One of the most important yet little known people in the history of modern movements is Count Nikolaus Ludwig Von Zinzendorf,founding leader of the Moravians and their German community called Herrnhut.
Leslie and I just finished a nice little book called,The Lord of the Ring,by Phil Anderson that details the life and legacy of Count Zinzendorf. I had first heard of Zinzendorf through my seminary class on the Evangelical Free Church. The Ev Free Church has claimed him and Philip Jakob Spener (Pia Desideria) as some of their early inspirers who emphasized piety and true religion in a time of cold/dead state religion throughout Europe.
I also recall some vague story during Church History class of John Wesley being impressed by a boat full of Moravians who were not fearing for their lives (even the children!) during a storm. That’s the last I heard of him until recently.
Let me list some of the people and groups that have been significantly impacted by Zinzendorf:Dietrich Bonhoeffer —who had some important and radical ideas on Christian community —had some of Zinzendorf’s writings with him in his Nazi prison —suggesting it was one of his most precious books that he wanted near him at the end when he was arrested for a conspiracy to take out Adolf Hitler. A young William Carey,the father of the modern world missions,had stories of Moravian missionaries in hand as proof of global mission’s real possibilities when he called for the creation of a strategic society dedicated toward global missions among the leaders in his denomination [leaders that ended up rebuking him and telling him to sit down!]. John Wesley (one of the first apostolic people in early America),though preaching Jesus far and wide in England,actually found Jesus through the Moravians and ended up borrowing many of their disciple-making strategies in the early Methodist movement — strategies that allowed for apostolic movement and freedom among the circuit riders. George Whitfield,one of early America’s greatest open air evangelists,had a significant encounter with the Holy Spirit with the Moravians and was also inspired towards out-of-church,open-air preaching after his cross-pollination with Moravians. He was an Anglican minister prior to that;good thing he left that! And the 24-7 prayer movement of today found its inspiration from Herrnhut’s 100 unbroken years of 24-7 prayer for the lost. 100 years! Doing that for one year is an immense feat,but for 100? And this with just a community of 100 or so people! On top of this,the Salvation Army’s founder,William Booth,was also significantly inspired by the Moravians. And Charles Wesley,the great musician and hymn writer,spent most of his life living among the Moravians. William Wilberforce,the great liberator in Britain (see the movie,Amazing Grace) who stopped human trafficking in the British Empire,was also significantly impacted by the Moravians.
To have impacted just one of these influential people in our lifetime would make most of us die a contented life. To have influenced all of them is simply unbelievable! And in addition to this,it has been later discovered that the secret Order of the Mustard Seed (started by Zinzendorf and friends in college) had members that included the King of Denmark,the Archbishop of Canterbury,and the Archbishop of Paris.
How did this happen? Who were these people?
The first Moravian disciples in Herrnhut were just a simple and small community of radical people (most of whom were displaced Bohemian Anabaptists and followers of John Hus who were being persecuted in Eastern Europe) who were committed to faithfulness to Jesus,kindness to all of humanity and world mission. But they LIVED it out. Love. Simplicity. Sacrifice. Prophetic hearing. Watchfulness in prayer. Herrnhut literally means “The Lord’s Watch.” Isn’t that an awesome name for a community?
They sent missionaries to the slaves in St. Thomas island —missionaries who voluntarily became slaves literally in order to reach the slaves (and like 13 of the first 17 died there)! That kind of incarnational commitment was unheard of at this time of history when slavery was rampant! They sent missionaries to early America to reach the first Americans;it was in Georgia that they met John Wesley. They sent missionaries to Ceylon,India,to Greenland,to Russia,to South Africa,and many other places. And this doesn’t take into account that they reproduced dozens and dozens of Herrnhut-like communities everywhere they went. These guys were contagious and going to some majorly unreached peoples!
That they were doing this while no one else was (save maybe the Celts and the Jesuits before them) is simply amazing. They pioneered the Global/World Mission strategy that paved the way for the William Careys and John Wesleys. This is remarkable and little known.
I believe the secret to their global reach can be found in their simplicity and rootedness in the right things —in what I would call “FIRST THINGS.” The Order of the Mustard Seed was founded on three simple things,summarized in a single motto. The motto was this:“Nobody lives for her/himself.” Sounds a lot like they understood the Lordship of Jesus and His Kingly claim on their lives. And the three parts to this motto were:faithfulness to Jesus,kindness to people and mission to the world. In other words,love God,love people and make disciples of all nations —the Greatest Commandment and Great Commission. It doesn’t get any more foundational than that. But these were not just words —like so many organizations and churches’mission statements. These were the shared rules of the Order that all of them followed. There was genuine buy-in.
That simple devotion to Jesus,to people and to world missions influenced so many movements. This inspires me b/c they were not trying to do that. They were just being TRUE believers. It reinforces what I’ve lately been thinking about:that the most reproducible thing is a life fully given to God that allows for the fullness of Jesus’Lordship and the Spirit’s presence in it. These apostolic and prophetic forerunners did this. And the world is not the same as a result of their devotion to Jesus.
What this inspires in me as a student of movements is something that I stumbled upon over this year and passed on to African refugees last month:movements are spawned out of the smallest people who are willing… willing to be led by the Holy Spirit and willing to do the most important things in life.
O that God would increase the tribe of these sorts of people who take seriously their call to follow Jesus into life,into death,into love and into the world —these noble and genuine believers of Jesus Christ —men and women who would start cities,who would influence kings and leaders,who would spawn movements of the Holy Spirit,who would pray 24-7 for the world,who would relinquish their rights to live in community and to reach the lost,and who would be unafraid of death when it threatened! These mighty men and women of God would be what God designed them to be and do what every believer ought to be doing but rarely submit themselves to ACTUALLY doing.
My hope is that my family would be found among them. And that my children,having caught the beauty that comes in true relationship with Jesus,will pass it on to their biological and spiritual children as well.
[...] to the imagination of the church as of late. We are rediscovering the legacy of groups like the Moravians who had apostolic AND prophetic foundations in place and,hence,launched movements of apostolic [...]