Indre Mission

The popular name of the Kirkelig Forening for Indre Mission i Danmark (the Danish Church Home Mission Society), an evangelical movement within the Danish national church. It was formed in 1861 by some Pietistic clergymen and laymen from “the awakened circles.” Toward the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries, the Mission spread as a dynamic revival movement all over Denmark; many clergymen joined it, numerous laymen were employed as colporteurs or lay-preachers, and gradually meeting-houses were built all over the country. Originally the Indre Mission was characterized by the preaching of a straightforward and simple message of doom and salvation, always stressing the necessity of conversion and sanctification, and drawing a sharp line between believers and unbelievers. In spite of their critical attitude to the national church, the Indre Mission people stayed within it, considering it their divinely given mission to function as its salt. Today the Mission has become a recognized and established party within the church, but at the same time it has lost much of its original zeal and spiritual power, and to some extent even drifted away from its original biblical and evangelical position. Nevertheless, it still exerts a stronger influence than any other movement upon Danish church life.