The Moravians and John Wesley (in his Words)

THE WORLDWIDE INFLUENCE the 18th century Moravian missionaries was extraordinary. One notable example is the impact they had on John Wesley, leading directly to his conversion experience. Wesley’s Journal, covering the years 1736–1738, is replete with comments of his observations of and encounters with the Moravians (often calling them “the Germans”). A few selections of highlights give insight into the characters and spirit of the Moravian movement and its impression on the founder of the Methodists.

John Wesley's Own Words - Selections dated frpm Sunady, January 25, 1736 through August 12, 1738
Read them here: https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/moravians-and-wesley

Lutheran-Moravian Relations

Jan Hus and the Bohemian Brethren, on the Moravian side, organized themselves as the Unitas Fratrum, preparing the ground for Martin Luther’s German Reformation. Luther and his colleagues encouraged and recognized the Brethren (now under the leadership of Luke of Prague) as partners in the renewal of the gospel. Persecuted and driven from their Bohemian and Moravian homelands in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, some of the members of the Unitas Fratrum eventually found refuge on the estate of the Lutheran pietist noble, Nicholas Ludwig, Count von Zinzendorf.

Lutherans and Moravians developed separate church organizations and identities in North America. This had much to do with the patterns of immigration from Germany and the diverse religions which came to characterize English-speaking North America. In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Moravian and Lutheran missionaries worked cooperatively in areas from Alaska to the Caribbean. Today, in Asia, Africa and Europe, Moravians and Lutherans enjoy what is now termed "full communion," including Eucharistic hospitality and the full interchangeability of members and clergy .

Download PDF : One Flock, One Shepherd: Lutheran-Moravian Relations

Moravian Mission Work

The content and purpose of the mission of the Board of World Mission is best expressed in words taken from the Ground of the Unity , the doctrinal statement of the Moravian Church:

"The Lord Jesus Christ calls His Church into being so that it may serve Him on earth until he comes. The Unitas Fratrum (Moravian Church) is, therefore, aware of its being called in faith to serve humanity by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It recognizes this call to be the source of its being and the inspiration of its service. As is the source, so is the aim and end of its being based upon the will of its Lord."

A deep commitment to world mission has characterized the Moravian Church since its earliest days. A small 300-member Moravian community in Herrnhut, Germany sent missionaries to the Danish West Indies in 1732. Since then, God’s call to proclaim the good news of God’s saving work in Jesus Christ has taken hundreds of Moravian missionaries from the mountaintops of Ladakh, India to the savannas of La Mosquitia, Honduras. Today, Moravian churches or societies worship and minister in about forty nations and number over 700,000 believers.