Berlin Missionary Society

The Berlin Missionary Society (BMS) or Society for the Advancement of evangelistic Missions amongst the Heathen (German: or Gesellschaft zur Beförderung der evangelischen Missionen unter den Heiden) was a German Protestant (Old Lutheran) Christian missionary society that was constituted on 29 February 1824 by a group of pious laymen from the Prussian nobility.

It was a successor organisation, in Berlin, to the missionary training efforts of Pastor Johannes Jaenicke () (of the Bohemian-Lutheran congregation in Berlin) which had prepared missionaries since 1800 for work with other missionary societies including the London Missionary Society.

The BMS began the training of its first missionaries in 1829, with assistance from missionary societies in Pomerania and East Prussia.

An important director was Hermann Theodor Wangemann (), who directed the Society from 1865 until his death in 1894. He first traveled to South Africa shortly after becoming director and went a second time in 1884. He wrote a system of regulations addressing fundamental questions of missionary work, the 1881 Missionsordnung der Gesellschaft zur Beförderung der Evangelischen Missionen unter den Heiden zu Berlin.

The Society supported work in South Africa, China and East Africa.

The Berlin Missionary Society was one of four German Protestant mission societies active in South Africa before 1914. It emerged from the German tradition of Pietism after 1815 and sent its first missionaries to South Africa in 1834. There were few positive reports in the early years, but it was especially active 1859-1914. It was especially strong in the Boer Republics. World War I cut off contact with Germany, but the missions continued at a reduced pace. After 1945 the missionaries had to deal with the decolonisation of Africa and especially with the apartheid government. At all times the BMS emphasized spiritual inwardness, and puritanical values such as morality, hard work and self-discipline. It proved unable to speak and act decisively against injustice and racial discrimination and was disbanded in 1972.

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