1

Martti Muukkonen

Lay Ecumenism – Change of the Mission View of the World’s Alliance of YMCAs, 1855-1955[1]

Address to Social Movement working-group at the Conference of European Sociological Association, Murchia, Spain, 22-27 September, 2003.

Introduction

The World Alliance of YMCAs is one of the oldest and largest international youth organisations[2]. It has had a significant role both in the field of civil society and ecumenical movement. For some reason, it has been mostly ignored both in sociological and theological research. The task of this study is to cover this research hole in part.

Theoretically, I focus on factors that influence in the change of the mission view of an international non-governmental organisation. I have collected an organisation onion model on the basis of social movement and third sector studies. With it I map the factors that influence in the change. At this point, I would be good to note that my point is a sort of constructivism and therefore I aim to interpret how the leaders of the movement framed these factors – not that what was the reality from some other perspective.

Organisation onion model has been presented in figure 1. The model is based on Michael T. Hannan and John Freeman’s idea of hierarchical inertia[3]. It means that there is different inertia to resist changes in different layers. In this model, the core, which has the highest inertia, consists of organisation’s identity, mission and ideology[4]. The shell is consisted of constituency[5], leadership[6], organisational structure and social objects[7]. The context will be studied with the help of the concept of opportunity structures, political[8], economic[9], cultural[10] and religious[11].

The model can be used in three ways. First, it is an organisation map that enables to define what is the focus of the study and how other elements are related to the main interest – in my case, the mission view. Second, the model functions as a ‘filter of history’ that helps to focus only on those action episodes that forced the organisation to review its mission[12]. Third, when I have identified a critical moment, I use the model as a questionnaire for the sources. In other words, I ask what changes has happened in opportunity structures, in adherency, in structure, in leadership, etc. Fourth, the model also forms the outline of this study when I focus on the changes in the YMCA.

The delegates of various Young Men’s Christian Associations of Europe and America, assembled in Conference at Paris, the 22nd August, 1855, feeling that they are one in principle and in operation, recommend to their respective Societies to recognize with them the unity existing among their Associations, and whilst preserving a complete independence as to their particular organization and modes of action, to form a Confederation on the following fundamental principle, such principle to be regarded as the basis of admission of other Societies in future:

The Young Men’s Christian Associations Seek to unite those young men who, regarding Jesus Christ as their God and saviour according to the Holy Scriptures, desire to be His disciples in their faith and in their life, and to associate their efforts for the extension of His Kingdom amongst young men.

This fundamental principle being admitted, the Conference further proposes:

  1. That any differences of opinion on other subjects, however important in themselves, but not embraced by the specific designs of the Associations, shall not interfere with the harmonious relations of the confederated Societies.
  2. That a travelling certificate of membership be designed, by which members of the confederated Societies shall be entitled to the privileges of any other Society belonging to this Confederation, and to the personal attentions of all its members.
  3. That the system of correspondence adopted by this Conference shall apply to the Societies of this Confederation.

This Paris Basis of the YMCA that was adopted during the Paris World Exhibition in 1855 is one of the most significant ecumenical documents of the 19th century. It has had a significant role both in furthering ecumenical thinking and Christian youth work. Although it was, modifying an expression of Clifford Geertz, a model of the YMCA, it later became a model for both the YMCA and the whole ecumenical movement.

First YMCAs Before 1855

The London YMCA, founded in 1844, has been seen as the first YMCA in the world. This is true only with a strict sense: it was the first with that name. However, there are older YMCAs today which have originally had some other name[13]. Actually, there were two main roots from where the YMCA movement spread. The first was the German movement that can be traced to Basle Jünglingsverein (1787) and the second is the British movement. The London YMCA, however created the YMCA concept that was adopted by others and, thus, it carries the honour of being the father of other YMCAs.

