I have just returned from the home of one of the greatest centers of intercession, prophetic action and global evangelism in Christian history—Herrnhut, Germany.
Rick Joyner, Cindy Jacobs, Loren Cunningham and others have visited this site and words have come forth prophesying a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit and restoring this place to its former role as a source of blessing for the nations. Already, people are being drawn to Herrnhut to pray for the salvation of their countries and a mighty move of the Holy Spirit.
England’s William Carey is rightfully credited as the Father of Modern Missions but his famous sermon, "Expect Great Things from God; Attempt Great Things for God," delivered at Kettering in 1792, followed by more than 65 years the Spirit birthed missions crusade from Herrnhut that sent missionaries around the world.
I have visited places that had hosted great revival movements—Wittenberg, Germany where Luther sparked the Protestant movement, Aldersgate Street in London where Wesley was born again, Moriah Chapel in Lougher, Wales, the home of the amazing Welsh Revival, Azusa Street in Los Angeles where the Pentecostal Revival broke out, several spots in Argentina where God moved on an entire nation, Brownsville, Florida where they experienced a revival that touched the world--and the anointing that still abides on Herrnhut is as powerful as any. To pray in Herrnhut is to encounter a tangible, electric presence of God!
A local pastor, Christian Winter, and his son, Martin, talked about the history of Herrnhut and the incredible things that happened there. In 1722, persecuted believers from Moravia sought and received permission to encamp on the estate of a wealthy, young nobleman known for his devotion to God, Count Nikolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf. In short order, the Moravians numbered in the hundreds. By 1727 the little community was experiencing some discord. Zinzendorf called them to prayer. The Holy Spirit fell in conviction and the Moravians continued to pray continuously for the next one hundred years! The 100 year prayer meeting brought unity, a passion to share the gospel with all people, prophetic utterances, great healings, and a transformed social structure.
Herrnhut was established expressly for God, on a hill. Zinzendorf’s administrator, a Mr. Heitz, brought the Moravians to the property covered in trees. He prophesied to them, "With faith, on this land you will see the glory of God!" The first tree cut down was used to build an altar for worship. The land had no water but when, in prophesy, they were told to dig a well, water gushed up from an underground river. The first sermon preached to the initial group of a handful of people said "Assume that God will light a fire here that will shine forth to the world." The group knew their calling before the first house was built. In time, they held worship gatherings on Sunday afternoons sometimes repeating the teachings given at the church in the nearby village earlier in the morning. They felt the brooding presence of the Holy Spirit over their community for years. On one Pentecost Sunday people filled the nearby church with over 1000 standing outside. Except to say that they were drawn none of them knew why.
It was common for God’s presence to overwhelm the worshippers. They would sing and pray and lay prostrate on the floor for six to eight hours. When two of the elders were away one Sunday, Zinzendorf lead the community in prayer for them. 100 kilometers away the elders were overcome with the Spirit of God and not being able to work, moved into a time of prayer and worship. Back in Herrnhut, a general baptism of the Holy Spirit hit the believers. Five days later the same anointing moved among the children bringing revival. Groups of children spontaneously formed to pray for one another’s salvation. Ten days following, the elders covenanted to offer a continuous sacrifice of worship which lasted for one hundred years. The passion behind their prayers was to enter into the presence of God. They weren’t focused on getting things but on sensing the Father’s heart. Each committed to pray for an hour with prayer arising without a break for a century.
Across Europe people heard what God was doing in Herrnhut. The hungry arrived to seek God. Moravians were sent out across the land to tell of their revival. When in Denmark, Zinzendorf met a young black boy from the West Indies who explained that his people had not heard this message of the Savior. Zinzendorf returned with the boy and began a campaign of training and sending Moravians to lands where the gospel was unknown. Stories abound of Moravians giving everything to preach to the lost. There were instances where they even sold themselves into slavery when they learned it was the only way to gain access to Caribbean slaves. The reports of supernatural intervention to facilitate their missionary quest are many. They would walk hundreds of miles to reach a seaport and just as their finances would run out someone would offer to arrange their ocean transportation to the very place they wished to reach.
Maybe the legacy of the Moravians best known occurred on their voyage to America. When a storm assailed the ship and the other passengers began to fear for their lives and to cry out, the Moravians simply prayed and maintained a calm to was evident to others. The best known of the passengers, himself quite distressed at the storm, was John Wesley of England on his way to evangelize the colonials. Wesley concluded upon witnessing the faith of the Moravians that while he had intended to bring salvation to the Americans he must now wonder if even he was truly saved. It was Wesley’s ongoing involvement with Zinzendorf and the Moravians that brought him to the "heart warming" moment of his own born again experience and the eventual world changing revival of Methodism.
The Moravians built homes for the many whose pilgrimage brought them to serve God. They would be trained for spreading the gospel and be given work to do to raise the finances for their travels. The community took in single women for training as well, something almost unheard of before. From these dedicated single women came some of the most powerful displays of faithfulness, sacrifice and signs and wonders.
Christian and Martin’s church, Christliches Zentrum Herrnhut (Herrnhut Christian Center), was born out of a move of God in 1972. They are receiving continuing promises from God regarding His plans to move again in Herrnhut. The modern day Moravian church has resisted the current move of the Holy Spirit but groups are coming from around the world to redig the wells of revival. In just the weeks before our visit, they hosted teams of believers from Norway, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Indonesia, Poland and the US. They have come to realize that they need larger facilities to accommodate the many visitors. The day before we arrived Christian had received word that their bid to purchase of former hospital had been approved. They were praising God as this building would give them the campus they needed to house guests, host larger prayer gatherings and to conduct trainings in intercession and in the prophetic. The village of Herrnhut today has only a permanent population of 1600 with no large rooms for meetings. This hospital is God’s provision as they prepare for the great ingathering of those who will touch the nations.
