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This is the story of how God took a congregation of peasants, which never numbered over 300, and used them to spread the Gospel of Christ around the world. The group, which later became known as the Moravian Brethren, started at a property owned by one Count Nicolaus Zinzendorf at Berthelsdorf, Germany.
In May 1722, the Count, then aged 22, purchased the estate from his grandmother, as a place for preaching the Gospel to peasants in the area. He later installed a John Andrew Rothe as its pastor. As religious refugees from Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, fleeing Roman Catholic persecution moved into the area, Zinzendorf allowed them to build a new village about two miles from Berthelsdorf. This location was given the name Herrnhut (meaning the Lord’s watchful care or the Lord’s protection).
It is pertinent to note that the Moravian refugees considered themselves the spiritual descendants of a Bohemian reformer, John Hus. From 1722 to 1727, this small community grew to 220 people, including 87 children living in 30 different homes. The community, comprising a number of Protestant sects (Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans and others), contended with dissension arising from the different doctrinal positions of their respective denominations.
This prompted Zinzendorf to intervene by visiting each home for prayers. Then he called the people together to study Scriptures, as it pertains to living together in unity. Following prayer and the study of Scriptures, there was an agreement drawn up, called the Brotherly Covenant. This was a document with rules that those living in the community would agree to, and it was signed by all parties on May 12, 1727.
The Brotherly Covenant brought a measure of unity, and the debates stopped, yet they still did not have fervent love for one another (1 Peter 4:8). On July 16, 1727, many in the community began praying together as never before. During an all-night prayer session held on August 5, 1727, attended by Zinzendorf, 14 people prayed for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
On August 6, 1727, an eleven year old girl, Susanne Kuhnel, claimed that she had an encounter with God after spending three days in prayer. Following her personal revival, and her testimony shared with other children, some of them also experienced the revival.
On August 10, Pastor Rothe also encountered God while holding a prayer meeting within the community. He claimed that he felt himself overwhelmed by a wonderful and irresistible power of the Lord, and sank down before God. The entire congregation was also swept into God’s presence, in an ecstasy of feeling. In this frame of mind, the community continued until midnight engaged in prayer, singing, weeping and supplication.
On August 13, 1727, the community met in the church in Berthelsdorf, where Zinzendorf preached a sermon about the cross and the Lamb of God. As the people were about to take communion, the Holy Spirit fell upon them. It was such a powerful visitation of the Holy Spirit that many referred to it as “a Moravian Pentecost.”
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on August 13 did not end with its fading memory or it being a mere emotional encounter with God. It resulted in enhanced passion for God’s glory to spread, and it began through increased prayer and worship. After August 13, and until the 26th of that month, there was a powerful movement of prayer that commenced among the children.
Following these evidential workings of the Holy Spirit, Zinzendorf heard the Lord speak to him, telling him that the fire on the altar must never go out, and that the community must respond to Christ’s sacrifice through non-stop prayer, day and night. Thus, a twenty-four hour prayer was started on August 27, involving 24 men and 24 women.
The number of those praying in rotations every day, and this lasted for 100 years. The times of prayer were not always in one location, but there were those that would join together with others and pray in twos or threes, at different locations. Children like the adults, had a similar plan of praying in rotations.
On his part, Zinzendorf met weekly with the intercessors to share prayer points, to keep them focused on what they should pray for. These prayer points were primarily kingdom-centred, rather than praying for individual’s needs. They would pray for communities and missionaries; that the Gospel would go forth in power.
The Moravian Brethren was also involved in missions directly, as it sponsored over 100 missionaries to many countries across the world. What makes this even more remarkable is that the congregation from Herrnhut never exceeded 300 people.
The group also had a profound influence on the Methodist movement founded by John Wesley, as well as the ministry of George Whitefield, another evangelist of the 18th century. Wesley in particular along with his brother, Charles met with some Moravians in 1736, in a ship taking them to America. During the trip, both men witnessed the calm assurance of the Moravians while in a terrible storm at sea.
Back in England, Charles, a confirmed Anglican, placed his faith in Christ on May 3, 1738, following a conversation with a Moravian, Peter Boehler. A few weeks later, his brother, John also surrendered his life to Christ afresh. On December 31, 1738, Charles and John Wesley joined a Watch Night Service organised by 60 Moravians. Several Methodists and some Anglican priests also attended the event.
About three in the morning, as the participants continued instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon them, insomuch that many cried for exceeding joy, and many fell to the ground. As soon as they were recovered a little from that awe and amazement at the presence of God’s majesty, they broke out with one voice, “We praise Thee, O God; we acknowledge Thee to be the LORD!”
As the revival spread, people from many countries in Europe made trips to Herrnhut, seeking to be saved or to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. John Wesley’s visit to the Herrnhut was typical of thousands. Commenting on his visit, Wesley said, “God has given me at length the desire of my heart. I am with a church whose conversation is in Heaven; in whom is the mind that was in Christ, and who so walk as He walked. I would gladly have spent my life here; but my Master called me to labour in another part of His vineyard.” As occurs in all great revivals, the Moravians wrote many hymns and spiritual songs – Count Zinzendorf himself wrote 2,000 of them.
In the 1730’s Moravian societies were established in Holland, England and Denmark, as well as Greenland, Suriname, Zanzibar and in the American colonies. With the spread of the societies came the need to establish structures. This became the undoing of the group because institutionalisation resulted in organisational imperatives, leading to the lifting of the Holy Spirit. In a sense, human organisation took over the functions of the Holy Spirit, thus ending the revival after about a hundred years.
What can we learn from the Moravian revival? I believe that the key take away is the importance of prevailing prayers as a lever for sanctification. This is because the more time we spend with the Lord, the more He purges us of carnality and filth. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Another important lesson is that no one and nothing can take the place of the Holy Spirit in the church of Christ. It was not for nothing that the Lord Jesus Christ told early believers not to proclaim His resurrection until they are empowered by the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49). Evangelism or any other aspect of the Gospel involves doing battle with the kingdom of darkness. Only the Holy Spirit equips us for such confrontations.
**** Some materials sourced from Moravian Revival of 1727, https://www.romans1015.com; Moravian Story, https://www.cityofws.org;