Aril Edvardsen

Who was Aril Edvardsen?

Aril Snorre Edvardsen was a Norwegian evangelical preacher and missionary, considered one of the most influential Christian figures of all time from Scandinavia.

In his youth Edvardsen was active in local politics for the Workers' Youth League, the youth wing of the Norwegian Labour Party, and also performed in a country music band. He claimed to have been born again in 1956, an experience which led him to redirect his life towards evangelical work. Then, in 1960, he experienced what he described as a calling, instructing him to start worldwide evangelising through the use of native missionaries.

In 1965 he founded the organisation Troens Bevis, an organisation that would grow to support around 1000 native missionaries around the world. The organisation today includes a multi-media venture, with daily television broadcasts reaching as many as 200 different nations. In 2007 Aril Edvardsen's son Rune took over leadership of Troens Bevis.

Aril Edvardsen was a proponent of reconciliation between Christians and Muslims, and in 2004 directed heavy criticism against Carl I. Hagen, then leader of the Progress Party, for Hagen's derisive comments against the prophet Muhammad.