Société des missions évangéliques de Paris

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The Société des missions évangéliques de Paris , SMEP for short or Mission de Paris, German about "Pariser Evangelical Mission Society", was an association of Protestant missionaries founded in Paris in 1822 . It was close to the Reformed Church of France and emerged from the Réveil revival movement .

history

The society was founded in 1822 under the name Société des Missions Évangéliques de Paris chez les peuples non chrétiens (about: "Paris evangelical mission society for non-Christian peoples"), but was not recognized by the state. Nevertheless, she trained missionaries to send them to different countries and "proclaim the faith" there. The Société Civile Immobilière des Missions Évangéliques de Paris was founded to acquire a building on the Parisian boulevard Arago . The SMEP was the first missionary society in several areas and thus performed pioneering work, including in today's African states of Lesotho , Zambia , Gabon , Cameroon , Togo and Madagascar as well as - from the second half of the 19th century - in Oceania ( New Caledonia and French Polynesia ). Their missionaries ensured church service, while the synods were mostly occupied by locals.

Among the Basotho in today's Lesotho, there were three SMEP missionaries who reached the rulership of Moshoeshoes I in 1833 . They brought with them knowledge of agriculture and technology and wrote their first written documents in the Sesotho language . They were also instrumental in advising the Basotho in dealing with neighboring powers and thus ensuring the area's independence, which continues to this day. Today's Lesotho Evangelical Church in Southern Africa , which they founded, is the second largest church in the country. François Coillard published a hymn book on Sesotho that is still in use today and in 1884 became the first missionary in what is now Zambia. Missionary David Frédéric Ellenberger wrote a book on the history of the Basotho.

In order to comply with the law on the separation of church and state of December 9, 1905, the SMEP was re-established as a cultural association by resolution of the General Assembly on December 3, 1906.

Publications

During the entire period of its existence, the SMEP published numerous publications. As early as 1823 it published a newspaper, and in 1826 the Journal des missions évangéliques. It included carefully edited reports from the missionaries. The SMEP was financed by donations, initially mainly to make society known. Therefore, the Journal des missions évangéliques was published and, for young people, Le Petit Messager des missions évangéliques, later L'Ami des Missions. The SMEP also distributed books on theological reflections on mission and reports from the missionaries. From 1906 the society published the series Les récits missionnaires illustrés .

Transition in the second half of the 20th century

From 1964 the SMEP and several other churches wanted the society to be integrated into the existing churches. This happened in 1971, after which there were two new organizations:

  • the Cévaa ( Communauté évangélique d'action apostolique, later Communauté d'Églises en Mission ), an association of the mission societies of five Lutheran and Reformed churches, the Romanesque Protestant church of western Switzerland and Italy, and the overseas churches founded by the SMEP
  • the Défap ( Département évangélique français d'action apostolique, later Service protestant de mission ), the joint mission society of the five French Cévaa member churches with the central Maison des Missions , which continues to publish the monthly Mission, the Journal des missions évangéliques and the journal vert .

literature

  • Jean-François Zorn: Le grand siècle d'une mission protestante: la Mission de Paris, 1822–1914. Karthala, Paris 1993.
  • Jeanne-Marie Léonard: Mémoires d'évangile: les archives de la Société des missions évangéliques de Paris, 1822–1949. Défap, Paris 2000.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Overview at library.yale.edu ( Memento from August 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English), accessed on May 7, 2014
  2. ^ Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weisfelder, Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , pp. 168-170.
  3. ↑ Cévaa website (French), accessed May 7, 2014