Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Founded in 1876 by a small group of young women who resolved to deliver bouquets to patients in the City Hospital, the Indianapolis Flower Mission quickly grew to become one of the most respected philanthropic organizations in the city. During its almost one hundred and twenty year history, the Indianapolis Flower Mission created lasting institutions such as a nurses’ training school, a visiting nurse program, and two hospitals. While historians may be tempted to dismiss flower missions like the one in Indianapolis as naïve or sentimental groups, closer inspection reveals they were much more. My main argument is that though the work of the Indianapolis Flower Mission may at first glance appear trite, it was actually practical and life-saving and deserves serious consideration from historians. First, delivering flowers to the sick and poor had value, especially when we understand how people at the time thought about flowers and what emphasis people placed on spiritual as well as physical health. Second, the Indianapolis Flower Mission quickly transitioned away from simply delivering flowers into work like providing healthcare to the poor. Third, the Indianapolis Flower Mission provided women a respectable way to work outside their homes and gain experience in philanthropic, business, and political activity. Finally, the Indianapolis Flower Mission provides a specific case study that sheds light on other flower missions around the nation and the world.

The thesis looks at Protestant missions to the Ottoman Empire and the countries which emerged from it through Bosch's "Enlightenment missionary" (2003) and Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" (1996) paradigms. It argues that Muslim resistance to Christianity is rooted in innate Muslim intransigence and in specific historical events in which missionaries played important roles. The work utilizes a simple formula: it contrasts the socio-political and cultural framework missionaries imbibed at home with that of their host environment, outlines the goals and strategies they formulated and implemented, looks at the results, and notes the missiological implications. The formula is applied to four successive periods. We begin with the pre-World War I missionaries of the late Ottoman Empire. We look at their faith in reason, their conviction in the cultural superiority of Anglo-Saxon Protestantism, their attitude towards Islam, their idea of reaching the Muslim majority by reviving the Orthodox churches, and the evolution of their theology and missiology. World War I changed the landscape. The Empire's demise led to a struggle for Turkish and Arab national self-determination leading to the establishment of the Turkish Republic and various Arab entities, notably French and British mandates. Protestant missions almost disappeared in Turkey, while a small number of "veterans" kept the enterprise alive in the Arab world. While the Arabs struggled to liberate themselves from the Mandatory Powers, these veterans analyzed past failures, recognized the importance of reaching Muslims directly and began experimenting with more contextualized approaches. The post-World War II era saw the retreat of colonialism, the creation of Israel, a succession of wars with that country, and the formation of a Palestinian identity. Oil enabled the Arabian Peninsula to emerge as a major economic and political force. The missionary enterprise, on the other hand, virtually collapsed. Unlike their veteran predecessors, the pre-Boomer generation, with a few notable exceptions, was bereft of fresh ideas. During the 1970s the evangelical Baby Boomers launched a new enterprise. They tended not to perceive themselves as heirs of a heritage going back to the 1800s, though the people they "targeted" did. Their successors, the GenXers, products of post-modernism and inheritors of Boomer structures, face a region experiencing both increased political frustration and the re-emergence of Islam as a socio-political power. In closing we look at Church-centered New Testament spirituality as a foundational paradigm for further missions to the region. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

This study examines archival materials, pertinent literary sources, and fifteen interviews (listed in the PREFACE) in order to understand the impact on the Africa Evangelical Church (AEC) by its founding body, the South Africa General Mission/ Africa Evangelical Fellowship (AEF). It also explores the possible contributions that both the Mission and the Church could make to their continued growth as they move together into the 21st century. CHAPTER 1 places the AEF within the historical context of the past two hundred years and clearly identifies it as an interdenominational faith mission. AEF's history is developed in CHAPTER 2 and the Mission is measured against Klaus Fiedler's "historical typology" of the Protestant missionary movement. While primarily typical when compared to other missions of the same type in the same period, the Mission falls below average in other areas. Since the years being discussed fall within the apartheid era, CHAPTER 3 portrays the political positioning of AEF missionaries. The biblical bases and pragmatic stances for such positioning are considered before the chapter ends with a general biblical evaluation of AEF' s position. Having discussed the Mission at length, CHAPTER 4 moves into the circumstances surrounding the beginnings and eventual autonomy of the Africa Evangelical Church (AEC). Its ministry relationships with the Mission, as well as its established constitution, are studied before the chapter concludes with a comparison of the AEF and AEC. Since they are more similar than dissimilar, the AEF's influence on the AEC is umnistakably clear. The political events which heavily impacted the context in which both the AEF and AEC ministered are briefly presented in CHAPTER 5. Four different documents, which record the theological reflections of evangelicals in terms of the apartheid's injustices, are mentioned along with the lack of both AEF and AEC response to them. Following the outlining of changes in political stance, CHAPTER 6 delves into possible contributions which both the Mission and the Church could make, separately and jointly, to move more proactively toward relevant change in South Africa. Neither wish to dwell on the past. Both intend to keep "God First" and always to "Go Forward." / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th. (Missiology)

