Missionären

Missionären was a Swedish periodical published by the Seventh-day Adventist Church from 1897 to 2021.

The first Adventist periodical in Swedish, Svensk Advent Härold, was published in Battle Creek, Michigan, beginning in 1874. It was spread to Swedish immigrants and also, by them, to their relatives in Sweden. It was the trailblazer for the pioneers to come. In 1884 its name was changed to Sanningens Härold (Herald of Truth), printed interchangeably in Battle Creek and Kristiania (Oslo) Norway. As the target now was Sweden, it was decided in 1895 to publish it in capital of the country with the main group of readers, Stockholm. The magazine was again renamed as Tidens Tecken (Signs of the Times). These three forebearers to Missionären were all missionary publications aimed at the public, as well as providing information for the growing number of members. It proved difficult to include two such diverse target groups. There was a need for a separate church-aimed publication, containing reports of various kinds that only concerned members.¹ Tidens Tecken remained an outreach publication to the general public until 1967.²

A Church-Focused Periodical

Missionären was started in 1897 as a small eight-page publication which was printed once a month and, occasionally, twice a month. In the early years, Missionären contained reports of various kinds reflecting the progress of the Church, as well as providing the Sabbath School lessons for adults. This continued until 1919. Between 1890 and 1893, and 1898 and 1903, a four-page insert of children’s pages was added, including their Sabbath School lessons.

In addition to publishing news from the Swedish churches, the magazine aimed to “as far as possible publish an echo or two from the worldwide field together with educational and encouraging short articles concerning the work of the Lord.”³

The name Missionären (Missionary) was a natural one. In the early years mission was first of all targeted to the local country, and the mission fields were domestic, not international. The change to send out workers to foreign fields from Sweden started in the 1920s and grew in the 1930s.⁴

Emil Åhrén, the first long-time editor was also editor for all other publications until 1932. Missionären was small, but grew as the Church expanded with health institutions, schools, and a publishing house. From 1921 onwards, there was an annual 16-page addition for Ingathering. Ingathering was a great mission outreach in which most members were active.

Åhrén was also eager to promote the mainstream theology of the Church to members in Sweden who lived in remote areas away Adventist centers. He persistently refuted strong attempts from reformist groups to have an impact among Swedish Adventists in the 1920s. He made the magazine, small as it was, an important glue for the widely spread members in a sparsely populated country.

The next editor, Oscar Angervo, realized the necessity to have Missionären registered as a legal publication for the Church, which was not actually done until 1945. As a result, he is officially registered as its first editor.

Tidens Tecken, the youth magazine Ungdomens Budbärare, the health magazine Sundhetsbladet, and the separately printed Sabbath School lessons for adults and for children, served the church members from the end of the 1920s until 1967. Sadly, because of financial constraints, the publication of Tidens Tecken, Ungdomens Budbärare, and Sundhetsbladet, ended in 1967. With fewer than 3,000 members in the union, there was not the financial stability to support several publications. Missionären continued to be published and it returned to its original purpose of reporting news and providing spiritually edifying articles for the members. The editor at the time, Sigvard Lundström, managed to include youth pages, as well as other articles of a wider interest in Missionären.⁵ This process of making the content appeal to a wider age range became widely popular.⁶

In the years following 2015, the digital revolution has moved many readers from a paper magazine to web-based news and articles of interest, especially among the younger membership.⁷ Missionären more or less returned to where it started, which was being an instrument to build community among the still widespread churches and members. The mission reports of today are mainly focused on the various outreach projects within Sweden.

Missionären has been succeeded by the new periodical, AdventLiv,⁸ aimed primarily at involving young adult members in the ongoing work of the Adventist Church in Sweden.⁹

Editors of Missionären

Emil Åhrén 1897-1931; Oskar Angervo 1932-1951; Gösta Berglund 1951-1958; Sigvard Lundström 1959-1967; Erik Söderberg 1968-1974; Ulf Gustavsson 1975-1985; Per Bolling 1986-1994; Annemaj Sandström 1995-2004; Rainer Refsbäck 2005-2018; Liane Edlund 2019-2021.¹⁰

Sources

Bolling, Per. “Tack för tiden, Missionären.” Missionären, May 2021 [Thank you for your time, Missionary].

Johansson Öster, Yvonne. Bibliography Swedish Adventist church. Unpublished, Orebro, 2006. In the author’s private collection.

Johansson Öster, Yvonne. Till jordens yttersta gräns: Svenska adventistmissionärers liv och verksamhet. Stockholm: Skandinaviska bokförlaget, 2018 [To the earth’s ultimate borders: Life and work of Swedish Adventist missionaries].

Refsbäck, Rainer. “Samfundets äldsta medarbetare 120 år.” Missionären, January 2017 [The society's oldest employee 120 years].

Notes

1. Rainer Refsbäck, “Samfundets äldsta medarbetare 120 år,” Missionären, January 2017, 7 [The society's oldest employee 120 years].↩

2. Yvonne Johansson Öster, Bibliography Swedish Adventist church, unpublished, Örebro 2006.↩

3. Rainer Refsbäck, “Samfundets äldsta medarbetare 120 år”, Missionären January 2017, 7.↩

4. Yvonne Johansson Öster, Till jordens yttersta gräns: Svenska adventistmissionärers liv och verksamhet, (Stockholm: Skandinaviska bokförlaget, 2018). [To the earth’s ultimate borders: Life and work of Swedish Adventist missionaries].↩

5. From 1961 onwards.↩

6. Called Missionären med Ungdomens Budbärare or MUB (Missionären including the youth magazine).↩

7. See, for example, www.adventist.se.↩

8. AdventLiv means Advent Life.↩

9. Per Bolling, “Tack för tiden, Missionären,” Missionären May 2021, 3 [Thank you for your time, Missionary].↩

10. Rainer Refsbäck, “Samfundets äldsta medarbetare 120 år,” Missionären, January 2017, 7.↩