Norwegian Mission Research Articles

Activities Of The Norwegian Mission In Alexandropol: The Story Of One Missionary

Բուժքույր և միսիոներ Բոդիլ Բյորնն «Արևելքում քրիստոնեական բարեգործության խթանման գերմանական միության» կազմում 1905 թ. ժամանեց Մուշ և մոտ 10 տարի ղեկավարեց տեղի գերմանական որբանոցի կլինիկան, ապա Առաջին աշխարհամարտի տարիներին իր սկանդինավցի գործընկերի հետ աշխատեց Կարմիր խաչի հիվանդանոցում: Երբ պատերազմի ավարտից հետո թուրքական իշխանություններն արգելեցին օտարերկրյան առաքելությունների գործունեությունը երկրում՝ հայ ժողովրդի հետ ցեղասպանություն վերապրած նորվեգուհին տուն չվերադարձավ, այլ տեղափոխվեց Խորհրդային Հայաստան և 1922 թ. Ալեքսանդրապոլում հիմնեց որբանոց: Այս կերպ նա փորձեց համատեղել միսիոներական կոչումը և մարդասիրական աշխատանքը ցեղասպանությունը վերապրածների շրջանում, քանզի համոզված էր, որ Աստված ծրագիր ունի փրկված հայ երեխաների համար: Նորվեգուհիների մասնավոր նվիրատվությունների հաշվին պահվող որբանոցը կոչվեց «Լույսի աղբյուր»: Իր կարճատև գոյության ընթացքում այն սովի ճիրաններից փրկեց և ընտանեկան դաստիարակություն տվեց տասնյակ որբերի: Медсестра и миссионерка Бодил Бьёрн в составе «Немецкого общества содействия христианской благотворительности на Востоке» прибыла в Муш в 1905 г. и в течение примерно 10 лет возглавляла клинику местного немецкого приюта. В годы Первой мировой войны она вместе со своими скандинавскими коллегами работала в госпитале Красного Креста. После окончания войны, когда турецкие власти запретили иностранные представительства в стране, норвежская миссионерка, пережившая с армянским народом геноцид, не вернулась домой. Вместо этого она переехала в Советскую Армению и в 1922 г. основала приют в Александрополе.

A Passion for China: Norwegian Mission to China Until 1949 ed. by Tormod Engelsviken, Notto R. Thelle, and Knut Edvard Larsen

