother." “Now He is my all in all," he wrote to his parents immediately after this experience.
It wasn't long before he found great joy in reading the Bible. There he read that he could receive help from the Holy Spirit to overcome temptations, instead of sinning. He experienced that this was true and started to speak about it at Christian meetings in various places. As he did so, he noticed that many Christian leaders tried to suppress this understanding. However, every time he testified to people about this great grace and possibility, he sensed a deep peace and inner joy. He began to study the Bible in earnest, and found that all the Scriptures in the New Testament confirmed the same thing—that we can have victory over conscious sin (things we know are wrong) by the help of the Holy Spirit. This brought him into conflict with most of the Norwegian Christian leaders at that time. These leaders claimed that Jesus had done everything for us, which meant there was no need for us to do good works ourselves. Everything associated with works was branded as "striving" and trying to "save yourself." Smith fought an ongoing battle, in life and in preaching, against this doctrine which he believed was false and unbiblical.
As the years passed, several people who were converted through their contact with Smith, became his co-workers. First his own brother, Aksel Smith, and later others including the Naval Lieutenant Elias Aslaksen, a fearless preacher who left a deep impression on the church. During his long career in the Navy, Smith established contacts in most of the coastal towns in Norway. Thus, congregations developed throughout Norway.
Smith actually did not want us to have any name other than simply "Christians." He believed this would only lead to factions. Since it is only by Jesus’ name we can be saved, he thought the name "Christian" was adequate. We call ourselves “the friends” or “the church”. However, to distinguish us from other denominations, some people started calling us “Smith’s Friends”.
Today “Smith’s Friends” is an international Christian fellowship. There are friends in all parts of the world, in more than 60 countries. This is a result of traditional missionary work as well as individuals who are active wherever they are—at work, traveling, etc. The gospel has spread through conversations or correspondence with people who are interested. It can be compared to a leavening process which occurs from particle to particle, i.e. from one person to the next.
This is also how the church experienced growth in Norway. The gospel slowly reached most of the coastal towns and valleys. The gospel also spreads through young people who grow up in the church. They find their place and have a longing to live their lives in the same way as their parents and others among us. Missionary activity is rapidly increasing. Many young people participate in various types of missionary work. The gospel is broadcast via satellite or Internet from Brunstad Conference Center in Norway, and now reaches from Europe to the Ural Mountains, to the Mediterranean countries, South Africa and North and South America. The most advanced technology available in the world today is used in this effort. The eternal God has made these things possible and has worked in people's hearts to enter into the ministry and spread the gospel about salvation in Jesus Christ.