This is a reply to the article “Ås Christian Student Association” which was published in Tuntreet March 17th, 2022. This response is a critique against Laget på Ås and the Norwegian Christian Student and School Association (NKSS), not individuals.

I have been a member of Laget since 8th grade, and through my teen years the community meant a lot to me. Laget’s vision, “to make Jesus known in all schools and campuses in Norway so that he is believed, loved and followed”, was a good and giving perspective on who we welcomed to believe in God. I am not a member anymore. Laget på Ås, but also NKSS, have both contributed to that.

When I told someone at Ås that I was going to a meeting with Laget my first week here, I got a different response than I expected: “Aha, Laget. They keep to themselves. They never take part in what the other students are up to”. This answer stuck with me, and during my soon-to-be five years here, I have unfortunately seen that it was accurate. I want to applaud Laget for the events they presented in the article. But when you look past these scarce events, Laget is barely visible in the student masses. I still want to see Laget participate in Tour de Kringla, Karskrenn or Kurt Stilles. In addition, Laget has moved their Thursday meetings to Menighetshuset. I can understand why they moved their meetings. Laget has struggled to meet Samfunnet’s requirements for memberships to be able to borrow rooms there. Still, I think that was a fight Laget på Ås should have fought. How else are they supposed to follow their vision when they aren’t present amongst the students?

These last two years, I have grieved over Laget. I have always deeply appreciated the opportunity to partake in events regardless of which Christian standpoint you have. A few years ago, there was a debate amongst the students at Ås, regarding whether Laget should get welfare funds, because of their support of the organization Til helhet and their rules against gay rights among their personnel. The debate itself is not the issue, but it started a grieving process within me. I always thought NKSS was a “church politic” neutral organization, but the debate showed me that the bar is set way lower in NKSS. Rather than focusing on how to reach as many as possible, they have decided to focus on a small, rather conservative group. It has become too difficult for me to continue in an organization which is something completely different than what I thought it was. So, claiming that there is room for every standpoint in Christianity without conflict is a partial truth at best. I withdrew quietly from Laget, because of what you can call theological disagreement, without debate or conflict.

The shape and contents of the meetings are alienating to a lot of Christian students, myself included. Laget abruptly decided to end the collaboration with the Church of Norway and the student priest in 2019. To me, this was just more proof that if you have a liberal bible standpoint, you don’t fit within Laget and NKSS’s standards.

Laget is not the bubble within the bubble or the inclusive theological community they claim to be.

Written by Janne Birgitte Ueland