opportunity structures of the YMCA movement were characterised by the modernism. The YMCA movement emerged in a situation where industrialism had caused an uncontrolled migration to towns[14]. The First YMCA in London in 1844 was a typical peer-group of the time which aimed to solve the problems of its own constituency[15]. After its founding, the association spread quickly with the help of political attitude to solve social problems with philanthropic associations[16]. Most associations of this kind, were, however, secular organisations. The speciality of the YMCA was that, along with political and cultural opportunity structures, its foundation was based on religious opportunity structures – especially those created by the Evangelical Awakening[17]. Even this does not explain the rapid growth and institutionalisation of the movement. There had been, namely similar Christian youth organisations that had flourished some time but then faded. The speciality in the YMCA was the impact that arose from the interest of the growing business-class to utilise their entrepreneurial skills in the field of religion[18]. This created a solid economic basis that enabled long-term planning.

Contrary to Britain, economic opportunity structures of German YMCAs, Jünglingsvereine, as they were then called, were not based on the lay activity of the business-class but as tools for the young pastors in their attempt to reach the youth. Their models were mainly based on the ecclesiola in ecclesia- type small groups of Pietism and guilds of apprentices.[19]

The shell elements reflected the different contexts of Britain and Germany as well. Membership of the YMCA was, for a great deal, dictated by the peer-group character of the movement. In England, the it consisted of growing middle-class[20] and in France, it was mainly a student organisation[21]. In Germany, instead, connections to local parishes and appreciates brought along much educated labour-class members[22]. In general, however, the public view of the YMCA was an organisation of middle-class, white, young men that was interested to offer its services to this constituency.

Leaders, because of the constituency basis, came mainly from these social groups as well although in the British YMCAs there were also upper-class social reformats[23]. In leadership, there were two models: in Anglo-Saxon countries, the movement was mainly based on lay leadership while in the Continent, especially in Germany, associations were often led by pastors. In the US, both constituency and leadership followed the British path. The public image of the YMCA was that of an organisation of middle-class converted Protestant white young men.

Structure of the organisation reflected the country differences as well. In Britain, the London YMCA acted as a central association and other British associations around the world were its branches[24]. German YMCAs, instead had a clear federation model and it was justified with the Lutheran Confessio Augustana and its emphasis on local autonomy[25]. German model also spread to North America and Switzerland. This had a direct influence in the emergence of the World’s Alliance of YMCAs as a federation and in its emphasis on local work.

Social objects of the YMCA were mostly those of Evangelical Alliance and Protestantism, in general. Because the Evangelical Movement was in sharp opposition to theological liberalism of the time, belief in Christ and the Bible had a central place in the YMCA as well. Along them, holy times were those of Protestant churches Other opponents were the Roman Catholic Church and the Rome-friendly Oxford Movement[26] in the Anglican Church. Although the YMCA did not yet have any holy cities, Especially London, Paris, Boston and Elberfeld had a special status as communication nodes.

The core of the YMCA, ideology, mission and identity, was been expressed in the Paris Basis[27] which was adopted at the First World’s conference at Paris in 1855. When the leaders of the YMCAs met in Paris before the Evangelical Alliance conference that had been arranged during the World Exhibition in 1855[28], they accepted the Paris Basis as the basic document and ideological expression of the movement. It reflected those values and practices that the YMCAs had already exercised during their short existence. Thus, in Geertzian terms[29], the Basis was a model of the YMCA of the 1855s although it later became a model for the YMCA and other ecumenical organisations.

The Basis has three parts: Preamble, Fundamental Basis and Three Additional Proposals. The significance of the Preamble is in its two emphases: First, Christian unity is God-given and not man-made. Second, the Preamble emphasises the inviolability of the independence of local associations.

Identity and mission of the movement are presented in the Fundamental Principle, which has often alone called the Paris Basis. The movement consists of those missionary oriented young men who are inspired by the Evangelical Awakening. The ideology of the YMCA emphases the person of Jesus, status of the Bible and extension of the Kingdom of God. The last also gave rise to the mission view of the movement, which was mainly seen as converting unbelievers to turn away of the City of Destruction, as John Bunyan described the world in his widely read novel[30], to the Celestial City. A special feature was the strategic emphasis on collecting the existing resources in order to reach the critical mass for successful work.

