The S.C.P. (“St. Chrischona Pilgrim Mission”) is a Protestant missionary institution founded in1833 by the Pietist Christian Friedrich Spittler as “Pilger-Missions-Gesellschaft” in Basle (Kober1887).
In 1840 it moved to the St. Chrischona(‘St Christine’) hill at Bettingen, in the canton of Basel-Stadt. Starting from 1854, following earlier plans of Spittler, the S.C.P. initiated several missionary endeavours in Ethiopia, some of themhaving great influence on the development of modern Ethiopia.
The mission in Ethiopia was established under the direction of the S.C.P. and the Anglican bishop Gobat of Jerusalem in 1855, following a demand of Tewodros II for craftsmen (RubActa II, 10f.;Smidt in VarAeth). Three missionary endeavours were subsequently formulated:
1) initiating reform within the Ethiopian Church 2) converting the Oromo and the Betä Ésraýel.
German (and one Swiss) craftsmen and lay-missionaries were sent by the S.C.P. via Jerusalem to Ethiopia.