Moravian missionary expansion from its beginnings with Zinzendorf in 1722 to Spangenberg's appointment as leader in 1762
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3. THE EVENTS SURROUNDING THE MISSIONARY ENDEAVOURS
Zinzendorf made many trips overseas in the interests of the Gospel. He often said: "I have one passion, and it is Him, only Him". This became his central motto which sounded through his life, preaching and his 2 000 or more hymns which were to have a marked effect on the Wesley brothers and their hymnals.
Missionary interests grew among the Moravians with their firs t plans in 1728 for missions to the Mohammedans and heathen. These were being laid with visits to Turkey and Africa by members of the congregation. A journey was undertaken in 1731 to Copenhagen to be present, upon invitation, at the coronation of Christian VI (1730-1746).
It was during this trip that Zinzendorf met up with a Negro from the West Indies, named Anthony, who was being employed in the service of Count de Laurwig. Anthony described to them how, by the providence of God, he was brought to Copenhagen where he received instruction in the Christian faith and was added to the church. He also described the pathetic state, both physically and spiritually, of his Negro friends from his home island, St. Thomas. He concluded by expressing a confident hope, that if the people received instruction many would become Christians. The Count thought it of so important and great an opportunity he wished to send David Nitschmann (1696-1772) immediately to St. Thomas to spread the Gospel to these poor Negroes.
This was not practicable at the time so they set off back to Herrnhut. When he arrived on July 23rd, 1731, he related these events and the plight of the Negroes to the congregation. Anthony arrived at Herrnhut (July 29th, 1731) and spoke to the faithful in Dutch while Zinzendorf interpreted. This stirred the hearts of John Leonhard Dober (1706-1766) and Tobias Leupold with a desire to sacrifice their lives, to work as slaves, if need be, to win but one person to Christ. Zinzendorf also met a group of Eskimo converts of the Lutheran missionary Hans Egede, which doubly stirred up his heart for world-wide evangelisation.
The congregation at Herrnhut delayed the expedition to St. Thomas for a whole year by weighing up and examining the proposal. Finally it was decided that Dober could go. Leupold at the time was unable to depart with Dober. This presented a problem of being alone on the trip. David Nitschmann offered himself for service which was gladly received by the congregation. In his service he was to leave his wife and children behind him.
The Moravians sent out their first missionaries. On the 21st of August, 1732, the Count set out at 3 o'clock in the morning with the two hopeful missionaries and went with them as far as Bautzen, commended them to the grace of God and gave them each a ducat (about $2.50) which added to their $3.00 between them. The route was by foot to Copenhagen, soon after they secured passage on a Dutch ship to St. Thomas. After ten weeks of travelling they arrived on the 13th of December, 1732.
From this time the Moravian Church believed that foreign missions should be their predominant concern. Their devotion to Christ often led them to the most difficult and dangerous areas to work in the world. The manner of their fearlessness can be summed up in a hymn and prayer of Zinzendorf:
Jesus, still lead on,
till our rest be won,
And although the way is cheerless,
We will follow, calm and fearless;...
If the foe be drear,
If the foe be near,...
For, through many a foe,...
Jesus, still lead on...
Till we safely stand
In our fatherland.
4.1. ST. THOMAS
St. Thomas, the first mission field, was owned by the king of Denmark. The history of commencement of the mission is necessarily included in the above beginnings of the movement (1732). St. Thomas was an important Danish commercial centre at the time, in the now called British Virgin Islands group. It had the advantages of a safe harbour and cargo port. It was also used as a depot for the many neighbouring islands. The moral and spiritual condition of the Negro slaves were deplorable at first. Dober returned from the mission field of St. Thomas the following year, in May, 1734, and assumed the role of elder, which he had previously held. Nitschmann also returned home and was ordained as the missionary bishop for the group at Herrnhut. He then became instrumental in the training of the first missionaries for service. From then on Herrnhut came to see a new body of soldiers for Christ, to advance his cause at home and abroad. Many missionaries were sent to replace these two after their return to Herrnhut.
Amidst public criticisms about the cruelties of the St. Thomas mission field and accusations of sending others where he would not go, Zinzendorf visited the West Indies (1738-9) with St. Thomas being the first port of call. During his stay he preached, planned, lifted the work to a higher level and laid a stronger foundation for ministry on the island for the future. He also secured royal authority for missionary work throughout the Danish Indies, free from any interference. Churches were later established in St. Croix, St. John's and St. Kitt's, in Jamaica, Barbados and Antigua through his efforts. Thirteen thousand converts were baptised before a single missionary from any other organisation arrived on the scene in the West Indies.
In a letter to the king of Denmark by four converted Negroes from St. Thomas, there were more than six hundred and fifty baptised Negroes on the island in 1739 (Feb. 15). This shows the success as far as the quick spread of the Gospel to these Negroes is concerned. The cost, though, of sending missionaries there was high with approximately one hundred and sixty missionaries dying in the first fifty years.
