Heroes Frame: Count Ludwig von Zinzendorf

“I am destined to proclaim the message, unmindful of personal consequences to myself.” ― Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700–1760)       

Zinzendorf was born in Dresden. At the age of ten, following tutoring at home, he attended a boarding school in Halle conducted by August Hermann Francke. From 1716-1721 he traveled and studied law at the University of Wittenberg. He became a legal councilor at the Dresden court of the Saxon elector August the Strong in 1721. Following his marriage in 1722 to Countess Erdmuthe Dorothea von Reuss, he established his manorial home at Berthelsdorf in eastern Germany.             

Historians have called Count Zinzendorf “the rich young ruler who said yes.” Born into great wealth and a position of power, he was a member in the court of one of the great thrones of Europe. Even so, he regarded pastors of small congregations as more important because they dealt with eternal issues. For this reason, his highest vision was to be a pastor.

           The young count eventually left his duties in the court to lead a small band of refugees. Although unheard for any nobleman to do such a thing, Zinzendorf was resolute. He passionately loved the Lord and the things of the Lord, and cared little for the things of this world.

            Seemingly going the wrong way for someone who wanted to impact the world, Zinzendorf and his band of refugees nevertheless went on to have an impact like few others have. They gave birth to the modern missionary movement that touched every nation. Years later when the great Baptist missionary, William Carey, was called “the father of modern missions,” he protested and pointed to Zinzendorf as the one who deserved this title.

            Zinzendorf seemed to have had a heart for the Lord from a young age. There is a noteworthy account of his prayer life from when he was just eight years old. Swedish soldiers had invaded northern Germany and burst into the house where the young count was praying. However, they felt the presence of the Lord so powerfully with the boy that they carefully backed out of the house. Years later, his devotion to prayer would help ignite a round-the-clock prayer meeting lasting for one hundred years, the most famous prayer meeting in history.

            The beginning of the modern missionary movement happened when the Count discovered the writings of Jon Amos Comenius in the Dresden library. Zinzendorf had just spent a considerable amount of time intervening in a dispute among the Moravian refugees he had given haven to on his estate. To prevent further discord, he had instituted a few basic rules for the community. He was astonished to find that the same rules had been given by Comenius to refugees from the same place in Moravia one hundred years earlier.

            This got the count’s attention. Then he read the prophecy of Jon Hus that the seed of reformation would fall into the ground and die, but it would sprout again and bear much fruit. Comenius wrote that this seed would “sprout in one hundred years time.” Zinzendorf was amazed that he read this exactly one hundred years after Comenius had said it. A fire ignited in Zinzendorf. He raced back to share what he had found with the refugees on his estate.

            There are few things that will ignite a person more than seeing their own purpose in God’s plan. The refugees were so impacted by what Zinzendorf shared that all of their differences with each other were washed away in the sense of destiny they felt. This resulted in a community prayer meeting in which it was reported that the Holy Spirit fell on them as He did on the Day of Pentecost in the Book of Acts. They were also given tongues of fire to preach the gospel, and thus they began one of the greatest moves of God since the days of the first apostles.

           “No one present could tell exactly what happened on that Wednesday morning, 13 August 1727 at the specially called Communion service. They hardly knew if they had been on earth or in heaven”.

A Modern Pentecost

A Moravian historian wrote that Church history abounds in records of special outpourings of the Holy Ghost, and verily the thirteenth of August 1727, was a day of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We saw the hand of God and His wonders, and we were all under the cloud of our fathers baptized with their Spirit. The Holy Ghost came upon us and in those days great signs and wonders took place in our midst. From that time scarcely a day passed but what we beheld His almighty workings amongst us. A great hunger after the Word of God took possession of us so that we had to have three services every day, viz. 5.0 and 7.30 a.m. and 9.0 p.m. Everyone desired above everything else that the Holy Spirit might have full control. Self love and self will, as well as all disobedience, disappeared and an overwhelming flood of graces wept us all out into the great ocean of Divine Love (1927:14).

No one present could tell exactly what happened on that Wednesday morning, 13 August 1727 at the specially called Communion service. They hardly knew if they had been on earth or in heaven. Count Nicholas Zinzendorf, the young leader of that community, gave this account many years later: We needed to come to the Communion with a sense of the loving nearness of the Saviour. This was the great comfort which has made this day a generation ago to be a festival, because on this day twenty seven years ago the Congregation o Herrnhut, assembled for communion (at the Berthelsdorf church) were all dissatisfied with themselves. They had quit judging each other because they had become convinced, each one, of his lack of worth in the sight of God and each felt himself at this Communion to be in view of the noble countenance of the Saviour. O head so full of bruises, So full of pain and scorn. In this view of the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, their hearts told them that He would be their patron and their priest who was at once changing their tears into oilof gladness and their misery into happiness.

This firm confidence changed them in a single moment into a happy people which they are to this day, and into their happiness they have since led many thousands of others through the memory and help which the heavenly grace once given to themselves, so many thousand times confirmed to them since then. Zinzendorf described it as 'a sense of the nearness of Christ' given to everyone present, and also to others of their community who were working elsewhere at the time. The congregation was young. Zinzendorf, the human leader, was 27, which was about the average age of the group.

Out of persecution..

