North Russian Mission

The North Russian Mission was a church unit in the expanding early stages of Adventist work in Russia, when the entire Russian Empire was divided into only three fields: the Northern, Middle, and South Russian Missions. It operated from 1901 to 1907.

Territory and Statistics (1906)¹

Territory: Baltic Provinces (Estonia, Livonia, and Courland), Poland, Grodno, Kovno, Minsk, Pskov, Vilna, Volhynia

Population: 25,536,300

Membership: 570

Churches: 12

Organizational History

Colporteurs began working in several cities in the territory as early as the 1890s, as can be seen from the colporteur reports in Zions-Wächter.

At the meeting of the European General Conference, July 23, 1901, at Friedensau, it was decided to subdivide the Russian Mission. This was done “on account of its size and the manner in which [members were] distributed” there. Two new entities were to be formed, the Northern and Southern Russian Missions. These became part of the German Union, which was formed at the same time.² The new Russian church units eventually became three: the Northern and Middle Russian Missions and the Southern Russian Conference.³ The North Russian Mission covered the Baltic provinces, Poland, and Volhynia.⁴ The mission first appeared in official reports after the fourth quarter of the year. By then membership was 200.⁵

A few years later the growing work in Russia called for the formation of a separate Russian Union and a reorganization of the church units within it. With this prospect in mind, the North Russian Mission was dissolved at a meeting in Riga, September 1907.⁶ Its territory was divided, and the Baltic Provinces were organized into the Baltic Conference, while the other Governorates were organized into the West Russian Mission at a meeting on October 20, 1907.⁷

List of Presidents

D. P. Gäde, 1901–1907.

Sources

Conradi, Ludwig R. “Reise-Erfahrungen.” Zions-Wächter, December 2, 1907.

Conradi, Ludwig R., and O. A. Olsen. “German Camp-Meeting.” ARH, September 3, 1901.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1904–1908.

Sprohge, Joh. “Die erste Versammlung der Baltischen Vereinigung.” Zions-Wächter, December 2, 1907.

Turowski, H. “Allgemeine Versammlung des Westrussischen Missionsfeldes.” Zions-Wächter, December 2, 1907.

“Vierteljahrsbericht der deutschen Union-Konferenz vom 1. Oktober bis 31. Dezember.” Zions-Wächter, January 1902.

Notes

1. “North Russian Mission,” Yearbook (1907), 83.↩

2. Ludwig R. Conradi and O. A. Olsen, “German Camp-Meeting,” Advent Review, September 3, 1901, 577.↩

3. The last reports of the work in “East Europe” are from the second quarter of 1901. See reports in Zions-Wächter, July 1901, 76–78. There are no reports from the third quarter. In the fourth quarter report the church units listed are three. “Vierteljahrsbericht der deutschen Union-Konferenz vom 1. Oktober bis 31. Dezember,” Zions-Wächter, January 20, 1902, 23. I do not know whether they were two in the brief interval.↩

4. “North Russian Mission,” Yearbook (1904), 63. Two years later, the Governorates Grodno, Kovno, Minsk, Pskov, and Vilna were added to the territory description. “North Russian Mission,” Yearbook (1906), 75.↩

5. “Vierteljahrsbericht der deutschen Union-Konferenz vom 1. Oktober bis 31. Dezember,” Zions-Wächter, January 20, 1902, 23.↩

6. Ludwig R. Conradi, “Reise-Erfahrungen,” Zions-Wächter, December 2, 1907, 394.↩

7. Joh. Sprohge, “Die erste Versammlung der Baltischen Vereinigung,” Zions-Wächter, December 2, 1907, 400–401; H. Turowski, “Allgemeine Versammlung des Westrussischen Missionsfeldes,” Zions-Wächter, December 2, 1907, 413.↩