MEOS intercultural services
| MEOS Intercultural Services (MEOS) |
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|---|---|
 |
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| purpose | Christian work among asylum seekers and foreign speakers |
| Chair: | Gotthard Sagmeister (President), Martin Brütsch, Ernst Berger, Martin Bracher, Niklaus Meier (member without voting rights) |
| Establishment date: | 1963 |
| Seat : | Zurich |
| Website: | http://www.meos.ch |
MEOS Intercultural Services (until 2013: MEOS Svizzera ) has been working on an evangelical - Christian basis in missionary work among asylum seekers and foreign speakers in Switzerland since 1963 .
history
MEOS Interkulturelle Dienst was founded on December 3rd, 1963 as an association by advocate Fritz von Steiger (association president), preacher E. Scholl (vice president) and Karl F. Grieder (mission leader). At the beginning, their mission was to "make the love of God known" among the Italian guest workers . MEOS Intercultural Services, originally “Missione Evangelica per gli Operai Stranieri in Svizzera” (Evangelical mission among foreign guest workers in Switzerland) now stands for “Evangelical mission among foreigners in Switzerland”.
In spring 1964, Gerhard Jack-Spanu, the first missionary for this ethnic group, could be employed. In 1965, Enos Manelli followed as the second employee among Italians. Soon it was used by Spaniards, Portuguese, Greeks, Yugoslavs and Turks. In 1966 Peter Hausammann was employed as the third and in 1967 Ladislau Aranyi as the fourth foreign missionary. The work continued to develop until 1975, so that eleven employees worked at MEOS Svizzera. In 2011, 11 foreign missionaries were generally active among different language groups and asylum seekers . There were also three so-called "associated" employees.
In 1964 the script and record mission (now MEOS Medien , an independent association) was started in around forty languages. Today the range includes Bibles , books, scripts, CDs and DVDs in over 110 languages.
In 1965 the association carried out the first calendar action. 800 Italian and 400 Spanish daily tear-off calendars could be distributed. For 2011, various forms of calendars were offered in around 30 languages.
1979 saw the first use of our own translation system at an evangelism in Schaffhausen . For years the translation work of the association was indispensable for evangelism meetings. In the meantime, the translation system is no longer offered. However, a few assignments as translators have remained.
In 2013, MEOS Svizzera was renamed MEOS Intercultural Services and entered in the commercial register of the Canton of Zurich in 2015.
In 2013 the MEOS Medien association was dissolved and integrated into the MEOS Intercultural Services association .
2018 On November 10, 2018, the general assembly passed new statutes and determined that from now on, all media from the MEOS range will only be given out on a donation basis. In the current statutes, the purpose of the association is defined as follows:
The association provides comprehensive support to migrants and promotes intercultural skills among Swiss and immigrants. This happens on a Christian basis through a wide range of social diaconal services, counseling, training and passing on the message of Jesus Christ to interested parties.
management
- Karl F. Grieder, December 1963 to July 1971
- Jacques Brunnschweiler, July 1971 to January 1973
- Karl F. Grieder, February 1973 to September 1974
- Hans Bösch, October 1974 to August 1977
- Peter Hausammann, September 1977 to April 2003
- Martin Saegesser, April 2003 to January 2018
- Niklaus Meier, from February 2018
Teaching and connections to other works
The association does not represent or disseminate any specific teaching, but is based on the creed of the European Evangelical Alliance . The most important points can be found under the theological basis of the German Evangelical Alliance . Your work is done in accordance with the Lausanne obligation . MEOS is a member of the Swiss Evangelical Alliance (SEA) and AEM (Working Group of Evangelical Missions). As a founding member, MEOS works closely with SEA Arbeitsgemeinschaft interkulturell (formerly AGiK, new: intercultural).
organization
The ZGB association employs around 18 people full-time or part-time. The support team supports the sales force from the association's headquarters in Zurich .
The work with foreign speakers takes place mainly in German-speaking Switzerland and within the following language groups: Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, Tamil, Sinhala, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Croatian, Serbian, Swahili and Kurdish-Sorani.
Newsletter
With the newsletter “meinNächster”, supporters and interested parties are informed about the work. The newsletter appears every two months and has a size of eight to twelve pages in A4 format. It reports on the work of MEOS employees or related organizations. The first edition appeared in 1964. Since 2005 the newsletter has been published in four-color printing .
Mention in publications and media
The MEOS association is presented in the Zurich Religious Guide. It is mentioned there that the association works across denominations with a focus on evangelism , pastoral care and church building (building up parishes ). The association is also listed in the register of ecclesiastical authorities and evangelical works in the calendar of the evangelical churches in Switzerland . The association is also registered on the INFOREL internet platform.
literature
- Claude-Alain Humbert: Religious Leader Zurich , 370 churches, religious-spiritual groups, centers and ideological movements of the city of Zurich, orell füssli Verlag AG, Zurich 2004, ISBN 3-280-05086-3
- Calendar of the Protestant churches in Switzerland with all addresses, Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel 2010, ISBN 978-3-7245-1641-5
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Special issue "my next", September 1965.
- ↑ "my neighbor" No. 6/2010 .
- ↑ Internet excerpt - Commercial Register of the Canton of Zurich ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Article on the inauguration of Martin Saegesser . Website www.schweizergeschichte.ch. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
- ↑ SEA member list ( Memento of the original dated February 1, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Website of the Swiss Evangelical Alliance. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
- ^ AEM membership list . Website of the Working Group of Evangelical Missions. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
- ↑ AGiK partner site . Website of the SEA working group intercultural. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
- ↑ Imprint in "my next" No. 6/2011 .
- ^ Entry in Helveticat of the Swiss National Library . Website of the Swiss National Library . Retrieved January 17, 2012.
- ↑ Claude-Alain Humbert: Religionsführer Zürich, orell füssli Verlag AG, ISBN 3-280-05086-3 , p. 160
- ^ Calendar of the Protestant Churches in Switzerland, Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, ISBN 978-3-7245-1641-5
- ↑ Database entry at inforel. . Inforel website. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
