The Basel Mission was established by Calvinists from Basel and Lutherans from Wurttemberg in response to the threat of Napoleon’s army and operated from 1815 to 2001.
Although based in Basel, Switzerland, the mission was initially known as the German Missionary Society and is primarily known as a German Mission, as the majority of its churches were located in Germany. The Mission operated a vast International network including evangelical activities in Russia and the Gold Coast (from 1828), India (from 1834), China (from 1847), Cameroon (from 1886), Borneo (from 1921), Nigeria (from 1951), Latin America(from 1972) and Sudan (from 1973).1
On the Subcontinent, the Mission operated in Southwest India, with stations spread from Bijapur in present-day Karnataka to Palghat in present-day Kerala. Mission activities occurred throughout the regions then known as South Kanara and Malabar, with key centres established at Mangalore and Calicut. The beliefs of the Mission were grounded in non-denominational Pietistic and Calvinist roots: manifest in a commitment to spreading social change as part of spiritual conversion. This led the Mission to create means of employment for its converts wherever the Church was established. The result was the Basel Mission Industries.
- 1. http://missionaries.griffith.edu.au/missionary-training/basel-mission-society-1815