Reviewed by: A Passion for China: Norwegian Mission to China Until 1949 ed. by Tormod Engelsviken, Notto R. Thelle, and Knut Edvard Larsen Richard Carter A Passion for China: Norwegian Mission to China Until 1949. Edited by Tormod Engelsviken, Notto R. Thelle, and Knut Edvard Larsen. Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2015. 202 pp. An introduction, an overview, and nine chapters, like facets of a jewel, each enriched with documented detail and bibliography, offer a substantial view of Norwegian-grounded missionary activity in China through the mid-twentieth century. The style of writing ranges from pious to precise. Alongside the Norwegian passion one catches the passions of particular authors, for example, for feminism and equal rights. The commitment to documentation and the deep Norwegian roots of this text—translations of Norwegian terms are given—can mean that a reader is slowed down in understanding the content. [End Page 108] "Saving of Souls and the Return of the Lord …" describes an almost distracting array of mission agencies, including the Mission Covenant Church of Norway (MCCN), the China Inland Mission, the Free Mission Association, the Scandinavian Alliance Mission, the Christian Missionary Alliance, the Norwegian Missionary Alliance, and the Norwegian China Mission. At the same time, in particular following the biography and work of Swedish-American Fredrik Franson, this chapter narrates the impact of pre-millennialism in some Norwegian mission work. This includes the choice of MCCN to work as a faith-mission, so as "to avoid criticism from the older mission boards … [and] not compete for funds" (29). "Relationships—The Heart of Mission: The Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Norway's Mission to China 1916–1949" first provides a brief history of the work of the ELFCN, including the numbers of missionaries, of schools and churches, and of Chinese workers. The chapter then works through a range of relevant relationships: with God, the Chinese community, Chinese Christians (in general and with co-workers), with other missions, between missionaries of the ELFCN, within the missionary family, and with the sending church and its members. The last portion moves beyond the title of the book: "Relationships after 1949." "Marie Monsen's Achievement" acknowledges the policy of the China Inland Mission to accept both men and women, and then details the significant work of Marie Monsen (1878–1962). The writer proposes "that God must be a supporter of women's liberation as well as modern Western civilization, since he directs his obedient female followers to become professional teachers and nurses …" (92). She adds "Marie Monsen's feminist commitment seems to have been largely overlooked when she lived as an elderly woman in Bergen" (108). One paragraph of "Diakonia" describes the turbulent era in China covered by all the chapters. During the fifty years within which the Norwegian Missionary Society (NMS) "was engaged in its work in China the country went through great political changes. The empire lasted until the revolution in 1911 "[with] both the internal conflicts [three are listed] and externally between the Chinese and the Japanese [and then] the communist takeover [which] resulted in [End Page 109] the establishment of the PRC on October 1, 1949 [sic]" (135). The chapter documents many facets of NMS diakonia: medical missions and the prevention of foot-binding of Chinese girls, discussions on women's work, promoting "human rights … by widely promoting the art of reading and writing" (137), overcoming and preventing social diseases, hospital work, sustainable development and respect for the patients' human worth, a school for the blind and an orphanage for abandoned children. Having served six years in Hong Kong, there catching glimpses of the major work of Karl Ludvig Reichelt (1877–1952), I much appreciated the closing chapter: "The Beginnings of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue in China." It documents clearly the long, deep "second fiddle" work of Notto Normann Thelle (1901–1990) that supported Reichelt. The chapter makes it possible first to honor the famous missionary and then to honor all who contribute to and support the great workers, including all those Norwegians whose passion for the Good News moved them to serve in mission in China, to 1949 and beyond. Richard Carter Concordia University Saint Paul, Minnesota Copyright © 2023 Johns Hopkins University Press and...

Frå Edinburgh til verdas ende: Utviklingstrekk i fortolkinga av kyrkjas misjonsoppdrag, 1910-2010, i lys av to talar

This article compares one speech held in Edinburgh, 1910 with one held in Cape Town, 2010, both by important Norwegian Church leaders. With the help of a focused rhetorical analysis of the two speeches and a comparison of the implicit mission theology of the two speeches, we aim to trace some signi#cant developments in how the Church’s mission and the ecumenical task is perceived. Whereas General Secretary of Norwegian Mission Society (NMS) Lars Dahle gives some advice concerning the code and conduct of Christian missionaries and their responsibility to act with one voice when facing the pagan governments (1910), World Council of Churches (WCC) General Secretary, Olav Fykse Tveit, underlines that the Church was mainly an instrument for creating peace and reconciliation. Dahle’s speech can be understood in light of a desire to reach all people with the gospel. Tveit’s speech on the other hand, re!ects the modern ecumenical movement that had developed from the Mission assembly in Edinburgh 1910 hundred years later.

Negotiating Norwegian Mission Education in Zululand and Natal during World War II

Abstract Missionaries from the Lutheran Norwegian Mission Society (NMS) came to South Africa from the 1840s. By 1940, more than 6000 pupils were attending NMS-owned schools in Zululand and Natal. World War II brought about different forms of negotiations between the missionaries and other actors. The War resulted in the missionaries losing contact with their central board in Norway and the provincial authorities of the Union were among those bodies who came to rescue them financially. Local congregations took over more of the mission responsibilities and the nature and forms of cooperation with other Lutheran missions changed. Added to these changes was the growing aspiration among Zulu pastors for more independence that also manifested itself in the management of schools. This paper presents an analysis of the ways in which the Norwegian missionaries negotiated their educational work in Zululand and Natal during the World War II period.

