Moravian Church in America

The Moravian Church in America is comprised of the Northern and Southern Provinces, two of the nineteen provinces of the worldwide Moravian Church. Both provinces are actively engaged in new church development, especially the 20/20 programme in the Northern Province. Several new churches and fellowships are emerging. Other concerns include mission, poverty, world and domestic hunger, educational ministries, youth ministry, stewardship development, family-life enrichment, camps and conferences, and congregational renewal. Educational enterprises include Salem Academy and College in Winston-Salem, NC, and Moravian College and Theological Seminary in Bethlehem, PA. With the other provinces of the Moravian Unity the church supports work among handicapped children in Palestine and educational institutions in North India.
The Moravian Church comes out of the Hussite movement in Bohemia-Moravia in the 15th century. Following the Counter-Reformation they practised their faith in secret until they found a certain degree of religious freedom on the estate of a young Pietistic nobleman in German Saxony, named Count Zinzendorf. The Germans referred to the newcomers as “Moravians”, from the land of their origin, and the name continued in use in English-speaking lands. Following an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in 1727, a remarkable missionary effort began from Zinzendorf’s estate in 1732 and has led to today’s worldwide church. Today two-thirds of all Moravians are in Tanzania and South Africa.

The Moravian Church continues to be true to its historic commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and to share this faith widely with others. “The Ground of the Unity” is the basic doctrinal statement of the worldwide unity and many of the provinces look to the “Covenant for Christian Living” as the principles by which Moravians live and bear witness. Both documents are available at www.moravian.org/believe. The Moravian Church in America is in full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and has numerous ecumenical ties through bilateral talks and through several ecumenical organizations.