The Mission Friends (Swedish: ) was a Christian association in Sweden and among Swedish immigrants in the United States.

History

Background and Mission Friends in Sweden

The Mission Friends had their origins in the spiritual reform movements founded by laymen within the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sw ...

from the mid-19th century onwards, particularly the teachings of Swedish

Pietists Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life, including a social concern for ...

Carl Olof Rosenius Carl Olof Rosenius (February 3, 1816 – February 24, 1868) was a Swedish lay preacher, author and editor of the monthly ''Pietisten'' (The Pietist) from 1842 to 1868.''Twice-Born Hymns'' by J. Irving Erickson, (Chicago: Covenant Press, 1976 ...

and

Peter Fjellstedt Peter Fjellstedt (17 September 1802 – 4 January 1881) was a Swedish '' Nyevangelist'' missionary and preacher who founded the Fjellstedt School and Evangeliska Fosterlands-Stiftelsen. Biography Upbringing Fjellstedt was born to carpenter ...

. The

Evangeliska fosterlands-stiftelsen The Swedish Evangelical Mission (SEM) (Swedish language, Swedish: "Evangelical Homeland Foundation", EFS) is an independent, Low church, low-church, Nyevangelism, New Evangelical () movement within the Church of Sweden. It emphasizes the import ...

(today the Swedish Evangelical Mission), founded in 1856 by Fjellstedt and others, was the main association for the group. They called themselves ('mission friends') or simply ''friends'' because of their particular focus on home and foreign missions. Other associated organizations included the (, today part of the

Evangelical Free Church in Sweden The Evangelical Free Church in Sweden ( sv, Evangeliska frikyrkan is a Baptist Christian denomination in Sweden. The headquarters is in Örebro Örebro ( , ) is the sixth-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capit ...

Swedish Alliance Mission The Swedish Alliance Mission, ''SAM'', (Swedish language, Swedish: ) is a Christianity, Christian denomination in Sweden, mainly based in the town of Jönköping. Its roots are in the 19th-century Christian revival, revival. , the denomination ha ...

, and the

Mission Covenant Church of Sweden The Mission Covenant Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska Missionskyrkan), founded in 1878, was a Swedish evangelical free church. It was the second-largest Protestant denomination in Sweden, after the national church, the Church of Sweden. In 2011, t ...

(today part of the

Uniting Church in Sweden Uniting Church in Sweden ( sv, Equmeniakyrkan) is a united Protestant denomination in Sweden. History It was established on 4 June 2011 by the merger of the United Methodist Church, Baptist Union of Sweden, and Mission Covenant Church of Swede ...

In the United States

The Mission Friends first emigrated to the United States in the early 1860s. They considered themselves Lutherans "but idnot consider it right to call themselves after anyone." Their first missionary society was formed in Swede Bend, Iowa, on July 4, 1868, by missionary preacher Carl August Björk as a

revival movement Christian revivalism is increased spiritual interest or renewal in the life of a church congregation or society, with a local, national or global effect. This should be distinguished from the use of the term "revival" to refer to an evangelis ...

in an attempt to reform the local Lutheran church. At almost the same time, revival movements were also being started elsewhere in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

. At Swede Point, north of

Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

, Hans Blom preached, and elsewhere in Iowa, A. W. Hedenschoug and John Peterson were active preachers. In

Galesburg, Illinois Galesburg is a city in Knox County, Illinois, United States. The city is northwest of Peoria. At the 2010 census, its population was 32,195. It is the county seat of Knox County and the principal city of the Galesburg Micropolitan Statistical ...

Nicolaus Bergensköld Nils Gustaf Nicolaus Bergensköld (1838–1907) was a Swedish-American Lutheran clergyman and an early leader of the revivalist movement within Swedish immigrant settlements of the Midwestern United States during the later part of the 19th centur ...

, disciple of the "

Reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

" () 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. American evangelist

Dwight L. Moody Dwight Lyman Moody (February 5, 1837 – December 26, 1899), also known as D. L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher connected with Keswickianism, who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and Mount Hermon School in Massa ...

was highly appreciated and influential among the Mission Friends, despite his lack of personal connection to Sweden or the Swedish language.

Free Mission Friends and Free Free

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, ('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. They did not believe in labels, rather focusing on interdenominational mission work. To this group belonged preachers such as Fredrik Franson, strongly influenced by Moody and his

ecumenical Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...

revival preaching. Some of the radical Free Mission Friends, led by

August Davis August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in ...

, formed a separate group known as the Free Free. They participated in

speaking in tongues Speaking in tongues, also known as glossolalia, is a practice in which people utter words or speech-like sounds, often thought by believers to be languages unknown to the speaker. One definition used by linguists is the fluid vocalizing of sp ...

and healing, practices common in

Pentecostalism Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

. 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. It eventually became the

Evangelical Covenant Church The Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) is a Radical Pietistic denomination with Lutheran roots in the evangelical Christian tradition. The denomination has 129,015 members in 878 congregations and an average worship attendance of 219,000 people ...

, considered a sister church to the

. 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 North Park University is a private Christian university in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1891 by the Evangelical Covenant Church. It is located on Chicago's north side and enrolls more than 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students. His ...

in 1895. Their publication was published from 1874 to 1960.

Beliefs

While initially associated with the Augustana Lutheran Church, the Mission Friends disapproved of their lack of zeal for missions and what they saw as a blend of "'spiritual' and 'worldly' elements", seeing it as "no great improvement on the state church of the old country". The Mission Friends' beliefs were described by Professor Axel Mellander, who stated, "they generally stand on Lutheran ground in their attitude to the

means of grace The means of grace in Christian theology are those things (the ''means'') through which God gives grace. Just what this grace entails is interpreted in various ways: generally speaking, some see it as God blessing humankind so as to sustain and emp ...

." Despite believing it wrong to name themselves after anyone, they had a high view of Luther and often studied his writings. "They will not be bound by the

Augsburg Confession The Augsburg Confession, also known as the Augustan Confession or the Augustana from its Latin name, ''Confessio Augustana'', is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Protestant Re ...

, although sanctioning its contents in the main... As to the Doctrine of

Atonement Atonement (also atoning, to atone) is the concept of a person taking action to correct previous wrongdoing on their part, either through direct action to undo the consequences of that act, equivalent action to do good for others, or some other ex ...

they have pretty generally accepted the view propounded by Waldenström... It may be said with relative accuracy that the Mission Covenant sustains the same relation to the Lutheran Church in this country as the Brethren (

Moravians Moravians ( cs, Moravané or colloquially , outdated ) are a West Slavic ethnographic group from the Moravia region of the Czech Republic, who speak the Moravian dialects of Czech or Common Czech or a mixed form of both. Along with the Silesi ...

) do to that of Germany." He also compared their

ecclesiology In Christian theology, ecclesiology is the study of the Church, the origins of Christianity, its relationship to Jesus, its role in salvation, its polity, its discipline, its eschatology, and its leadership. In its early history, one of the ...

to "a middle road between the

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

and the

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

form."

References

Notes

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Missionsvaennerna Christian organizations based in the United States Swedish migration to North America Pietism Radical Pietism