Urban renewal in Denmark

Ben and Kingdavid reference some very interesting goings-on in Denmark. More or less, a church has decided to buy blighted property to use it for their ministries, and the squatters who had been living there decided to have a riot to celebrate being evicted.

Well, that's the short story. Having been there in 1989, and possibly having met one of the "conspirators" in the church that bought the building, here's the historic perspective. More or less, an area of Copenhagen called "Christiania" fell into disrepair a few decades ago, and the owners decided to let the government have it instead of paying property taxes. When you live in a socialist country, this isn't a half bad idea, really.

As might be expected, the government didn't take care of or sell the buildings, but rather allowed hippies to live there. It became an art colony, but one where drugs and crime thrived.

Enter a church. When I visited in 1989, I met a young lady named Ulla, and while talking with her, a friend of mine (who had led me to this place) was approached with hashish at least twice. Her church was trying to lead these addicts to Christ, and later, another church (or perhaps hers) actually bought one of the buildings.

It's a great illustration of what happens, IMO, when government forgets its central mission of punishing the wicked and chooses to play landlord. It's also a great illustration of the need to count the cost as one serves the Savior.

Another great illustration; I corresponded for a while with Ulla, and she was actually ordered by her family to change her last name because they were ashamed of her testimony for Christ. It's a sad irony that Denmark used to be a great nation for sending missionaries--perhaps one day, it might be so again.