THE STORY of the Moravian Revival at Herrnhut (Sachsen Anhalt) in 1727 is well-known to most of us. The time has come for us to pray as though our lives depended on it for such an experience in our own church.

 We know that, to escape persecution, United Brethren from Western Czechoslovakia migrated into Eastern Germany about 1720, and were given asylum on the estates of Graf Nicholaus von Zinzendorf. They were joined by Anabaptists, Schwenkenfelders, Reformed and Lutherans.

 Zinzendorf was a devout Lutheran in the pietistic stream which, at that time, was strongly committed to evangelism, mission and social action. The Count saw that the Moravians were divided and ineffectual, and he took the initiative. Calling the pastors to him, he showed them the problems in the churches, and instructed them to preach the meaning of the cross and to seek fellowship despite differences.

 On 13 August 1727, they met for a combined communion service in the Berthelsdorf Church where the revival began in a sudden awareness, spreading through the whole congregation, of God's awesome presence and his love. The people were filled with joy, and their hearts overflowed with love for one another.

 Arvid Gradin, an eyewitness, wrote, "...they were so convinced and affected that their hearts were set on fire with new love and faith towards the Saviour, and likewise with burning love towards one another, which moved them so far that of their own accord they embraced one another in tears..."

 At once, they found a strong desire to share Christ with others. Instead of evangelising out of a sense of duty, they longed for others to discover the knowledge of being loved that they themselves knew.

 This desire translated into a powerful, though perhaps unorganised missionary movement. For a century, more missionaries went out from the revived Moravians than from
any other Protestant group.

 Two of the men who went as missionaries to the slaves in the West Indies, after a frustrating effort to reach the slaves, chose to sell themselves into slavery so as to reach them as companions rather than as rescuers. Numbers travelled to England and America, and it can truly be said that they brought about the conversions of John and Charles Wesley.

 Just as Pentecost welded the first believers into one body under Christ's headship, so the various groups at Herrnhut were indissolubly joined through this outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

 This is what we and our Indonesian brothers and sisters, and all who might follow afterwards, also need: the uniting power of the Holy Spirit, as he is poured upon us in reviving power.
 

© Peter R. Green 1998.