Basics and Statistics

Most Norwegians (around 77 per cent) belong to the Church of Norway and many people's religious lives find expression in church rituals and holidays.

There are 1,600 Church of Norway churches and chapels. Parish work is led by a pastor and an elected parish council. The country is geographically divided into 1,260 parishes, 107 deaneries and rural deaneries and 11 dioceses. The members of elected parish councils total around 9,000.

The Church of Norway General Synod meets annually. 77 of the 115 delegates are lay people.

The Church of Norway National Council, led by a lay person, is the Synod's executive body. The Council on Ecumenical and International Relations is the executive in international and ecumenical matters. The Sami Church Council is responsible for the Church of Norway work among Norways indigenous sami people.

Central administrative functions are carried out by the Ministry of Government Administration, Reform and Church Affairs. Financial responsibility for salaries and the maintenance of buildings is shared by state and municipal authorities. Additional parish activity largely depends on offertory money and voluntary activities.

The King is the constitutional head of the Church of Norway. He exercises this authority through the Council of State. Legislation concerning the Church goes through the Storting, Norway's parliament.

There are more than 1,200 clergy, of whom around 25 per cent are women (ordained since 1961). Four of eleven bishops are women.

An average of 66 per cent of infants are baptised in the Church of Norway and a around 66 per cent of the young people are confirmed. The majority of weddings take place in church, and the great majority of funerals are church funerals.

Percentage of infants baptized in the Church of Norway 1950-2011

A religious service, normally including the Eucharist, is held each Sunday morning in churches in towns and densely populated areas. In rural districts services may be less frequent, as pastors in widespread parishes often have to serve several churches and chapels.

Church attendance figures declined markedly between 1850 and 1900, but now they vary a great deal. Average attendance is about 100 persons per service, corresponding to 3 per cent of the population.
One of the Church's main concerns is to encourage all believers to regard the weekly Sunday service as the centre of their devotional life. To this end the Church has initiated and supported innovations and changes such as revision and experimentation in the liturgy, the composition of new church music, new Bible translations and new hymnals.

The current liturgical form of the Church of Norway is less simplified than in some other Lutheran churches, although not as rich as in certain other Christian traditions. The recent revisions of the liturgy represent a move towards a richer liturgical expression.

Annual church offerings contribute around NOK 250 million (2007) to church activities in Norway and abroad.

Further reading "A Church of Norway, but not of Europe?" - an article by research scholar Revd. Olav Fykse Tveit