The Moravian brethren had sprung from the labours and martyrdom of the Bohemian Reformer, John Hus. They had experienced centuries of persecution. Many had been killed, imprisoned, tortured or banished from their homeland. This group had fled for refuge to Germany where the young Christian nobleman, Count Zinzendorf, offered them asylum on his estates in Saxony. They named their new home Herrnhut, 'the Lord's Watch'. From there, after their baptism in the Holy Spirit, they became evangelists and missionaries. Fifty years before the beginning of modern Foreign Missions by William Carey, the Moravian Church had sent out over 100 missionaries. Their English missionary magazine, Periodical Accounts, inspired William Carey. He threw a copy of the paper on a table at a Baptist meeting, saying, 'See what the Moravians have done! Cannot we follow their example and in obedience to our Heavenly Master go out into the world, and preach the Gospel to the heathen?'

That missionary zeal began with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Count Zinzendorf observed: 'The Saviour permitted to come upon us a Spirit of whom we had hitherto not had any experience or knowledge. ... Hitherto we had been the leaders and helpers. Now the Holy Spirit Himself took full control of everything and everybody' (1927:21). When the Spirit came Prayer precedes Pentecost. The disgruntled community at Herrnhut early in 1727 was deeply divided and critical of one another. Heated controversies threatened to disrupt the community. The majority were from the ancient Moravian Church of the Brethren. Other believers attracted to Herrnhut included Lutherans, Reformed, and Baptists. They argued about predestination, holiness, and baptism.

The young German nobleman, Count Zinzendorf, pleaded for unity, love and repentance. Converted in early childhood, at four years of age he composed and signed a covenant: 'Dear Saviour, do Thou be mine, and I will be Thine.' His life motto was, 'I have one passion: it is Jesus, Jesus only. 'Count Zinzendorf learned the secret of prevailing prayer. He actively established prayer groups as a teenager, and on leaving the college at Halle at sixteen he gave the famous Professor Francke a list of seven praying societies he had established. After he finished university his education was furthered by travel to foreign countries. Everywhere he went, his passion for Jesus controlled him. In the Dusseldorf Gallery of paintings he was deeply moved by a painting of the crucifixion over which were the words: Hoc feci pro te; Quid facis pro me? This have I done for thee; What hast thou done for me?

A covenant and a 100 Year Prayer meeting!

At Herrnhut, Zinzendorf visited all the adult members of the deeply divided community. He drew up a covenant calling upon them 'to seek out and emphasise the points in which they agreed' rather than stressing their differences.

On 12 May 1727 they all signed an agreement to dedicate their lives, as he dedicated his, to the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Moravian revival of 1727 was thus preceded and then sustained by extraordinary praying. A spirit of grace, unity and supplications grew among them. On 16 July the Count poured out his soul in a prayer accompanied with a flood of tears. This prayer produced an extraordinary effect. The whole community began praying as never before. On 22 July many of the community covenanted together on their own accord to meet often to pour out their hearts in prayer and hymns.

On 5 August the Count spent the whole night in prayer with about twelve or fourteen others following a large meeting for prayer at midnight where great emotion prevailed. On Sunday, 10 August, Pastor Rothe, while leading the service at Herrnhut, was overwhelmed by the power of the Lord about noon. He sank down into the dust before God. So did the whole congregation. They continued till midnight in prayer and singing, weeping and praying.

On Wednesday, 13 August 1727, the Holy Spirit was poured out on them all. Their prayers were answered in ways far beyond anyone's expectations. Many of them decided to set aside certain times for continued earnest prayer. On 26 August, twenty four men and twenty four women covenanted together to continue praying in intervals of one hour each, day and night, each hour allocated by lots to different people. On 27 August, this new regulation began. Others joined the intercessors and the number involved increased to seventy seven. They all carefully observed the hour which had been appointed for them. The intercessors had a weekly meeting where prayer needs were given to them.

The children, also touched powerfully by God, began a similar plan among themselves. Those who heard their infant supplications were deeply moved. The children's prayers and supplications had a powerful effect on the whole community.

That astonishing prayer meeting beginning in 1727 went on for one hundred years. It was unique. Known as the Hourly Intercession, it involved relays of men and women in prayer without ceasing made to God. That prayer also led to action, especially evangelism. More than one hundred missionaries left that village community in the next twenty five years, all constantly supported in prayer. The Spirit's witness One result of their baptism in the Holy Spirit was a joyful assurance of their pardon and salvation. This made a strong impact on people in many countries, including the Wesleys.

            After visiting Herrnhut, Zinzendorf’s estate where this had taken place, John Wesley wrote that it had to be the closest thing to the New Jerusalem that could be found on the earth. Wesley and George Whitefield, who had also been influenced by the Moravians, would be two of the firebrands to ignite the first Great Awakening in the United Kingdom and the American colonies.

            Count Zinzendorf, who began and ran so strong, also finished well. Some accounts report that he expended his considerable fortune on promoting the gospel. Even more importantly, he expended his life in the service of his Savior. As a result, multitudes received His salvation. The movement he helped ignite may also have done more than any other to prepare the way for the Lord’s return. It inspired many in every generation since who would “build a highway.” This is the road that leads to God’s “higher-way.”

            Today, Zinzendorf is celebrated across the spectrum of the church as a great example of what can be accomplished by anyone resolutely committed to following the King. His work lives on, and the seed he helped bring to life continues to grow and bear much fruit.

“I have but one passion: It is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ.” 
― Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf

Someone once said: "If your presence is not noticed and your absence is not felt, then your presence was never needed!"

I am challenged that the dead cannot be forgotten but the living who had been unproductive are already forgotten. Its time to rise up to the task! ...to winning the world for God! Not with weapons of war but the spreading of good news of the love of God, returning to the lost art of intercession and becoming living witnesses indeed!