Samfundet Pro Fide et Christianismo

(full name , ) is a Christian association within the Church of Sweden. The organization was an "informal or semi-official national school board" prior to the founding of Sweden's public education system and made a significant impact on Sweden's early education system. History Based on the model of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, the society was founded on 27 March 1771 on the initiative of (1727–1786), a priest in service to the royal court. After a nine-year position as pastor of Gloria Dei Church in Philadelphia, in which he had "been preparing the way for Methodism in Philadelphia" and contact with Methodist John Wesley, he felt the necessity to found an organization to "[propagate] practical religion", with a promise of support from Wesley. Its motto was "A society, which with utmost diligence should promote the growth and spread of Christianity in the Kingdom of Sweden". The society, with its Pietist influence, was to serve as a platform for the spread of Christian faith and knowledge through the ideas of Christian enlightenment, education, mission and temperance during its early years, as well as a counter to neology in the state church. It has been called Sweden's first missionary and tract society. Its goal was to "work against the decline of Christian knowledge and civic virtues". At a time when the view of the state and its responsibilities did not allow for state intervention in public education and enlightenment, the society carried out voluntarily what it considered the time required, but which the state was unable to carry out. Its ideas later became generally accepted and were gradually taken over in part by other organizations. The society is thus the earliest surviving example of how Swedish civil society began to take shape. The society's work was divided into two divisions, the education division and the pastoral or catechism division. It grew quickly in the beginning, with 76 members in the first year, 23 of whom lived in Finland and Pomerania and 28 in other countries. Expenses were paid partly by voluntary contributions from members (after 1819, annual fees were paid by each member) and partly by quite substantial donations.