Språk og etnisitet: NMS misjonen blant Gumuz i Etiopia 1970-2020

This paper examines the work of the Norwegian Mission Society amongst the Gumuz people in Ethiopia from the perspective of linguistic and cultural sensitivity. The Norwegian missionaries were called to Ethiopia in 1970 by the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY), to work with the indigenous Gumuz population in Western Ethiopian lowlands. Despite a chal-lenging relationship to a church dominated by the majority population of the area, the Oromo, and despite changing regimes and governmental restrictions on language and evangelism work, the results of the Gumuz mission are remarkable, achieved through the presence of strong and committed missionaries. However, the NMS never developed a conclusive strategy for this work which takes the importance of linguistic and cultural factors into consideration. For a long time, no efforts for scripture translation were made and no strategies for the proclamation of the gospel in mother tongue were formulated. The ethnically based power relations in the church were never challenged. In recent times NMS has strengthened its focus, but the practical implementation is threatened due to ecclesiastical and political circumstances in Ethiopia as well as little consistent priorities from the mission organisation.

A time of destiny for Norwegian mission schools in Zululand and Natal under the policy of Bantu Education (1948–1955)

ABSTRACTWhen the purified National Party (NP) came to power in South Africa in 1948, they introduced educational policies based on the ideology of apartheid. At that time 7,183 pupils attended primary education in 110 Lutheran Norwegian mission schools in Zululand and Natal. When the State took over these schools after the passing of the Bantu Education Act of 1953, the number had increased to 10,415. Together with other Lutheran missions, the Norwegians participated in running a teacher training college and a High School. For over a century before this, educational work had been a fundamental instrument in assisting mission work. Against this background, the paper attempts to answer two questions: How did the Norwegian missionaries relate to the policy of Bantu Education? Was the experience of the Norwegians attempting to carry out their educational work under this racial segregation legislation similar to that of other mission organisations at the time?

Collecting core data in physician-staffed pre-hospital helicopter emergency medical services using a consensus-based template: international multicentre feasibility study in Finland and Norway

BackgroundComparison of services and identification of factors important for favourable patient outcomes in emergency medical services (EMS) is challenging due to different organization and quality of data. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the feasibility of physician-staffed EMS (p-EMS) to collect patient and system level data by using a consensus-based template.MethodsThe study was an international multicentre observational study. Data were collected according to a template for uniform reporting of data from p-EMS using two different data collection methods; a standard and a focused data collection method. For the standard data collection, data were extracted retrospectively for one year from all FinnHEMS bases and for the focused data collection, data were collected prospectively for six weeks from four selected Norwegian p-EMS bases. Completeness rates for the two data collection methods were then compared and factors affecting completeness rates and template feasibility were evaluated. Standard Chi-Square, Fisher’s Exact Test and Mann-Whitney U Test were used for group comparison of categorical and continuous data, respectively, and Kolomogorov-Smirnov test for comparison of distributional properties.ResultsAll missions with patient encounters were included, leaving 4437 Finnish and 128 Norwegian missions eligible for analysis. Variable completeness rates indicated that physiological variables were least documented. Information on pain and respiratory rate were the most frequently missing variables with a standard data collection method and systolic blood pressure was the most missing variable with a focused data collection method. Completeness rates were similar or higher when patients were considered severely ill or injured but were lower for missions with short patient encounter. When a focused data collection method was used, completeness rates were higher compared to a standard data collection method.ConclusionsWe found that a focused data collection method increased data capture compared to a standard data collection method. The concept of using a template for documentation of p-EMS data is feasible in physician-staffed services in Finland and Norway. The greatest deficiencies in completeness rates were evident for physiological parameters. Short missions were associated with lower completeness rates whereas severe illness or injury did not result in reduced data capture.

