Markku Koivisto
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- The Nokia referred to in this article is the town Nokia in Finland, also known as the birth place of the Nokia corporation.
Markku Koivisto is the leader of a Christian, charismatic sect known as the Nokia Revival. He was previously the vicar of Nokia Evangelical Lutheran Church and having recovered from cancer of the lymph gland in 1990 he experienced a strong charismatic renewal. In the Nokia Church he started so-called Thursday Evenings, which were characterised by strong worship singing and prayer and various gifts of the Holy Spirit, e.g., praying for the sick and falling down during prayer.
The nature and doctrines of the movement led to various disagreements with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (EL Church), and finally an alleged case of praying for a young boy's resurrection heated up the situation between Koivisto and the EL Church. An official complaint was filed in the spring of 2006 and on 25 April 2007 Koivisto was ordered to leave priesthood for half a year.
The Nokia Revival holds meetings in Tampere Metro-Auto Arena and also in the cities of Helsinki, Kokkola and Jyväskylä. It has not organised itself into a denomination and its meetings are mostly attended by people who belong to EL Church, Pentecostal Church etc.
In 2004 Markku Koivisto's cancer recurred but he recovered again in 2005.
Markku Koivisto earned a Doctor of Theology degree at University of Helsinki in 1997.
Publications:
- Markku Koivisto: Miten kirkko ymmärtää sanomansa? Toimituskeskustelu ja kastetoimitus pastoraalipsykologisen ja liturgisen tutkimuksen näkökulmasta [How the Church Understands Its Gospel? Pre Sacrament Discussion and Baptism from the Viewpoint of Pastoral Psychology and Lithurgy Studies], University of Helsinki Publications, Käytännöllisen teologian julkaisuja 87, 1997, in Finnish, ISBN 951-45-7721-3