4.2. ST. CROIX AND ST. JOHN
In 1733, a group of eighteen Moravians went to St. Croix, an adjacent island to St. Thomas, the largest of the Danish group. They went with the invitation of Count Pless to settle down as colonists and managers of the estates there. At the same time they availed themselves of every opportunity to carry on the mission work among the Negroes. Within a year nine were dead and all left disheartened except for Frederick Martin. This was seen back home as a disaster. A few years later in 1740, Martin went there and had great success, especially on the Great Princess estate, a property of the West India Trading Company. The first church was built there in 1749 having many valuable helpers among the natives. St. John, another neighbouring island received slaves from Martin's flock, who in turn gave Martin an avenue of ministry on that island as well.
4.3 GREENLAND
When Zinzendorf and his group were in Copenhagen in May, 1731, they met two baptised Greenlanders and heard much about Egede's missionary exploits. After hearing the possibilities of the mission closing he resolved to send help to Egede. Matthew Stach, Frederic Böhmisch and Christian David left Herrnhut for Greenland on January 19, 1733, five months after the others left for St. Thomas. They arrived at Godhaab (20th May), the most northerly of the Danish colonies in South Greenland and were greeted by Egede. The country was barren and unfruitful, the people were "repulsive" in their manners and the language was difficult to master. Despite these poor conditions, in 1738, they had their first convert after sharing the message of Christ's love to them. The Moravians proved faithful and built up a church in Greenland that has endured to today.
4.4 GREAT BRITAIN
The influence of the Moravians upon Great Britain should be seen as tremendous in the light of their direct influences upon the Wesley brothers and Whitefield, who took the world by storm with their preaching, teaching, books and example. A group from Herrnhut emigrated to America (1735), led by Augustus Gottlieb Spangenberg (1704-1792) to secure a place of refuge, in case there was further hostility towards the them from the state in Saxony, making it impossible for them to continue there. The other motive was to establish a mission among the American Indians specifically in Georgia.
On this journey contact was made between John Wesley and the Moravians who became influential in his conversion. A chapel was started in Fetter Lane after requests came from members of Wesley's circle. Wesley was later converted in this little Moravian Chapel on Fetter Lane (May 24, 1738) when someone was reading Luther's preface to the commentary on Romans. Wesley said in his diary concerning the event:
I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins.
From this and other experiences, the Moravians had a great influence during the time of the Evangelical Revival with the chief areas of work done in Yorkshire, Wiltshire and Ireland. John Cennick (1718-1755), Whitefield's friend, and Benjamin Ingham became powerful evangelists in the above areas working as dedicated Moravians with the Fetter Street Chapel in London, as their base. Herrnhut by this time became the great foreign missionary centre with a thousand people living in Herrnhut by the year 1738.
Zinzendorf soon made London (1941) the headquarters of the Moravian Church making good relations with the archbishop of Canterbury and other Bishops. During the years of 1743 to 1750 came a disenchantment of John Wesley toward the Moravians and evidences of misguided zeal came to the fore. This was a period of troubled years for the Moravians and is often called the sifting time. One of the emphasis was the exaggerated phraseology of his Litany of the Wounds in 1743. The libels from his enemies were that his books were marred by the crudity of his emphasis on the blood of Christ. Through this time, though, as one of his sermons shows, he still had the zeal to see others won for Christ. Speaking about the people yet to be won for Christ, he said:
The number is innumerable; the multitudes who through the Gospel of the merits and death of Jesus receive the invitation to go to the marriage will exceed all thought. "Compel them to come in, that my house may be filled" (Luke 14.23), that innumerable more may share My salvation.
However, he did acknowledge some mistakes and later eliminated some fanaticism from the Moravians.
After 1749, Zinzendorf took an active role in the evangelistic movement in England, preached extensively and encouraged the Moravians in many of the "workers conferences". The Moravians in England and Ireland nurtured their spiritual life through rigidly organised "bands" or "corps" carrying on extensive ministries in correspondence. Some of them wrote more than a hundred letters a day, by people earnestly discussing how best to extend the kingdom. Most letters, however, were in reply to enquiries concerning spiritual matters. They engaged in the work of building up the saints as well as social work of various kinds. Their first and foremost passion became the task to save the lost.
Support was gained in an act of parliament in 1749 for the recognition of the Moravian Church in the English Parliament and by the Saxon government "as an ancient Protestant episcopal Church". This gave them certain privileges among the colonies. The banishment orders were lifted on Zinzendorf and he was invited to establish other communities similar to Herrnhut. This gave them far more credibility and more avenues to pursue world-wide evangelism.
