<p>Boij, A. 2002: Jorden är mörk och svart. Vad som rör pastorer i Svenska Missionsförbundet när de ska predika om samhället. (The world is black and dark. What concerns pastors in the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden when they preach about society). Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. <i>Psychologia et Sociologia Religionum</i> 16. 239 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 91-554-5488-7.</p><p>The dissertation reflects a study of what pastors in the Mission Covenant Church in Sweden say in their sermons about society and social responsibility and represents an attempt at finding factors such as gender, education, age, values, and faith behind what has been said in the sermons.</p><p>The results show that in general pastors have a negative picture of society irrespective of which of its aspects they are addressing. The pastors’ view of Christian responsibility for society is that it is primarily something for the individual to take, not for the congregation. Above all, Christian responsibility for society is about individual Christians' taking responsibility for her fellow human beings.</p><p>For theoretical clarification the findings are discussed within the framework of the concept of secularisation, following Casanova (1994) sub-divided into differentiation, decline of religion and privatisation. In the study differentiation is identified when pastors do not relate theological reflection to their description and analysis of society. Thus they do not provide an integrated system of meaning for everyday life. As for privatisation, even when pastors are mainly speaking about public events, they are unable to place those events in a religiously interpreted context. According to the pastors social problems are to be met with private and individual solutions through Christians' actions to the benefit of their fellow men. </p><p>The MCC is a part of what in Swedish can be called <i>a popular movement</i>, a kind of "social movement" or "voluntary organisation." The analysis shows that its pastors in their sermons do not embrace some of the central parts of the ideology that generally pertain to <i>popular movements</i>, namely concern with reforming society. </p>

Thesis (D. Min.)--Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 192-200).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 192-200).

This thesis investigates the ways in which the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden could influence the Swedish Foreign Aid Policy for NGOs, with particular focus on financial support for their missionary activities. Furthermore, it investigates how the church’s involvement in the emerging Foreign Aid Policy work, and its relationship with the government agency NIB/SIDA during the years 1964-1980, influenced the church’s own policy-making. Using Mahoney, Streeck and Thelen’s concept of gradual change and Bourdieu’s theory of habitus this thesis investigates the influence the relationship had on 1) the Aid policy 2) MCCS: s evangelical mission. The results of this thesis indicate that the government agency’s original demand for a Foreign Aid work neutral from religious or political influence changed into a policy embracing missionary organisations. The results also indicate a change in the priority of the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden’s mission methods with the church prioritising social work over evangelisation. This study aims in general to deepen the knowledge of the NGOs involved in the Swedish Foreign Aid in order to further the understanding of their influence on the Foreign Aid Policy as well as their methods to remain uninfluenced in return.

Uppsatsen syftar till att studera nattvardssynen i tre systerkyrkor; Svenska Missionskyrkan, Covenant Church i USA och Pactokyrkan i Ecuador. Dessa samfund eftersom de alla delar samma teologiska rötter. Covenant Church och Pactokyrkan är båda direkt och indirekt frukt av Svenska Missionskyrkan. Metoden som använts är en jämförande kvalitativ studie där samfundens dokument kring nattvarden varit centrala. Resultatet visar att kyrkorna delar synen på att Jesus instiftade nattvarden åt sina lärjungar kvällen innan Han korsfästes. De delar också syn på att nattvarden är ett tecken på försoningen i Honom. Covenant Church och Svenska Missionskyrkan har båda öppna nattvardsbord och Pactokyrkan har ett stängt nattvardsbord.

In May 1856 the EFS (the Swedish Evangelical Mission Society), influenced by the new evangelism-movement, was established as an “internal mission” within the Church of Sweden. During the same period the “new evangelism” revival movement established regional organizations in order to coordinate the movement in different parts of the country. These regional organizations consisted of the movement’s local mission societies in a province or part of a province of Sweden. This study will focus on democracy and theological identity in the EFS through an analysis of how the regional organizations acted, what role they played, how the EFS was influenced by them and how the EFS decided to establish its own regional organization. One result of the earlier tensions between the regional mission organizations and the EFS was the establishment of the independent organizations Mission Covenant Church of Sweden (Svenska Missionsförbundet) (1878-) and Mission Society of Bible faithful Friends (Missionssällskapet Bibeltrogna Vänner) (1911-). This investigation looks into 17 of 36 regional mission organizations that existed. The time frame of the investigation is from the establishment of the EFS in 1856 to the establishment of the regional structure of the EFS in 1922. The EFS changed over time. The change of society and wishes from the movement’s local mission societies and regional mission organizations were agents in this transformation. An important result of this research is that this transformation of the EFS proceeded at a slow pace and with the preservation of the EFS’s theological identity.