Organizational Culture in the World Alliance of Young Men’s Christian Associations: A Move to Institutionalize International Social Movements in the 19th Century (I)

Abstract. Religious actors, namely those who were representing the protestant groups of the Evangelical Awakening, were active in the social movements developed on the basis of ideas to fight in favour of peace or against slavery, alcoholism in the British Empire, the United-States and Western Europe in the first half of the 19th century. The institutionalization of these movements has given a boost to the expansion of a phenomenon today known as non-governmental organizations (INGOs). This paper focuses on the analysis of the impetus to “become organized” given to the World Alliance of Young Men’s Christian Associations (YMCA), and on the organizational culture developed by this international body in the second half of the 19th century. The analysis is done using archives of the French and Swiss wings of the Alliance, and various printed materials produced by the British, American, French and Swiss wings. Based on the evangelical Christianity’s international network, key figures of the World Alliance of YMCAs followed the example of the Evangelical Alliance (1846). They were seeking an interdenominational coalition, and were upholding the right of lay people to play a leading role in religious life. In the first part of the article, I contextualize the Alliance of YMCAs’ organization within a broader framework of the evangelical Christianity’s international network. I stress close intrinsic links established between the Evangelical Alliance and the Alliance of YMCAs, and show how both organizations came into conflict with the traditional Christian organization represented by confessional churches.

Keywords: international non-governmental organizations, evangelical Christianity, interdenominational interaction, business organizational culture, organized Christianity, rationality, YMCA.