4.5. NORTH AMERICA
After the beginning of the first mission among the Negro slaves in St. Thomas, the mission motive and the political uncertainty in Europe brought the Moravians to Georgia in 1735. Zinzendorf saw America as an haven from suppression and full of opportunities. At first the mission proved to be just the opposite with Georgia being an unsuccessful place, due to severe persecutions. Subsequently, the headquarters in America shifted from Georgia to Pennsylvania. Zinzendorf later travelled to America (Dec. 1741), beginning a trail from New York. He introduced similar programs to the ones already run in Europe.
It was usual for only Church members to live in their communities which soon became centres for missionary outreach. The main centres included Bethlehem, Nazereth and Lititz in Pennsylvania and Salem in North Carolina. Bethlehem was soon destined to become the American headquarters of the movement.
Zinzendorf made great efforts to gather together the scattered German Protestant forces in Pennsylvania towards a spiritual maturity which was called, "Church of God in the Spirit". His chief talent as an administrator came to the forefront again. He began missions to different Indian groups, even though he personally did not get on well with the Indians. He planted eight Moravian congregations and even established schools at Germantown, Fredericktown, Oley, and Heidelberg. Their schools drew in large numbers who were not connected with the Moravians. This gave them many people to minister to through this important mission work. As early as 1754 the Moravians had successful Sunday Schools up and running, which became models for many of the other denominations in the United States during the next century.
It was usual for the missionaries to be trained, mostly by Spangenberg and Böhler, then circulated among the Indians as well as overseas. Evangelists would frequently work among the neighbouring European settlements to bring the message of Christ to them also. With the setting up of the boarding schools many children came to them for education. A notable missionary who worked among the Indians was David Zeisberger (1721-1808). He laboured around the creeks of Georgia (from 1740) and the Iroquois (from 1743) with good results and many converts. He was hampered though, by politics, hostility against the Indians and later the American Revolution, but continued working with them bravely until his death (1808). Zinzendorf sailed for Europe in January, 1743. Later in December 1744, Spangenberg was given charge of the American work as bishop until 1961, when he returned to Herrnhut.
4.6 SOUTH AFRICA
In 1737 efforts were made by the Moravians by sending Georg Schmidt to work among the tribes in South Africa, . He was the first Moravian representative to reach Cape Town on the Western Province. When he arrived, there was little work being done among the Hottentots and Bushmen. In fact, they were harshly treated, robbed of their lands, regarded as beasts and reduced to hard servitude.
The Dutch were strongly tinged with their peculiar puritanical forms of religion but persistently did not see it as their duty to teach them anything about Christianity.
To offer Christian teaching to these "zwarte schepsels" (black creatures), was not dreamt of: Christianity was intended for white people, not for "black cattle.
These are the circumstances that Schmidt entered upon his work. He worked mainly among the Hottentots in Bavianskloof (Ape Valley) by teaching Christianity and training them in industry and agriculture.
Unfortunately he was driven out and back to Herrnhut in 1744 after tidings of baptisms came to the Dutch. By this time the numbers of the converts had reached forty-seven people, but the mission consequently lapsed until 1792.
4.7. SOUTH AMERICA: BERBICE (GUYANA) AND SURINAM
Another important area of work was in South America among the Arawack Indians in Berbice, east Guyana. This was a place that had several Indian tribes resident with the Arawacks chief in importance, as far as size and influence. The overall history of the Moravians here is a very sad affair as they met with formidable odds. The religion of the Arawacks was;
distinguished by dark superstitions and revolting rites. Their character was marked by strong sensual tendencies, hypocritical deceitfulness, [and] revengeful cruelty.
In 1748 Theophilus Solomon Schuman, called the "Apostle of the Arawacks" went to Berbice. He was courageous and worked hard. He was able to preach in the difficult language of the Indians in four months, which really shows the tenacity of some of the early Moravians. In his success he saw three hundred converts. The year 1757 was a year of great difficulties of famines, though, for it brought epidemics, and persecution from the whites in Berbice. The mission then shifted three hundred kilometres West to Sharon in 1761, only to have it burnt down by bush Negroes. The converts were dispersed and the mission given up in 1779.
4.8. LABRADOR
John Christian Erhardt, a sailor and convert of Martin (1741) gave news to the Moravians about Eskimos living on the western shores of Davis' Straights. He and four other companions were sent out by the Herrnhut group and left London for Hudson Bay on May 17th, 1752. After an initial search for areas of ministry Erhardt was murdered. A carpenter, Jens Haven, who already knew the language, filled the gap. When he arrived in Chateau Bay, the Eskimos welcomed him and hailed him as one of their own countryman. The initial success of the mission encouraged Herrnhut to send Haven and Drachart in 1769. The society was given large tracts of land by the British Government who had now gained control of it since 1763, through the Peace of Paris treaty. With this land they developed settlements and permeated the Eskimos so much that by 1804 there was a marked religious movement along the coast. This brought with it a moral revolution and widespread adoption of Christian ethical standards.