The Örebro Mission was founded by John Ongman in 1891. Missionary work in Central Africa began through Ongman’s local church in 1914, at first within other mission societies, but was later continued by the Örebro Mission. From 1921 the Örebro Mission developed its own work in Middle Congo and Oubangui-Chari within French Equatorial Africa. The aim of this thesis is to study how the process of change took place, starting with pioneering work undertaken by Swedish missionaries and resulting in the founding of independent Baptist churches. The analysis is based on the classic three-self policy, aiming at self-governing, self-supporting and self-extending indigenous churches. Using the principal-agent perspective in history writing, the role and significance of a number of key persons are focused. The interaction between the internal process and the cultural, political and ecumenical contexts is taken into consideration. The thesis shows that the three-self formula was used from the beginning as a theoretical goal, but also that its realization was seen in a very long time perspective. Several steps were gradually taken in that direction, but the study shows that contextual factors became as important incitements for the change as the missionaries’ own theologically based motives. It rather took “a second conversion” from a colonial mental framework to speed up the process in its final phase towards the creation of African denominations and the integration into them in 1962 of the Swedish mission structure and work.

The thesis looks at Protestant missions to the Ottoman Empire and the countries which emerged from it through Bosch's "Enlightenment missionary" (2003) and Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" (1996) paradigms. It argues that Muslim resistance to Christianity is rooted in innate Muslim intransigence and in specific historical events in which missionaries played important roles. The work utilizes a simple formula: it contrasts the socio-political and cultural framework missionaries imbibed at home with that of their host environment, outlines the goals and strategies they formulated and implemented, looks at the results, and notes the missiological implications. The formula is applied to four successive periods. We begin with the pre-World War I missionaries of the late Ottoman Empire. We look at their faith in reason, their conviction in the cultural superiority of Anglo-Saxon Protestantism, their attitude towards Islam, their idea of reaching the Muslim majority by reviving the Orthodox churches, and the evolution of their theology and missiology. World War I changed the landscape. The Empire's demise led to a struggle for Turkish and Arab national self-determination leading to the establishment of the Turkish Republic and various Arab entities, notably French and British mandates. Protestant missions almost disappeared in Turkey, while a small number of "veterans" kept the enterprise alive in the Arab world. While the Arabs struggled to liberate themselves from the Mandatory Powers, these veterans analyzed past failures, recognized the importance of reaching Muslims directly and began experimenting with more contextualized approaches. The post-World War II era saw the retreat of colonialism, the creation of Israel, a succession of wars with that country, and the formation of a Palestinian identity. Oil enabled the Arabian Peninsula to emerge as a major economic and political force. The missionary enterprise, on the other hand, virtually collapsed. Unlike their veteran predecessors, the pre-Boomer generation, with a few notable exceptions, was bereft of fresh ideas. During the 1970s the evangelical Baby Boomers launched a new enterprise. They tended not to perceive themselves as heirs of a heritage going back to the 1800s, though the people they "targeted" did. Their successors, the GenXers, products of post-modernism and inheritors of Boomer structures, face a region experiencing both increased political frustration and the re-emergence of Islam as a socio-political power. In closing we look at Church-centered New Testament spirituality as a foundational paradigm for further missions to the region. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

