Strandby Church and the Methodist Church

There has always been a rich religious life in Strandby, and there are two churches in the town – Strandby Church and Strandby Methodist Church.

As in many other small fishing villages in Denmark, the Indre Mission movement has also dominated in Strandby, where the society's first meeting took place in 1904. Until the end of the 1900th century, Indre Mission was known for its strict outlook on life, where entertainment such as dancing and card games were considered sinful. It was believed that one would get better after earthly life, and this belief therefore appealed to many fishermen, whose lives were characterized by toil and hard work.

Methodism gained a foothold in the city as early as 1878, and although the congregation had a difficult beginning, partly because they were mistaken for Mormons, it eventually grew into one of the largest in the country.

Both the Inner Mission Society and the Methodist congregation exist side by side in Strandby today.

Beach town Church
Strandby Church is the town's church. It was completed in 1966 as a branch church to Elling Church, where the people of Strandby had been going to church until then. For several years, Strandby had wanted to have its own church, and by the early 1960s, the residents had collected enough private donations to make the wish come true. A large part of the donations came from two single sisters – Johanne and Grethe – from Nørgaard, who, after living a pious and frugal life, donated their remaining funds to the church building upon their death.

In Strandby, it was thought, fittingly enough, that the church resembles a fishing boat with sails (the roof) and a wheelhouse (the tower), although according to the architect Jacob Blegvad this was not intended. On the contrary, the inspiration came from medieval church buildings. Furthermore, the style is reminiscent of the French architect Le Corbusier's chapel in Ronchamp.

Methodist Church
The first Methodist church in Strandby was inaugurated in 1924 and was located on Havnevej in a building that had previously served as a meeting house for the town's temperance association. However, the congregation quickly grew so large that more space was needed, and in 1960-1961 the current church was built almost diagonally opposite the old one. The old church has since been, among other things, a shoe store and a barbecue bar, and is today a private residence. If you look closely, you can still see the church features of the building.

The architecture of the new church was different from traditional church building at the time and the style was also hotly debated. The construction was, like Strandby Church, financed by private donations.

The church is located where there used to be a school, and today in the church garden you can find a large mulberry tree that the first qualified teacher in Strandby, teacher Scholl, planted.      

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