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The 'Moravian Church in America' is part of the world wide Moravian Church Unity. It dates from the arrival of the first Moravian missionaries to the United States in 1735, from their Herrnhut settlement in present-day Saxony, Germany. They came to minister to the scattered German immigrants, to the native Americans and to enslaved Africans. They founded communities to serve as home bases for these missions. The missionary "messengers" were financially supported by the work of the "laborers" in these settlements^[1].

Contents

History

Organisation

Headquarters

Districts, circuits and congregations

Societies

Other work

Society and theology in America

Architecture

Ecumenical relations

See also

Notes and references

Bibliography

Primary sources

External links

History

The first, unsuccessful attempt to found a Moravian community in North America was in Georgia; it collapsed because of internal discord, and government pressure to serve in the militia in defense against Spanish raids from Florida (1740, the so-called "War of Jenkin's Ear").
The founding of the church is thus usually given as 1740, when Bishop Augustus Spangenberg sent Christian Henry Rauch to New York City on a mission to preach and convert any native peoples he could find. Eager to learn more, the Mahican Chiefs Tschoop and Shabash he met invited Rauch to visit their Dutchess County village to teach them. In September 1740, they led him through the unbroken wilderness to Shekomeko where a Moravian mission was established and the two Indian chiefs were converted to the Christian faith.
By summer 1742, Shekomeko was established as the first native Christian congregation in America. Over the next two years, the Moravians endeavored to reconcile the ancient Indian traditions with the new ways of the onslaught of the ascendant western society. It was a center of New York State growth in the missions to the native peoples. Within the next two years, several more missionaries along with their wives began to resettle the ancient shellfish beds.

The Moravians later found a home in Pennsylvania, where the charter of the colony provided religious freedom. The towns of Bethlehem, Nazareth, Emmaus, and Lititz, Pennsylvania, were founded as Moravian communities. Later, colonies were also founded in North Carolina, where Moravians led by Bishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg purchased 98,985 acres from John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville. This large tract of land was named ''die Wachau,'' or Wachovia, after one of Zinzendorf's ancestral estates on the Danube River in Austria. Other early settlements included Bethabara (1753), Bethania (1759) and Salem (now Winston-Salem) (1766).
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, emerged as the headquarters of the northern church, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, became the headquarters of the southern church. The Moravian denomination persists in America to this day, with congregations in 18 states; presently, the highest concentrations of Moravians exist in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The denomination is organized into four provinces in North America: Northern (which includes three Canadian congregations), Southern, Alaska, and Labrador.

Organisation

Headquarters

★ North: 1021 Center Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018

★ South: 459 S. Church Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27101.

Districts, circuits and congregations

★ Northern Province

★
★ Eastern District:
::'District of Columbia'
::Washington: Faith Moravian Church of the Nation’s Capital
::'Maryland'
::Thurmont: Graceham Moravian Church
::New Carrollton: Trinity Moravian Church
::Upper Marlboro: St. Paul’s Moravian Church
::'New Jersey'
::Cinnaminson: Palmyra Moravian Church
::Egg Harbor City: 235 Boston Ave.
::Riverside: First Moravian Church
::Union: Battle Hill Moravian Church
::'New York'
::Bronx: Tremont Terrace Moravian Church
::Brooklyn: Fellowship Moravian Church (meeting at Church of the Evangel [U.C.C.]) • John Hus Moravian Church
::New York City: First Moravian Church • United Moravian Church
::Queens: Grace Moravian Church
::Staten Island: Castleton Hill Moravian Church • Great Kills Moravian Church • New Dorp Moravian Church • Vanderbilt Ave. Moravian Church
::Utica: Good Shepherd Moravian Church
::'Ohio'
::Dover: First Moravian Church
::Dublin: Church of the Redeemer Moravian Church
::Lewis Center: The Promise Moravian Church
::Gnadenhutten: John Heckewelder Memorial Moravian Church
::New Philadelphia: Fry’s Valley Moravian Church
::Schoenbrunn Community Moravian Church
::Tuscarawas: Sharon Moravian Church
::Uhrichsville: 315 N. Water St.
::'Ontario'
::Toronto: New Dawn Moravian Church
::'Pennsylvania'
::Allentown: Calvary Moravian Church
::Midway Manor Moravian Church
::Bethlehem: Advent Moravian Church • Central Moravian Church • College Hill Moravian Church • East Hills Moravian Church • Edgeboro Moravian Church • West Side Moravian Church
::Canadensis: Canadensis Moravian Church
::Center Valley: Grace Moravian Church
::Coopersburg: Coopersburg Moravian Church
::Easton: First Moravian Church • Palmer Township Moravian Church
::Emmaus: Emmaus Moravian Church
::Hellertown: Mountainview Moravian Church
::Lancaster: Lancaster Moravian Church
::Lebanon: Lebanon Moravian Church
::Lititz: Lititz Moravian Church
::Nazareth: Nazareth Moravian Church
::Newfoundland: Newfoundland Moravian Church
::Philadelphia: Redeemer Moravian Church
::Reading: Reading Moravian Church
::York: Covenant Moravian Church • First Moravian Church

★
★ Western District: ''List of congregation names required.''

★
★ Canadian District: ''List of congregation names required.''

★ Southern Province

Societies

''Are there any, or is this a purely British term?''

Other work

''Is there any, or is this a purely British term?''

