Kristopher N. Tvedt was born in Bergen, Norway on June 8, 1884 to N.C.T. and Anna Tvedt. Following his years in public school he trained in the Deaconess lnstitute for two years preparing himself for practical nursing and midwifery. This was followed by study at the Norwegian Mission Society Bible School. Then he spent several years as a missionary in Lapland. In 1910 he emigrated to America and the next year enrolled at Luther Seminary. During his last year of study there he also took some coursework in medicine. In 1914 he graduated from Luther and was ordained. In June of that same year he married Clara Sathre.
Clara Sathre was born on April 7, 1890 in Lanesboro, Minnesota to H.P. and Caroline Sethre. She married Kristofer Tvedt in June of 1914 and very soon thereafter the young couple left for China as missionaries with the Norwegian Synod.
The first year they spent on Jigongshan (Kikungshan) studying the language. This was the mountain where in following years they and other missionaries were able to spend time during the summers to escape the heat and disease of the plains. In the little stone church on this mountain four of their six children were to be baptized—Harold, Sigurd, Solveig, Agnes. In addition, two other children, Norman and Ruth, were also born in China.
Following their first year on Jigongshan they were assigned to work in the city of Sixian (Sihsien). This would be pioneer work as mission efforts by this synod had just begun in 1914. As early as 1890 itinerating missionaries had passed through Sixian but the people were hostile and unresponsive. In 1902 and 1910 further attempts were made, but to little effect. The mission was then turned over to the Norwegian Synod and the Rev. Astrup Larsen and the Rev. G. Lillegaard arrived there in 1914 and the Tvedts in 1915.
It was difficult work. In the fall of 1922 a large band of robbers captured the city. When this large gang departed it left behind many small gangs, which continued to harass and devastate the countryside. Nevertheless, the Tvedts and other missionaries saw these as promising days. Tthe hardships they suffered the people more readily opened their hearts to the message brought to them, one of peace and eternal life.
The Tvedts and their colleagues were grateful for the progress in their ministry. Yet at the same time they were aware of a growing unrest among the local populace—an anti-Christian, anti-foreign sentiment. Open hostilities began to break out, leading eventually to the necessary evacuation of the Tvedts and their colleagues. In their absence the mission property was ravaged and burned, movable property stolen, and things left in general ruin.
In 1928 Mr. Tvedt was asked to try to restore order and “gather the sheep” in Guangzhou (Kwangchou). There soldiers had occupied all the buildings, and to keep them out of the mission property now was a constant struggle. In the congregation itself the radical element opposed the return of missionaries. It was a challenging situation, indeed.
In the fall of 1930 the Tvedts were appointed to continue the work that had begun in Loshan, where much reconstruction was needed. But just at that time a large Communist army captured the city and took Mr. Tvedt and Miss Evenson captive. Evenson was soon released but Tvedt remained a captive for six months. For Clara Tvedt, who was expecting a child, this was, of course, an extremely difficult time.
In captivity Tvedt met Bert Nelson and the two of them, each comforted by the other’s presence, now suffered together under their captors. Even here Tvedt continued his witness for Christ. He wrote later: “A servant who had heard very little of the Gospel was also taken…..captive. Since he himself was not a Christian it would have been an easy matter for him to have avoided the suffering that he endured because of his connection with the missionary. But during those trying days of captivity he silently listened to many earnest prayers, and he too began to pray. Then one day he most unexpectedly made this statement: ‘Pastor, do not worry about me now. I have decided, by God’s grace, that whatever happens I will believe in Jesus for He has already comforted my heart.” (White Unto Harvest in China, p.197)
After a time Tvedt was released* and returned to Loshan. There he found several congregations in disarray, the people scattered, and the property partly or completely destroyed. In the summer of 1932, the government launched a successful campaign against the Communists and drove them out of Henan. The troops remaining sought refuge in the mountains. By fall, the last of the soldiers, who all this time had been occupying the mission premises, were finally gone. Repairs were made on some of the buildings and Tvedt, together with Miss Marie Anderson, was put in charge of the work in that district. There followed a period of peace and things began to look a little more hopeful.
Tvedt was also asked to take up responsibility for work in Guangshan, but since he already had a large district to supervise it was not possible for him to give Guangshan the time that was needed. Yet the 1932 statistics showed that in this area there were 570 catechumens—more than in any other district—and eight organized congregations (White Unto Harvest in China, p.86).
Although Kristofer Tvedt is remembered primarily for his evangelistic work, he found his other training to be very helpful as well. He set up a small dispensary when possible and also practiced midwifery, primarily serving the Chinese but also occasionally the missionaries. During late summer of 1932, when the Tvedt family were the only foreigners on Jigongshan, the Manchurian general who was on the mountain with his troops requested that Tvedt inoculate them all against cholera, and Tvedt obliged.
With the Japanese invasion in the late 1930s there were new challenges. Although his family had returned to America, Tvedt continued working in China even after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December, 1941. By 1944 he could stay no longer. The difficult journey home required six months of travel.
Following World War II, he returned to China, and two years later Clara followed. This term was cut short with the advance of Mao Zedong’s troops and the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. There was no choice for him and the other missionaries but to leave.
The Tvedts lived together in retirement for seventeen years together in Ephrata, Washington. These were good years for them. They no longer had to face long separations due to health concerns or political unrest. In 1963, Kristofer Tvedt died in Ephrata at the age of seventy-nine. Clara Tvedt then moved to Minnesota and passed away in 1977 at the age of eighty-six. They had both faithfully given many years of their lives to the call to share God’s message of love with the Chinese people.
Notes
*Bert Nelson remained in captivity for two years before he was put to death.