No more places to relax and have fun after one week’s study? Pinsekirken will be an interesting place and give you a wonderful Friday night. Photo: Amber Huang

An alternative to tedious parties: Friday night in Pinsekirken

Many international students and some Norwegian students in HiMolde are definitely not unfamiliar with a small church called Pinsekirken between Kvam and Campus student housing.

By AMBER HUANG

Location

Surrounded by stone-paved road, standing on a slope, Pinsekirken is located near the supermarket Bunnpris. Although people passes by every day, not so many of them notice this small church. Unlike the conspicuous Molde Cathedral with high church tower in the city center, Pinsekirken is built as a common white house and easy to be ignored, but this chuch is home to one of the two Pentecostal (Wikipedia-link) congregations in Molde.

Elina Berzina (Left) is teaching a boy from Afghanistan the keyboard. Photo: Amber Huang
Elina Berzina (Left) is teaching a boy from Afghanistan the keyboard. Photo: Amber Huang

Uniqueness

If you play instruments and are afraid that your neighbors will be annoyed by your rehearsal, Pinsekirken is your heaven. Besides its common church activities, Pinsekirken is also a place with many instruments. For now, they have several guitars, drum, keyboard and piano. You can just play a rock song with an electric guitar in the hall, and feel the interweaving of modernity and tradition. If you want to want to practice or learn, just come here and there are always people willing to teach you.

.Activities

You will find modern electronic instruments in the chuch. Photo: Amber Huang.
You will find modern electronic instruments in the chuch. Photo: Amber Huang.

Every Friday evening at 8 pm, many international and local people from society and HiMolde gather in this church for relax and fun. They play games like table soccer, Uno card and chess or just play instruments. They talk about culture, food and interesting things from their own countries. Some evenings is also dedicated to Bible studies. Every week new faces appear and share their special knowledge or stories.

«I don’t know who organized those activities. Two years ago, my sister invited me to come here. At that time, there were hardly no students here, » Elina Berzina, an active girl said, «After that, I tried to invite more students to come, and set up a group on Facebook and update the information every week, then more people just came.»

People from all over the world play and share their special stories. Photo: Amber Huang
People from all over the world play and share their special stories. Photo: Amber Huang