Society and theology in America

Rohrer (2001) demonstrates the social history of the community of Wachovia, founded in the North Carolina Piedmont in 1753, illustrates the importance of the beliefs and practices of the Moravians in achieving the integration and acculturation of settlers of different ethnic backgrounds. The Moravian emphasis on openness and tolerance, combined with the conversion experience of new birth, undermined ethnic homogeneity and provided a source of communal cohesion. The primary intermingling and intermarriage was between Germans and English, but 12 nations and territories were represented in the population of Wachovia by the early 19th century.
Fogleman (2003) examines the theological, demographic, and sociological roots of factional clashes between Moravians and their more traditional German Lutheran and Reformed coreligionists, focusing on mid-18th-century communities in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, where these confrontations were frequent and sometimes violent. Moravians' beliefs centered on a feminized Holy Spirit, the right of women to preach, sacralizing the sex act, and metaphorically re-gendering Jesus Christ. These teachings were perceived as threats to more mainstream Christian articles of faith, which stressed the masculinity of the Trinity as the theological cornerstone of the nuclear patriarchal family, the core structure in upholding moral and social order. As Moravian preachers far outnumbered the very few Lutheran or Reformed clergy in the mid-Atlantic colonies during the 1730's-40's and because the Moravians welcomed anyone into their church services, most German Pietists viewed Moravians as more than harmless heretics. Moreover, in the temporal context of a period of intense European immigration to the colonies, the Moravians were seen as challenging the long-term social stability of the colonial community as a whole. Although the Moravians never became a dominant sect in the region, the perception of them as a serious religious and social threat highlights the significant role gendered power issues have played in religious controversy in North America.
Engel (2003) says Moravians in Bethlehem 1753-75 were concerned about the economic prosperity of their settlements, but they were also concerned about the effects that prosperity might have on their religious community. Prosperity was important, as it funded both mission work and more settlements. Moravians valued work highly, but economic ventures had to be carried out in a way morally consistent with their beliefs. To this end, Bethlehem Moravians cooperated in the opening of the Strangers' Store in 1753. The store was the main instrument both in purchasing outside goods for the community and in selling Bethlehem goods to outsiders. Wise management meant the Strangers' Store remained profitable for the rest of the colonial period, funding the growth of Moravian enterprises both in Pennsylvania and back in Germany.

Architecture

A Moravian architecture style has emerged in the United States, predominately in Winston-Salem (Old Salem). Most Moravian churches in the area feature copper steeple tops which have oxidized and reached a green patina. The Moravian arch is also an example of the style and is mainly used over building entrances [1]. Combined Moravian arches were used to form the dome of the Wachovia Center.
Central Church in Bethlehem, is an architectural wonder, as the sanctuary has no columns to support the roof. Instead, there is a system of beams above the ceiling which support the structure.

Ecumenical relations

The Moravian Church in America is:

★ in full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

★ engaged in dialogue with a group of Reformed Churches (Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ, Reformed Church in America, and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ))

★ in dialogue with the Episcopal Church of the USA and share in an agreement of interim Eucharistic sharing

★ a Participant in Christian Churches Together in the USA

★ a member church of the World Council of Churches

★ a member of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA

★ a member of Churches for Middle East Peace.
Historically the Moravian Church had a significant impact on John Wesley and the practices of the Methodist Church.

See also

★ Adelaide Fries

★ Moravian College

★ Moravian Academy

Notes and references

1. Gollin 1967,

Bibliography

★ Atwood, Craig D. ''Community of the Cross: Moravian Piety in Colonial Bethlehem.'' Pennsylvania State U. Press, 2004. 283 pp.

★ Atwood, Craig D. and Vogt, Peter, ed. ''The Distinctiveness of Moravian Culture: Essays and Documents in Moravian History in Honor of Vernon H. Nelson on His Seventieth Birthday.'' Moravian Hist. Soc., 2003. 297 pp.

★ Engel, Katherine Carté. "The Strangers' Store: Moral Capitalism in Moravian Bethlehem, 1753-1775." ''Early American Studies'' 2003 1(1): 90-126. Issn: 1543-4273

★ Fogleman, Aaron Spencer. ''Jesus Is Female: Moravians and Radical Religion in Early America''. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007.

★ Gollin, Gilliam Lindt. ''Moravians in Two Worlds'' (1967)

★ Langton; Edward. ''History of the Moravian Church: The Story of the First International Protestant Church'' (1956).

★ Rechcigl, Miloslav, Jr. "The Renewal and Formative Years of the Moravian Church in America," ''Czechoslovak and Central European Journal'' 9 (1990), pp. 12-26.

★ Rohrer, S. Scott. "Searching for Land and God: the Pietist Migration to North Carolina in the Late Colonial Period." ''North Carolina Historical Review'' 2002 79(4): 409-439. Issn: 0029-2494 Fulltext: in Ebsco

★ Rohrer, S. Scott. "Evangelism and Acculturation in the Backcountry: the Case of Wachovia, North Carolina, 1753-1830." ''Journal of the Early Republic'' 2001 21(2): 199-229. Issn: 0275-1275 Fulltext: in Jstor

★ Wagner, Walter H. ''The Zinzendorf-Muhlenberg Encounter: A Controversy in Search of Understanding.'' Moravian Hist. Soc., 2002. 173 pp.

Primary sources

★ Zeisberger, David. ''The Moravian Mission Diaries of David Zeisberger, 1772-1781.'' ed by Hermann Wellenreuther and Carola Wessel, ed.; Julie Tomberlin Weber, transl. Pennsylvania State U. Press, 2005. 666 pp.

External links

★ The American Moravian church

★ The Moravian Church in Canada

★ Moravian Archives in Bethlehem, PA

★ Moravian Archives in Winston-Salem, NC

★ Moravian Music Foundation

★ Historic Bethania, c. 1759 Moravian Congregational Settlement in North Carolina built on the Herrnhut model, Visitors Welcome