The Crux of a Surrogate Apology: An Evaluation of Norwegian Mission Leaders’ Apology to Boarding School Children (2009)

Abstract This article analyses and discusses what constitutes the central difficulty (crux) of a surrogate apology – a corporate apology where a leader apologizes vicariously on behalf of an organization. Starting with a rhetorical analysis of the surrogate apology given by Norwegian mission leaders to children going to mission boarding schools (2009), the article proceeds to evaluate the theological status of such a surrogate apology in the light of forgiveness as a key practice in a theology of missio Dei. Drawing on rhetorical and theological analysis, the article concludes that the central difficulty lies in the aporetic nature of the response. It is therefore essential to acknowledge and address this aporia, even as a theological challenge.

The Norwegian Mission’s Literacy Work in Colonial and Independent Madagascar by Ellen Vea Rosnes

The Norwegian Mission’s Literacy Work in Colonial and Independent Madagascar by Ellen Vea Rosnes

Book Review: A Passion for China: Norwegian Mission to China until 1949

Book Review: A Passion for China: Norwegian Mission to China until 1949

Gender, Mission and Work

This article explores the complex relationship between formal gender rights and agency in the gender-conservative Norwegian mission organization, the Norwegian Lutheran China Mission Association (NLCM). The NLCM, currently named the Norwegian Lutheran Mission (Norsk Luthersk Misjonssamband, NLM), is known for promoting women’s subordination under men. In the NLM, women were not granted the right to vote at the General Assembly (GA) until 1997. Even today, only men may have a seat on the NLM’s committee for principal theological deliberations and decisions, because supreme spiritual leadership is reserved exclusively for men. NLM is currently the largest mission organization in the Nordic countries. The NLCM has been understood as an exception among Protestant missions that promoted women’s visibility, formal organizational rights and public role at the turn of the 20th century. Based on original archival research on the NLCM’s first decades in China, this paper analyses to what extent the NLCM was exceptional in its gender ideology and practice compared to other major Norwegian mission societies and Norwegian state Christianity at the turn of the 20th century.

Together Towards Life: Norwegian Reflections

The new Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) mission document has received widespread attention in Norway. Two mini-conferences were arranged last fall, with the CWME-secretary Jooseop Keum taking part in both. The conferences offered a platform for responses and comments from church and mission leaders. They were widely covered by the two Christian dailies in Norway (Dagen and Cart Land), which also opened their columns for the ensuing debate between ecumenicals and evangelicals. The backdrop to this debate goes back to New Delhi 1961 and the merger of the International Mission Council (IMC) with the WCC, resulting in the establishment of the CWME. The Norwegian Mission Council (NMC), as probably the only council, decided not to join the CWME. This decision has since then coloured the view of the conciliar movement among mission organizations, free churches, and evangelicals. At the same time, some of the Norwegian churches, and particularly the Church of Norway, have been active members of WCC and CWME while most of the organizations and churches have formed a Norwegian Council for Mission and Evangelism (NORME) with the Lausanne Covenant (1974) as their basis. This issue and the divergent views on the conciliar and evangelical movements have again come to the fore in the debate about the new mission document, and particularly so because Dr Keum in his lectures in Oslo and Stavanger called for a review of the 1961 decision: Dear sisters and brothers in the Norwegian Council for Mission and Evangelism, shall we journey together again? We shall in the following summarize and analyze the Norwegian reflections on Together Towards Life. Secondly, we shall look at the Norwegian context and situation in regard to engagement in the CWME. In the conclusion we shall run the risk of giving our response to Dr Keum's invitation. Even though this article aims at describing Norwegian reflections on the document, it is important to note that the authors and their views do not officially represent any of the Norwegian agencies or churches. Summary and analysis of reflections Here are some of the views expressed in the Norwegian conversation: Ecumenism and mission belong together The heartbeat of the church is mission. The church exists by mission, and if the church does not engage in mission, it ceases to be church. Mission must be ecumenical since the focus of both mission and ecumenism is to cross borders. Both of them are about meeting people with respect and tolerance. Ecumenism does not aim at making churches alike, but at making them belong together in diversity and respect. Both ecumenism and mission are about people meeting each other and about the church encountering people of different faiths, different ideologies, and different convictions. As we share the good news of Jesus Christ and invite people of other faiths to discipleship, we are challenged to learn dialogue and respect from ecumenism. Both ecumenism and mission are about listening to others and being challenged by others. The Holy Spirit and mission The emphasis on the Holy Spirit is what makes the new document exciting. This is a novel perspective among Protestants and Lutherans. But this emphasis implies by the same token a major challenge: How do we discern what the work of the Spirit is? The document says that the Spirit is at work in mysterious ways that we cannot comprehend or grasp. This opens the door for the Spirit being at work in other living faiths, in politics, and in economics; and also nature and creation, which await God's redemption and release, become arenas for the Spirit at work. What is God doing right now? Is the Spirit at work in our hospitals and our families? These questions are new in our context. Could the document play a role in two ways: first, by paving the way for impulses from charismatic congregations and Orthodox theology to churches that have an anaemic theology of the Holy Spirit; and, second, by connecting the Spirit with the wide cosmos and thus making individualism a false option. …