This study examines archival materials, pertinent literary sources, and fifteen interviews (listed in the PREFACE) in order to understand the impact on the Africa Evangelical Church (AEC) by its founding body, the South Africa General Mission/ Africa Evangelical Fellowship (AEF). It also explores the possible contributions that both the Mission and the Church could make to their continued growth as they move together into the 21st century. CHAPTER 1 places the AEF within the historical context of the past two hundred years and clearly identifies it as an interdenominational faith mission. AEF's history is developed in CHAPTER 2 and the Mission is measured against Klaus Fiedler's "historical typology" of the Protestant missionary movement. While primarily typical when compared to other missions of the same type in the same period, the Mission falls below average in other areas. Since the years being discussed fall within the apartheid era, CHAPTER 3 portrays the political positioning of AEF missionaries. The biblical bases and pragmatic stances for such positioning are considered before the chapter ends with a general biblical evaluation of AEF' s position. Having discussed the Mission at length, CHAPTER 4 moves into the circumstances surrounding the beginnings and eventual autonomy of the Africa Evangelical Church (AEC). Its ministry relationships with the Mission, as well as its established constitution, are studied before the chapter concludes with a comparison of the AEF and AEC. Since they are more similar than dissimilar, the AEF's influence on the AEC is umnistakably clear. The political events which heavily impacted the context in which both the AEF and AEC ministered are briefly presented in CHAPTER 5. Four different documents, which record the theological reflections of evangelicals in terms of the apartheid's injustices, are mentioned along with the lack of both AEF and AEC response to them. Following the outlining of changes in political stance, CHAPTER 6 delves into possible contributions which both the Mission and the Church could make, separately and jointly, to move more proactively toward relevant change in South Africa. Neither wish to dwell on the past. Both intend to keep "God First" and always to "Go Forward." / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th. (Missiology)

Research object of this thesis is Magnus the Apostle of the Allgäu area in Germany. Based on the historical background, this thesis analyses Magnus concerning the way and impact of his apostolic ministry to understand and compare it to the ministry of the biblical apostolic ministry and thus describe criteria of apostolic ministry and consequences until today. The originality of this thesis lies, due to a limites written sources concerning the vita of Magnus, in firstly an investigation into historical developments of his context in the Allgäu, secondly evaluates his Iro-Scottish backround and thirdly describes the historical impact. The resulting insights are compared between the apostolic-missionary work of Magnus and the New Testament. The conclusion summarizes the ministry of the apostle into a number of statements Which are in harmony with the life of Magnus and the context of the New Testament. / Forschungsgegenstand dieser Arbeit ist Magnus (699-772 n. Chr.), der Apostel des Allgaus. Aufgabe der Untersuchung ist es, basierend auf dem literarhistorischen Hintergrund des Magnus seine Biographie zu untersuchen, um eine Vorstellung liber die Art und Weise seiner apostolischen Wirksamkeit zu gewinnen. Die Besonderheit dieser Arbeit besteht darin, dass auf Grund des eingeschrankten schriftlichen Quellenbefundes der Magnusvita zum Einen die Erfassung des geschichtlichen Werdens seines Wirkungsfeldes im Allgau, zum Zweiten die Untersuchung seines iroschottischen Hintergrundes und zum Dritten die Darstellung seiner Wirkungsgeschichte unabdingbar sind. Die so gewonnenen Kenntnisse ermoglichen einen thesenhaften Vergleich zwischen dem apostolisch-missionarischen Wirken des Magnus und dem der Apostel des Neuen Testamentes. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

Summaries in German and English / Diese theologisch-empirische Studie befasst sich mit einem ganzheitlichen Verständnis von Mission im pfingstlich-charismatischen Kontext und besteht aus zwei Untersuchungen. In der ersten wird Literatur zum Paradigma ganzheitlicher Mission und zur Pfingstbewegung missionstheologisch erforscht. Die zweite Untersuchung baut auf der Literaturanalyse auf und bezieht sich exemplarisch auf eine pfingstliche Freikirche aus der Schweiz namens BewegungPlus. Mithilfe von offiziellen Dokumenten der Bewegung und ihres internationalen Zweigs, wie auch in Interviewaussagen leitender Personen von Lokalkirchen der Bewegung, wurde das Missionsverständnis untersucht. Die Auswertung der Interviews orientierte sich methodisch an der Grounded Theory. Aus den Resultaten beider Untersuchungen wurden thesenartige Schlussfolgerungen gezogen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der missionstheologische Paradigmenwechsel im pfingstlichcharismatischen Kontext rezipiert wird. Die Integration pfingstlicher und ganzheitlicher Mission ist am Beispiel der BewegungPlus zu beobachten, vor allem, wenn Mission und Eschatologie in einer Reich-Gottes-Theologie verbunden sind. Der im Rahmen dieser Arbeit erfolgte Beitrag aus pfingstlich-charismatischer Perspektive kann die aktuelle Missionsdiskussion erweitern. / This empirical theological study dealing with a holistic understanding of mission in an pentecostal context contains two studies. The first investigates literature focused on the paradigm of holistic mission and the Pentecostal Mission. The second study based on this literature analysis refers to an example of a pentecostal Church in Switzerland named „BewegungPlus“. The understanding of mission was investigated by examining official documents of the movement and by taking interviews with leading members of local churches. The evaluation of the interviews was methodologically based on the Grounded Theory. From the results of both studies theses-like conclusions were drawn. The results show that the mission theological paradigm shift is received in the pentecostal-charismatic context. In „BewegungPlus“ you can see the integration of both pentecostal and holistic mission especially when mission and eschatology are connected to a Kingdom of God theology. The pentecostal-charismatic perspective seen in this theses may contribute to the contemporary missional discussion. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th.(Missiology)

