In 1715, the king in Copenhagen established a central office for mission work, the Missionary College, to ensure the spread of Christianity. The Sámi were regarded as a people in need of mission, as their traditional beliefs were still practiced. At the same time, it was equally important to the mission that the Sámi embraced what they believed to be the correct form of Christianity. Reverend Thomas von Westen, who grew up in Trondheim, was given the task of leading this mission. He operated from Trondheim, where, with funds from the Missionary College, he rented a space in a building at the Cathedral Cemetery called "Hestestallen" (The Stable), which also functioned as the building for the Cathedral School. He set up two schools in the city—one in "Hestestallen" and the other in his private home behind today’s town hall—to train teachers and missionaries and embarked on three long missionary journeys north. Thomas von Westen and the missionaries applied heavy pressure on the Sámi to convert to what they considered the true faith. Even after Thomas von Westen's death, Trondheim remained a key hub for mission work among the Sámi.

Christianity was not new to the Sámi, but the intense mission efforts were. Some Sámi opposed what Thomas von Westen and the mission were doing, while others converted and became eager, devout Christians. Lars Nilsen from Tynset had received prophetic dreams warning him that contacting the mission would cost him his life, according to von Westen. Despite this, Lars Nilsen travelled to Trondheim in 1724 to meet von Westen, where he was converted to the true faith. Lars Nilsen also wanted other members of his family and sïjte (a Sámi community) to convert, as he came from one of four families living together in a sïjte in Tynset.