Strong State Policies on Gender and Aid: Threats and Opportunities for Norwegian Faith-Based Organisations

This article presents a case study of how Bistandsnemnda (BN)/Digni, an umbrella organisation for Norwegian mission organisations and churches, responded to increased pressure from the Norwegian state to focus on gender equality and women's rights as part of their development aid work. BN initiated a special programme called Women Empowerment and Gender Equality in which the organisation displayed an unusually strong involvement. The level of involvement implied that BN exceeded its given mandate as an umbrella organisation, creating tensions and reactions among the members. We discuss this level of involvement, looking at both external and internal factors. We argue that BN's involvement in this programme should be understood in the light of BN's and the member organisations' considerable economic dependence on the Norwegian state and the symbolic importance of gender equality in the production of Norwegian national identity. These two factors led to strong pressure to comply with state policies on gender and aid. This was reinforced by political ambivalence about faith-based organisations receiving state funding; a scepticism that has been fuelled by some rather conservative gender policies in a number of BN's member organisations. A one-sided focus on external political pressure does not, however, provide sufficient explanation for what happened in this particular case. We argue that BN's strong involvement was simultaneously driven by individuals who were committed to gender equality. The pressure from the Norwegian state gave these actors an opportunity to push for more gender-sensitive policies among the member organisations.

Cultural Encounters at Cape Farewell: The East Greenlandic Immigrants and the German Moravian Mission in the Nineteenth Century

