Ulf Ekman - Ministry

Ministry

Ekman became a Christian shortly before graduating from high school in 1970. He studied ethnography, history and theology at Uppsala University and in January 1979 was ordained in the Swedish Lutheran Church, returning to Uppsala University to work as the chaplain for several years. He studied for a year at Rhema Bible Training Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA and upon his return to Uppsala in 1983 founded Livets Ord. He remained pastor of the church until passing on the pastorship to Robert Ekh in 2002 to focus on international work, though he recently took up the position again. He also founded Livets Ord University and Word of Life Bible School.

Through his church he has sent missionaries to Bangladesh, Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Albania, Israel and India. Word of Life is also the host for the annual Christian event "Europe Conference." In the former USSR he started to preach in pentecostal churches and in stadiums. In Riga, Latvia he worked closely with Aleksej Ledyaev and the "New Generation Church" where he is a pastor. In almost every big city of the former USSR a Word of Life Church and a New Generation Church was established. The number of people reached with the Gospel can be estimated to be between 250,000–500,000 people. Cooperation with New Generation Church ended in March 2004 in doctrinal disagreement.

In the charismatic church world, Ulf Ekman is considered to be mentor, spiritual father, and pastor of pastors. Rev. Kong Hee has claimed Ulf Ekman to be his spiritual coach, and during the years they have had a close relationship.