Mission Friends facts for kids

The Mission Friends (in Swedish: Missionsvännerna) was a group of Christians. They were active in Sweden and among Swedish people who moved to the United States. This group was mostly focused on a deep, personal faith, which is called Pietism.

The Mission Friends had a big impact on many different Protestant churches. They also influenced their mission groups today. This influence spread beyond Lutheranism and the Swedish community. It helped form new independent churches. These included Baptist churches, especially Swedish Baptist ones. Later, they also influenced Pentecostal and Charismatic "free churches."

History of the Mission Friends

How the Mission Friends Started in Sweden

The Mission Friends began in the mid-1800s. They came from spiritual movements within the Church of Sweden. These movements were started by regular people, not just church leaders. Key teachers were Swedish Pietists Carl Olof Rosenius and Peter Fjellstedt.

The main group for the Mission Friends was the Swedish Evangelical Mission. It was founded in 1856 by Fjellstedt and others. They called themselves "mission friends" (missionsvänner) or just "friends." This was because they cared a lot about sharing their faith at home and in other countries. Other groups connected to them included the Swedish Holiness Union and the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden.

Mission Friends Come to America

The first Mission Friends moved to the United States in the early 1860s. They saw themselves as Lutherans. But they did not want to be named after any person. Their first mission group started in Swede Bend, Iowa, on July 4, 1868. It was formed by a preacher named Carl August Björk. He wanted to bring a spiritual revival to the local Lutheran church.

Around the same time, other revivals began in the Midwest. Preachers like Hans Blom and A. W. Hedenschoug were active. In Chicago, another mission group formed. It became a church in 1869. The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Mission Synod was created in 1873. It included most of the Swedish mission churches in America.

An American preacher named Dwight L. Moody was very important to the Mission Friends. They admired him greatly.

New Churches and Connections

Several churches today have ties to the Mission Friends. Converge Worldwide and the Baptist General Conference of Canada are Baptist groups. They were influenced by the Pietist ideas of the Mission Friends. These groups also helped start the Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church.

Other churches formed later with historical links. These include the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies and the Independent Assemblies of God, International. Both are Pentecostal groups. They grew from revivals among Scandinavian Baptist and Pietist communities. The Swedish Pentecostal Movement in Sweden also came from revivals among Baptist groups.

Free Mission Friends and Their Branches

In the 1880s, there were talks about uniting the mission churches. But some wanted to stay separate. These were called De fria vännerna ('the Free Friends'). They split off in 1884. This group later became the Evangelical Free Church of America. They believed in working together across different churches. They did not like labels for their group. Preachers like Fredrik Franson belonged to this group. He was greatly influenced by Dwight L. Moody's ideas of working together.

Some of the more radical Free Mission Friends formed a separate group. They were led by August Davis and called the Free Free. They practiced speaking in tongues and healing. These practices are common in Pentecostalism.

In 1885, the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Mission Synod joined with another group. They formed the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant in America. This group later became the Evangelical Covenant Church. It is seen as a sister church to the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden.

In the early 1900s, the Mission Friends ran several important services. They helped immigrants and supported missions in Alaska and China. They also had a retirement home and a hospital. In 1895, they founded what is now North Park University. Their newspaper, Missionsvännen, was published for many years.

What the Mission Friends Believed

The Mission Friends were first connected to the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church. But they felt this church did not care enough about missions. They also thought it mixed "spiritual" and "worldly" things too much. They believed it was not much better than the old state church in Sweden.

Professor Axel Mellander described their beliefs. He said they generally followed Lutheran ideas about how God's grace works. They believed it was wrong to name themselves after anyone. But they respected Martin Luther greatly and studied his writings.

They did not feel tied to the Augsburg Confession. However, they mostly agreed with what it said. Their church structure was a mix. It was between a Congregational style (where each church is independent) and a Presbyterian style (where churches are governed by elders).

A Swedish preacher named Paul Petter Waldenström greatly influenced their beliefs. He taught a different idea about the atonement. He believed that people are brought back to God through the atonement. This idea was different from the Church of Sweden's view. Almost all Mission Friends accepted Waldenström's teaching.

See also

• George Scott, a Methodist preacher connected to the movement
• Pietisten, a journal for Mission Friends
• Minneapolis Veckoblad, a Swedish-language newspaper for Mission Friends
• Swedish Holiness Union