“God’s Longing Has Always Been to Establish a Holy, Healthy, Happy People.”

“We’re going to make amazing food today,” said Christian Karlsson, a pastor, entrepreneur, and influencer in Sweden, in a workshop that included a live cooking demo. [Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review]

A chef and a pastor based in Sweden share how they witness through a culinary school.

August 14, 2025 | Katowice, Poland | Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review

“We’re going to make amazing food today,” said Christian Karlsson, a pastor, entrepreneur, and influencer in Sweden. Together with his wife, Melanie, and Kasper Carstensen, a chef, professional trainer, and health and mental health coach, they are exploring new ways of connecting and witnessing to people in one of the most secular nations on earth, they reported.

The Karlssons and Carstensen’s presentation on July 31 was one of the many workshop options during the 2025 Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC) Europe Convention in Katowice, Poland. It included a live cooking demo and tips on how to use Seventh-day Adventist health principles to witness to others.

Generation. Youth. Christ. Europe participants listen to the presentation by Christian Karlsson and Kasper Carstensen on how to use the Adventist health principles to improve people’s lives. [Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review]

A Plant-Based Culinary School

In Sweden social media is used as a major platform to discuss wholistic health, Christian Karlsson reported. It is something, he said, that Adventists should use to reach others. “I saw that we had all this health knowledge in church, ” he said. “But [I didn’t see] that we had a program that packaged the health message as part of a business idea.”

Partnering with Carstensen, the Karlssons launched a professional plant-based culinary school with all the required qualifications, which offers a worldwide-recognized chef certification. The program is offered twice a year for just 16 students per group—most of them are non-church members. The program consists of three months of training plus a two-month internship.

“We tried not to just create new kitchen hands that are good for chopping. We focus on also creating entrepreneurs.” Besides cooking, the program includes a focus on business and nutrition. Graduates from the school serve as chefs around the world, they reported.

“If you have a passion for food, it’s a massive umbrella that can be used to serve God in so many ways, not just running cooking classes in a church. . . . You can start businesses; you can do catering . . . it can be [a means of earning] your livelihood as well while you are also serving people,” Christian Karlsson said.

Chef Kasper Carstensen leads a cooking demonstration during his workshop on July 31. [Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review]

Passion for a Bible-Based Health Message

Karlsson explained that they are very passionate about medical missionary work “because God is very passionate about it.” He explained, “If you look into history, whenever health knowledge fades away, God raises up new knowledge. Since Eden, God’s longing has been to establish a holy, healthy, and happy people.”

All of these elements are important, Karlsson explained. “So if you meet people who say they are healthy but are not happy—’sour vegans,’ we could call them—they must be missing something!”

He also explained that the health message we have “is a gift that God has given humanity,” adding, “Whenever that knowledge was lost, God raised a people to revive that knowledge.” Which includes, he emphasized, the health message entrusted to the Adventist Church.

As Christian Karlsson speaks, chef Kasper Carstensen leads a cooking demonstration. [Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review]

Part of His Family History

Karlsson explained that part of his passion for the Adventist health message also includes a personal element. Ole Christian, his grandfather, was diagnosed with diabetes back in the 1940s. Then called “the sugar disease” during a time that physicians didn’t know much about diabetes, he was given just five to 10 years to live. “He was told he could never be more than two hours away from a hospital, because he could suffer an emergency anytime.”

Ole-Christian and his wife were new Adventists and decided to try a simple plant-based diet. “He ended up living 55 more years than expected,” Karlsson shared. “He spent a good chunk of his life in developing countries, serving people, building schools . . . using the health message and thanks to the health message.”

Karlsson also shared that his mother was born the year his grandfather was supposed to die from diabetes. “I am here because of the power of the health message,” he said.

Christian Karlsson explains how the Adventist health message is part of God’s effort to establish a holy, healthy, and happy people. [Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review]

It Works Everywhere

At the same time, Karlsson explained that part of the power of the health message resides in the fact that as a witnessing tool, it works everywhere, “in every culture, in every nation and tongue and language. It’s all about using what God has given us to impact people’s health and longevity,” he said. “In that sense,” Karlsson added, “we have been giving a wonderful health message, and it’s something that is attractive for secular people.”

Life-Transforming Program

Karlsson also shared some of the initiatives they have introduced to share the health message. It includes Steps4Life, a one-week program similar to NEWSTART in North America. In Sweden Steps4Life is resulting in transformed lives and even baptisms, he reported. It is based on the belief that “when we use the health message, we cure the incurable, and can reverse irreversible diseases.”

As an example he shared the story of a woman who arrived at the program with her health in tatters. “She was a walking heart attack because her arteries were fully clogged,” Karlsson shared. “She was sick, nearly dead, taking many medications, but nothing was really working.” A doctor suggested that she should try the Steps4Life program.

Chef Kasper Carstensen said that he shares his testimony with other people to encourage them to change their health habits for the better. [Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review]

The story of Martha is another example of the power of the health message, Karlsson reported. “Martha was a professional bridge player, but she hadn’t been able to play for five years because of the acute pain in her joints,” he shared. And even though doctors usually state that arthritis is chronic and irreversible, after one week in the Steps4Life program Martha was able to shuffle a deck of cards and reduce her inflammatory markers by half, Karlsson reported. “Her husband also stopped pig farming and became vegan after he got his wife back,” he said. “Now they go every year to follow the one-week plan as a reminder, and since then she has also become a Seventh-day Adventist.”

“People are looking for inspiration and hope. When we give that to them and they see that it works, they are more open to hear about our faith,” chef Kasper Carstensen explains. [Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review]

In Search of Inspiration and Hope

After Karlsson, Carstensen also shared his personal connection with the Adventist health message and the principles of wholistic health. “I was very obese when I was coming out of culinary school,” he confessed. After he learned about the health principles, he lost 35 kilograms (about 77 pounds) just by transitioning from a diet heavy on meat to a plant-based one. “This is the power of the health message,” he said.

When asked if the health principles work, Carstensen said that he shares his testimony, which other people find encouraging. “People who come to us are very vulnerable, full of diseases, and are looking for inspiration and hope. When we give that to them and they see that it works, they are more open to hear about our faith,” he explained.