Research object of this thesis is Magnus the Apostle of the Allgäu area in Germany. Based on the historical background, this thesis analyses Magnus concerning the way and impact of his apostolic ministry to understand and compare it to the ministry of the biblical apostolic ministry and thus describe criteria of apostolic ministry and consequences until today. The originality of this thesis lies, due to a limites written sources concerning the vita of Magnus, in firstly an investigation into historical developments of his context in the Allgäu, secondly evaluates his Iro-Scottish backround and thirdly describes the historical impact. The resulting insights are compared between the apostolic-missionary work of Magnus and the New Testament. The conclusion summarizes the ministry of the apostle into a number of statements Which are in harmony with the life of Magnus and the context of the New Testament. / Forschungsgegenstand dieser Arbeit ist Magnus (699-772 n. Chr.), der Apostel des Allgaus. Aufgabe der Untersuchung ist es, basierend auf dem literarhistorischen Hintergrund des Magnus seine Biographie zu untersuchen, um eine Vorstellung liber die Art und Weise seiner apostolischen Wirksamkeit zu gewinnen. Die Besonderheit dieser Arbeit besteht darin, dass auf Grund des eingeschrankten schriftlichen Quellenbefundes der Magnusvita zum Einen die Erfassung des geschichtlichen Werdens seines Wirkungsfeldes im Allgau, zum Zweiten die Untersuchung seines iroschottischen Hintergrundes und zum Dritten die Darstellung seiner Wirkungsgeschichte unabdingbar sind. Die so gewonnenen Kenntnisse ermoglichen einen thesenhaften Vergleich zwischen dem apostolisch-missionarischen Wirken des Magnus und dem der Apostel des Neuen Testamentes. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

Text in German, English and German summaries / Die Masterthesis zeigt auf, wie das Reich-Gottes-Verständnis die Theologie und die missionarische Praxis im hallischen Pietismus bei August Hermann Francke beeinflusst hat. Mittels einer Literaturarbeit wird in missionstheologischer Perspektive das hallische Gottesreich-Verständnis erforscht sowie aus missionsgeschichtlicher Sicht die Praxis der hallischen Pietisten dargestellt. Beide Blickwinkel werden miteinander in Verbindung gesetzt, so dass die Zusammenhänge zwischen Reich Gottes und Gemeindepraxis herausgearbeitet werden. Es zeigt sich, dass die Reich-Gottes-Rede die Rahmenbedingungen, den Bezugspunkt, die menschliche Partizipation, die Ganzheitlichkeit sowie die Reichweite des missionarischen Handelns in Halle maßgeblich beeinflusst hat. Auf Basis der Forschungsergebnisse werden Schlüsse und Praxisimplikationen für die heutige Diskussion um den Reich Gottes Begriff und die missionarische Praxis gegeben. / This study shows how the concept of the Kingdom of God has influenced the theology and missionary church practice of August Hermann Francke. By means of a literature study, the concept of the Kingdom of God in Halle Pietism is researched from a perspective of mission theology. In addition to that the church practice of Francke will be presented from a perspective of mission history. Both points of view are linked to each other so that the relations between the Kingdom of God and church practice are worked out. It is obvious that the view of the Kingdom of God has decisively influenced the framework, the point of reference, human participation, the holistic approach, as well as the range of missionary activity in Halle. On the basis of the research results, conclusions and practical implications for today’s discussion about the concept of the Kingdom of God and missionary practice are given. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)