Mission Friends

The Mission Friends (Swedish: Missionsvännerna) was a religious association among Swedish immigrants in the United States. It had its origins in the spiritual movements founded by laymen within the Lutheran Church of Sweden from the mid-19th century onwards, particularly the teachings of Carl Olof Rosenius and Peter Fjellstedt. It was also associated with the Evangeliska fosterlands-stiftelsen (today the Swedish Evangelical Mission). American evangelist Dwight L. Moody was highly appreciated and influential among the Mission Friends, despite his lack of personal connection to Sweden or the Swedish language.[1][2][3]

The association called themselves missionsvänner ('mission friends') or simply friends because they were particularly interested in home and foreign missions.[4] The first missionary society was formed in Swede Bend, Iowa, on July 4, 1868, by missionary preacher Carl August Björk. At almost the same time, however, revival movements were also being started elsewhere in the Midwest. At Swede Point, north of Des Moines, Hans Blom preached, and in Galesburg, Illinois, Nicolaus Bergensköld, the disciple of the "Reader Count" (läsargreven) Adolphe Stackelberg, preached.

In Chicago, too, a missionary society was formed, which in 1869 became a congregation and was incorporated with the same rights as a church society. The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Mission Synod was formed in 1873 and included most of the then-existing Swedish mission congregations in America, with the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Ansgar Synod founded soon after.[1]

In the 1880s, talks were held to determine whether or not to form a union of mission churches. Due to their desire to remain separate from other congregations, De fria vännerna ('the Free Friends') split from the majority in 1884, first known as the Swedish Evangelical Free Mission and later becoming the Evangelical Free Church of America.[2] The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Mission Synod merged in 1885 with another association, the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Ansgar Synod, as well as some independent Mission Friends to form the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant in America.[5] It eventually became the Evangelical Covenant Church,[6] considered a sister church to the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden.

In the early 1910s, the Mission Friends ran "an immigrant mission, Alaskan and Chinese missions, and a retirement home and hospital" as well as founding what is today North Park University in 1895. Their publication Missionsvännen was published from 1874 to 1960.[7]

See also

References
  1. Skarstedt, Ernst (1917). "E. Missionskyrkan". Svensk-amerikanska folket i helg och söcken: Strödda blad ur svensk-amerikanernas historia : Deras öden och bedrifter, nederlag och segrar, livsintressen och förströelser, jamte biografiska uppgifter om ett antal markesman (in Swedish). p. 123. OCLC 484015477. Archived from the original on 2022-04-26. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
  2. Gustafson, David M. (2008). D.L. Moody and Swedes: shaping evangelical identity among Swedish mission friends, 1867-1899 (PDF). Linköping University, Department of culture and communication. pp. 6, 167. ISBN 9789173939959. OCLC 489777085.
  3. Gustafson, David M. (2012). "Swedish Pietism and American Revivalism: Kindred Spirits in the Evangelical Free Tradition". The Pietist Impulse in Christianity. Cambridge, U.K. ISBN 978-0-227-90140-3. OCLC 847592135.
  4. Carlson, G. William; Collins Winn, Christian T.; Gehrz, Christopher; Holst, Eric (2012). The pietist impulse in Christianity. Cambridge, U.K.: ISD LLC. p. 204. ISBN 9780227901403. OCLC 847592135.
  5. Anderson, Craig E. (2016). "Tributaries of Faith". Pietisten. XXXI (1).
  6. "Scandinavian Pietism". Melton's Encyclopedia of American Religions. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
  7. "Missions-vännen". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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