Eesti Misjoni Seltsi tegevusest okupatsioonieelses Eesti Vabariigis

Abstract

Priit Rohtmets, The Estonian Missionary Society 1919-1940
The Estonian Missionary Society was established in 1919 by the clergy of the Estonian Evangelical Luther Church. For 20 years the leader of the society was priest Harald Põld. With the help of neighbouring Finnish Missionary Society the primary goal was to send young missionaries to the Missionary School in Helsinki. Although the objective was achieved, none of the three selected students managed to graduate. After the failure H. Põld decided to support Leonhard Blumer, a missionary who worked in Africa and was subordinated to Leipzig Missionary Society. Some years later, this decision was deplored by the Consistory of the Lutheran Church because it was thought that Blumer was too German-minded. From 1923 the missionary work was overshadowed by the conflict which emerged between three theological schools of thought inside the Lutheran Church. Harald Põld was the intellectual leader of the conservative current and stood up strongly to any alterations and liberal conceptions of theology. The conservative current also opposed to any relations with ecumenical organisations including the International Missionary Council. The outcome of this policy for Missionary Society was a boycott from all the other church parties. By the year 1927 the relations between the Lutheran Church and the Missionary Society were nearly non-existent. The Consistory refused to transmit the money that had been collected from the parishes for missionary work and demanded answers to what the money was going to be spent on. During the next four years the topic was fervently disputed in the conference of theologians and clerics and it was decided that the cooperation with the Finnish Missionary Society must be re-established. Põld resisted but accepted this decision the next year. He was appointed a Director of Missionary work with the task to increase the budget of Missionary Society. During the 1930s the situation remained unchanged and stable, the funds of missionary society were divided between missionary Blumer, who worked in Africa and missionary Martin Meedar, who was subordinated to the Finnish Missionary Society and worked in China. Leonhard Blumer resigned already in 1930, but the Missionary Society continued to support his successor. Martin Meedar was forced to resign in 1938 because of a communist takeover in his missionary region in China. That year also marks the actual ending of the society, in 1939 Põld died. The Estonian Missionary Society was officially shut down by the Soviet authorities soon after the occupation of the Republic of Estonia.