The Youth Inner Mission and the Soli Deo Gloria

Abstract

From the 19th century, as a parallel field of foreign missionary work, the Hungarian inner mission followed Western (English, German) models and established associations to revive the stagnating religious life and to help those less fortunate in a miserable situation. The urbanisation of the period affected greatly the families moving to the capital, where some of them had become disconnected from their church roots, and the lack of a social safety net led to a high level of poverty and the moral decay that accompanied it. In the first half of my study, I looked at the beginnings of the Hungarian inner mission and then I wrote about evangelising and educating associations for youth and children, such as the Protestant Orphans’ Association, the Sunday School Association and the Christian Youth Association, which was modelled on the YMCA. In the second part, I discussed the social and faith-based activities of the specifically Hungarian Reformed Soli Deo Gloria Student Movement. Keywords: inner mission, youth ministry, Reformed Church, SDG, communism