Pioneer of Adventism in Scandinavia (1835-1896)
John Gottlieb Matteson was a Danish-born minister, editor, and missionary who brought the Seventh-day Adventist message to Scandinavia and established the denomination’s first organized presence in northern Europe. A Baptist pastor who converted his entire congregation to Adventism, Matteson launched the Advent Tidende, the first Adventist publication in any language other than English, breaking through the linguistic barrier that had confined the movement to the English-speaking world. In 1877, he returned to his native Denmark as the first Adventist missionary to Scandinavia, where he organized the first Adventist churches in northern Europe, established the first conference outside North America, pioneered temperance work, and held Bible schools in which he encouraged both men and women to preach the gospel.
A Danish Youth on American Shores
John Gottlieb Matteson was born as Johannes Gottlieb Mathiesen on May 1, 1835, on the island of Langeland, Denmark. He grew up in a nominally Lutheran family but displayed an exceptional aptitude for learning. He received a good literary and musical education, through which he also mastered English — taught to him by a former postmaster who encouraged him to emigrate — and German.
In 1854, the nineteen-year-old Matteson organized a group emigration to America. On his initiative, he, his parents, and two sisters departed Denmark together with a group of twenty others. Because he was the only one who knew English, Matteson served as the leader of the group. The family settled in New Denmark, Brown County, Wisconsin, where they built a log cabin on a twenty-acre timber lot.
Conversion and a Congregation Won
At the age of twenty-four, Matteson experienced a Christian conversion. He entered Douglas Baptist Theological College in Chicago in 1860, and after two years of study, was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1862. In the spring of 1863, while serving as pastor of a Baptist congregation in Poy Sippi, Wisconsin, he met P. H. Cady, a neighbor, from whom he first learned about the seventh-day Sabbath. After meticulous Bible study, Matteson accepted the Sabbath truth and became a Seventh-day Adventist.
The Baptist congregation in Poy Sippi asked their pastor to explain his new beliefs. Matteson presented the Sabbath truth with such clarity that, within six months, almost every member of the congregation became Adventist — all except one family. From there, Matteson conducted revivals and established churches among the Scandinavians in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas.
Breaking the Language Barrier
In 1872, Matteson launched the Advent Tidende (Advent Herald), a Danish-Norwegian twenty-four-page monthly periodical. This was accomplished despite resistance from the publishers in Battle Creek, who were skeptical about a publication in a foreign language. The Advent Tidende became the first Adventist publication in any language other than English. Copies found their way across the Atlantic to Denmark and Norway, creating a hunger for the Adventist message. By the spring of 1877, 260 copies were being sent regularly to Denmark and about 60 to Norway.
Return to Denmark
Twenty-two years after leaving his homeland, Matteson returned to Denmark on June 6, 1877, as the pioneer Seventh-day Adventist missionary to Scandinavia. His first stop was Vejle in Jutland, where he launched an evangelistic series. Within two weeks of arriving, he had a small hymnal printed — writing the lyrics and composing many of the melodies himself.
The First Churches in Northern Europe
In May 1878, Matteson organized the first Seventh-day Adventist church in Denmark at Alstrup in Vendsyssel, with twenty-seven members. This was the first Adventist church in all of northern Europe. In September 1878, the General Conference sent Knud Brorson from America to assist Matteson, freeing him to make frequent trips to Norway and Sweden.
The First Conference Outside North America
On May 30, 1880, Matteson organized the Denmark Conference with seven churches and 120 adherents, of whom ninety-one were baptized members. This was the first Seventh-day Adventist conference organized outside North America — a historic achievement that demonstrated the denomination’s potential for global growth.
Temperance Pioneer
In 1877, the same year he arrived in Denmark, Matteson organized a temperance society — the first of its kind in Denmark. Temperance work became a powerful entry point for the Adventist message.
Women in Ministry
Matteson held the conviction that both men and women could canvass, preach, and spread the gospel. He put this into practice through Bible schools in all three Scandinavian countries. In Stockholm, he established a colporteur and evangelistic school, inviting both young men and women to participate — a practice virtually unheard of at the time.
Later Years and Death
After years of tireless service, Matteson returned to the United States and became a faculty member at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska, teaching Bible classes in the Danish-Norwegian department. Midway through his third year, he became seriously ill and traveled to southern California to live with his son. John Gottlieb Matteson died on March 30, 1896, in Santa Monica, California, at the age of sixty, from chronic bronchitis.
Legacy
Matteson demonstrated that the Advent message could cross linguistic and cultural boundaries. The Advent Tidende broke the publishing barrier, the Denmark Conference showed that self-sustaining Adventist organizations could be established outside North America, and his training of both men and women for ministry expanded the church’s capacity for evangelism. The Matteson Mission School in Norway, named in his honor, carries forward the educational legacy of this pioneering missionary.
