They are common where I grew up near Winston Salem. I dated one in college. Fairly mainstream.
Check this out:
I think the Moravians are a pacifist sect similar to the Quakers.
As such, I wouldn’t recommend them - we have enough Quakers and Methodists out there who don’t support America in any war effort.
Dim memory here, but as I recall, the Moravians were the people who really convicted John Wesley by their example of Christian living while on the boat to (or from) America. Much of Wesleyan doctrine is influenced by his dealings with the Moravian church. There’s a biography by Pollock of John Wesley that describes the encounter.
As to the Moravian church of today, all I can say is they don’t have much of a presence here in South Texas.
Colonel, USAFR
The Moravian Church in America: http://www.moravian.org/
I was never a Moravian but was involved for many years musically in the Moravian Trombone Choir in Downey, CA. Using trombones for their music instead of an organ is a centuries-old tradition.
It was a fine, modest Christian Church and I have deep respect for it and the people in it.
Moravians are a Protestant group closely related to Lutheranism and presbyterianism in structure. They were strongly mission minded. John Wesley on his way back to England after his rather failed attempt at evangelizing the U.S. heard them singing shipboard and got to know them.
Wesley and Methodism was strongly influenced by the Moravians.
“Composed of approximately 360,000 members, the Moravian Church has played a major role in the development of Protestant worship, evangelism, missions, and theology in the last three centuries.”
http://www.hammerwood.mistral.co.uk/zinz.htm
I believe it’s in Moravia.
Yes, they are very active around Winston-Salem, NC and in parts of Penn. I’m not Moravian, but I grew up near W-S and always thought they were pretty neat. They used to be pacifists and when the Confederacy asked the old town of Salem for soldiers, Salem sent them a band. They became Lee’s official band and stuck with him to the end.
One thing I alwats liked is that on Easter morning they hold “sunrise services” in cemetarys and then proceed to clean all the tombstones.
I once visitied Bethel, Alaska on a business trip (!?!).
While there I walked around and discovered a Moravian seminary there.
You just never know what you’ll find in Alaska.
Thank you all for the replies! In a quick search I came up with a very different idea of the history.
Will do more research and share all of these replies and whatever else I find with my son-in-law.
Thank you all very kindly.
If I am not mistaken, they are at least partially responsible for the John Wesley finding God. If I remember correctly, John Wesley was returning from a disasterous missionary mission to the Indians of North America, and the ship he was on ran into rough seas, so much, that he feared for his life and discovered himself to be afraid to die thereby questioning his own spiritual condition before God. Moravians were on board and he noticed how calm they were in the midst of the storm. They counseled him on the salvation of his soul, basically the doctrine of salvation by faith in Christ’s death and resurrection, and as Wesley wrote in his journal, this was the beginning of his salvation experience. Soon after that experience, he was “Born Again” and from this experience the Revivals in England and America were born and swept through both countries. Of course there were others involved in these revivals, but John Wesley, and the gospel he preached, could arguably be considered one of the primary causes of those Revivals.
Your son-in-law needs a different job. Loosing his badge gets him canned. < Sheesh!>
There’s one in Charlotte. They are pacificist - it’s called “Peace Moravian Church” - and they have a youth band program that I’ve seen advertised through the homeschool email lists.
Hussites or Herrnhuter Brethren. Check out the Moravian Church on Wikipedia. They were an early Protestant sect that grew up in Czech areas that had Orthodox roots. There was some resentment against Catholicism that led them to reject Rome a century before Luther.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.
Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
Herrnhut is a very beautiful peaceful place. I spent a Sunday afternoon there in '06 and even in the rain--it was--well, I have to say, somehow holy.
Particularly "God's Acre" (the cemetery there) where all the early Moravians (except the many who died on the mission field), are buried is a place of real expectation and hope--for I know these people were watchful for the 2nd Coming of Jesus--and the resurrection of the body... (long before the JW's, a watchtower was a Moravian symbol).
The Moravian Church in America-Northern Province is listed as a pro-choice group on this website.
I left the Presbyterian Church USA because it’s pro-choice and considered the Moravian Church until I found out it’s pro-choice. I settled on the Wesleyan Denomination, which is pro-life and very conservative.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/abo_hist1.htm