This nicely illustrated and informative publication is a cultural history of the southernmost part of Greenland with a particular emphasis on the East Greenlandic immigrants settling at or in the vicinity of the Moravian mission stations in that area in the nineteenth century. The book has been translated into English and original quotes are made available in the endnotes for those proficient in Danish, German, or Greenlandic. Furthermore, it contains a useful appendix of the censuses of Greenland as well as an extensive index.After the brief introduction, the volume falls into three distinct parts organized according to methodological approaches: a macro-historical part is followed by a section dedicated to an analysis of societal organisation in East Greenland. The last two chapters take a micro-historical look at South Greenlandic culture. The three authors come from different academic disciplines. This allows a range of approaches from archaeology to anthropology and history. Yet, the methodological and disciplinary differences sometimes amount to contradicting statements and findings. I will return to this point later.The brief but informative introduction provides the framework for the volume and sets the stage by giving descriptions of climatic and topographic conditions and particularities of southern Greenland, which is quite useful given their impact on the cultural history of the region. Furthermore, the variety of source materials and approaches employed by the authors is introduced as an explanation of the chosen orthography. In the first macro-historical part, the authors introduce what they call the “prehistory” of southern Greenland based on detailed archaeological research focused on trade and transfer of knowledge. The following chapter deals with southern Greenland in the eighteenth century, again with a focus on trade and exchange as well as relations between east and west Greenland. The focus in this chapter are the mission stations in the Cape Farewell area established by Danish and Norwegian missions, which were often connected to the Danish trading stations. The Moravian mission, particularly the main station Friedrichsthal (1834), plays a leading role in the last of the macro-historical chapters exploring cultural encounters in the region in the nineteenth century.In the “struggle for the East Greenlandic immigrants,” as the next chapter is headlined, the rivalry between the Danish/Norwegian and the Moravian missions is highlighted as along with the ambiguous relation between the mission and the Danish authorities and trade stations. The two subsequent chapters on societal organization, demography, and demographic changes provide an intermezzo before the focus shifts to the material and mental traces of the past in southern Greenland. The authors are all museum curators, which becomes clear in the final and rather detailed and technical chapter of the book that discusses the ethnographic museum in Herrnhut, the Völkerkundemuseum.The publication provides insights into interesting aspects of an understudied part of Greenlandic history, but two points needs further discussion. First, the meaning, content, and analytical function of the main concept of the publication, cultural encounters, remain underdeveloped throughout the volume, leaving the reader puzzled by motivations behind the methodological choices. Second, and to me slightly more troubling, is the distinction that the authors made between “history” and “prehistory” in the Cape Farewell region. This distinction gives an impression that history arrived with the Europeans by the end of the eighteenth century (15). While I recognize that new types of sources became available with the introduction of writing culture and that different scholarly disciplines have different vocabularies (the distinction is most prevalent in the archaeologically informed sections of the book), it is necessary to reflect on the wider implications of the use of this distinction. It implies that peoples without writing cultures were without history, i.e., static and incapable of change. This last point, however, is mostly terminological in nature since the authors go a long way to show exactly the opposite, that the southern and eastern Greenlanders were in fact flexible and sensitive to changes in their surroundings, making the distinction between history and prehistory even more unfortunate as it seems to work against the overall goal of the publication.Despite these minor theoretical problems, the book is informative and edited with superb pictures accompanied by extensive captions. The volume is especially useful for those who are not familiar with Greenlandic history and culture and those who have a particular interest in the fascinating field of Moravian mission studies.

Creating a voice - acquiring rights. Women in the Norwegian Mission Society and the process towards formal organizational rights in 1904*

In 1904 women in the Lutheran Norwegian Mission Society (NMS) went from having no organizational rights to gaining full rights to vote and partial eligibility to organizational boards. The process towards formal rights for women took place in the NMS parallel with a general development in women's rights in the Norwegian society. The NMS was part of this women's awareness-movement, indirectly and directly furthering it through its work, being the largest women's organization in Norway at the time. Contrary to the myth of the passive and submissive Christian woman, women in the NMS worked both indirectly and directly to acquire the right to formal influence. This case further shows how some women in the mission developed emancipatorical and women-conscious interests and views through their mission engagement. Some women used their mission engagement as an emancipatorical force. For them, women's emancipation had a theological inspiration and legitimation.

Norwegian Missions in African History Vol. 1: South Africa 1845-1906

Norwegian Missions in African History Vol. 1: South Africa 1845-1906

Norwegian Missions in African History Vol. 2: Madagascar

Norwegian Missions in African History Vol. 2: Madagascar

Book Review: Norwegian Missions in African History, Vol. I: South Africa 1845–1906

Book Review: Norwegian Missions in African History, Vol. I: South Africa 1845–1906

Book Review: Norwegian Missions in African History, Vol. II: Madagascar

Book Review: Norwegian Missions in African History, Vol. II: Madagascar

Norwegian Missions in African History. Vol. 2: Madagascar. Edited by Finn Fuglestad and Jarle Simensen. Oslo: Norwegian University Press, 1986(distributed outside Scandinavia by Oxford University Press). Pp. 155. £18.50.

Norwegian Missions in African History. Vol. 2: Madagascar. Edited by Finn Fuglestad and Jarle Simensen. Oslo: Norwegian University Press, 1986(distributed outside Scandinavia by Oxford University Press). Pp. 155. £18.50. - Volume 29 Issue 3