There were three Additional Proposals, of which the first elevated later to Second Fundamental Principle. It followed the British philanthropic tradition that denied political action of the charity organisations. On can also see the influence of the becoming North American Civil War, which threatened the unity of the new-born international organisation.

Years of Expansion

Opportunities During the Epoch of Change

The YMCA changed from a small revival movement in 1855 to a world organisation a hundred years later. Its membership expanded from 35,000 to 4.7 million from 1855 to 1955. This expansion was partly due to favourable opportunity structures which the YMCA could benefit from. A church historian, Kenneth Scott Latourette[31], has called the first century of the YMCA as the time of revolution. It was that in many senses.

Economically, the YMCA was a product of industrialism and a growing middle class in North America and Europe. Industrialism brought wealth[32] and the middle class had both a need for YMCA services and the ability to pay for them. At the same time, the same middle class supplied the YMCA with leaders who could use their business methods in Christian work. On the other hand: ‘the customer is always right’ - the YMCA had to modify its mission and activities according to the needs of its customers. This wealth, however, did not always filter to the World’s Alliance level[33]. It was a purposeful choice to keep the strength of the movement in local level.

The improvement of travel- and communication devices, instead, had a direct influence on the World’s Alliance[34]. The YMCA extended along with improvement of the connections. When participation into the meetings became easier, the structure of the World’s Alliance was democratised to resemble a local association. This intensified the ties within the movement and increased the support from national movements (especially from North America) to the World’s Alliance[35].

Cultural opportunities largely followed the path of industrialism. A constant phenomenon is a move - from countryside to towns, from Europe to North America[36]. Along with it and the increase of white-collar workers, there emerged a need to take care both of the physical[37] and general education[38] of young men. In this situation, the YMCA modified its activities to meet the new needs of youth. Especially in the US, the YMCA responded to these needs by developing its physical education programs and its many secretary training institutions, which later became colleges or universities. At the same time, the fragmentation of society created special groups of young men who had special needs: soldiers, railwaymen, racial minorities and students. The last group was especially important because youth in higher education had expanded in order to meet the growing needs of industry and business. University youth was not only a strategic target for the YMCA mission - it was also a source of recruits for the work. When Western culture triumphed round the globe, these young men implanted Christianity, western education, sports and lifestyle - and new YMCAs - in Africa, Asia and Latin America. When the mood changed and Nationalism raised its head in these continents, the YMCA had enough indigenous leaders in these areas to enable the organisation to adapt into a new cultural climate.

Politically, the YMCA emerged in a time when, in Britain, Germany and North America, the associations were seen as tools for solving social problems. This general attitude gave both legitimacy for and created demand of YMCA services. When the YMCA had institutionalised itself, it had the capacity to serve governments - and individual young men - with its knowledge of physical education and recreation. Need for these services emerged especially during the First World War when almost the whole YMCA machinery was modified to serve men in armed forces.

Along these factors, wars had a major impact on the YMCA. When young men recruited into armies in the US Civil War, the YMCA went along and started the work with armed forces[39]. The idea spread to other countries and during the First world War, the YMCA took care almost all the soldier’s canteen activities on both sides of the frontier[40]. In wars, however, soldiers get also caught and became prisoners of war. A similar work was started then in prison camps in co-operation with the Red Cross as well. This, in turn, created a good reputation for the movement (except, of course, in Soviet Russia) and it was able to enter as yet unoccupied areas. One thing led to another: after the both World Wars, ex-POWs found themselves in the same camps with a new status of refugees, the YMCA continued assisting refugees, migrants and displaced persons[41]. It was from these YMCA workers that the UNHCR got its first staff[42].