"Died Not Of Failure, But Of Success"

Recently, I have posted about the work of 18th century Moravian missionaries who were characterized by an unusual approach to business and profit-making. Otto Uttendörfer described it as "the spirit of sacrifice and of being content with little for oneself while devoting much to the Lord's cause."

The Moravian goal of profit-making was not individualistic. Personal prosperity was not the aim. Their focus was on the Kingdom of God, and the common good. 

The well-being of communities as a whole, both spiritually and economically, was their aim. This meant not only preaching the Gospel and discipling believers, but creating honorable, meaningful, and profitable work for whole communities, whether believers or not.

But the Moravian's altruistic approach to profit-making could not be imposed by law. Nor could it be passed on to non-believers by fiat.  

As more Moravian communities experienced the blessings of profit, individuals came into those communities who did not share the Moravian spirit of profit-making. But they liked the profit. One example is the city of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

William Danker, in Profit For the Lord, says the town the Moravians built "died not of failure, but of success." He writes: "With rising prosperity, individual instincts to have, to hold, and to spend according to one's own desire reasserted themselves," and, Danker notes: "Religion became segregated from the realm of economics." 

Once Christ is segregated from any human endeavor in which He was once preeminent, that endeavor becomes utterly unrecognizable. Examples are legion. 

Read Deuteronomy 8:11-20 in light of the USA.

Danker quotes John Wesley with respect to the "curious inverse relation" between Christian faith and wealth: "For religion must of necessity produce both industry and frugality, and these cannot but produce riches. But as riches increase, so will pride, anger, and love of the world in all its branches."

Count Zinzendorf, the leader of the Moravian missionary movement, was not out to establish "Zinzendorf-towns," or to build "The Kingdom of the Moravian Church." Zinzendorf desired Moravian missionaries to be absorbed by other churches, and cooperating with other Christian groups for common causes. This may account for the fact that the number of Moravian congregations today is relatively small. The largest concentration of congregations is in Tanzania, Africa.

The Moravians also labored among the Native Americans in the New World. But this came to an abrupt end for different reasons, which I will write about next week.

Posted by Dr. Christian Overman 

Let's Occupy

It has been my tradition to blog about Joy To The World on the Friday before Christmas. Today I carry on the tradition. Joyfully. 

Photo by Jeff Weese (Flickr: Nativity) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Joy To The World is based on Psalm 98: "Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth, break forth in song...for He is coming to judge the earth, with righteousness He shall judge the world, and the peoples with equity." 

Some say this song is not about Bethlehem, but about Christ's second coming, and the joy which will occur when He comes to set all things finally straight, in that full manifestation of His Kingship.

While I look forward to the second coming, Joy To The World makes as much sense to me as a celebration of Christ's first coming. While anticipating His Kingdom-yet-to-come, we can celebrate His Kingdom-already-here. 

Even prior to Bethlehem, I Chronicles 29:11 asserted: "...all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as head over all," and Psalm 103:19 declared: "The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all." 

Before His birth. 

And before His second coming, Acts 10:36 placed Jesus' universal authority in the present: "He is Lord of all." 

It's true Christ's Kingdom is not universally recognized on Planet Earth right now. There are weeds in His field, which He did not plant (see Matthew 13). They will be bundled and burned someday, but the domain over which Christ is King (that is, His "King-domain"), includes both heaven and earth, right now. 

The whole field is His. The fact that not every human heart has received Him as King doesn't alter the fact that He is.

This is the world's greatest Christmas gift: that Christ came in human form "to make His blessings flow, far as the curse is found." When will this start? At the second coming?

No. These blessings are intended to flow through His people today who are reconciled to God and reconciling all things to Him, including the things of earth, far as the curse is found.  

So by God's grace, let's occupy until He comes again, pulling up "bramble bushes" and planting "fruit trees" before the second coming arrives. It's our current calling and occupation.

Maybe Joy To The World is one of those "both-and" songs, celebrating His first and second comings.

Joy to the Earth! The Savior reigns. Let men their songs employ, while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains, repeat the sounding joy!

Far as the curse is found. 

Posted by Dr. Christian Overman 

John Wesley's "Glorious Day"

Are you headed for a storm in your life? Remember John Wesley's "glorious day" aboard a wooden ship in a fierce storm on the Atlantic.

In 1735, John Wesley spent eight weeks (yes, eight weeks) on board a wooden ship crossing the Atlantic with 80 English and 26 Moravian missionaries from Germany. They were sailing to the colony of Georgia. Wesley was on his way to convert Indians to Anglicanism. But God had a different conversion in mind.

In his journal, Wesley wrote of a fierce storm that arose just as the Moravians were starting to sing:  

"In the midst of the psalm wherewith their service began, the sea broke over, split the main-sail in pieces, covered the ship, and poured in between the decks, as if the great deep had already swallowed us up. A terrible screaming began among the English. The Germans calmly sung on. I asked one of them afterwards, 'Was [sic] you not afraid?' He answered, 'I thank God, no.' I asked, 'But were not your women and children afraid?' He replied, mildly, 'No; our women and children are not afraid to die.'”

A couple of sentences later, Wesley wrote: "This was the most glorious day which I have hitherto seen."

The personal, living faith demonstrated by the Moravians touched Wesley deeply. It was a kind of faith he himself had never known. At the time, Wesley was fearful of death. 

Upon his arrival in Georgia, Wesley got to know a Moravian Pastor by the name of Spankenberg. This man asked Wesley if he personally knew Jesus Christ. That question led to many more questions.

Through his continuing contact with the Moravians, observing their lives lived by simple faith in Christ, Wesley was drawn to the Scriptures. Eventually, after returning to England, Wesley experienced his "great change," to use the language William Wilberforce employed in describing his own personal encounter with Christ, via Wesley’s witness. 

You may have seen the classic film, It’s A Wonderful Life. I love the scene where Clarence Oddbody, the guardian angel of George Bailey, says: “Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?”

We all know about John Wesley and the Methodist movement that touched England and so many other nations and families, including my own, as my great-grandfather was a Methodist minister. Yet few know of Pastor Spankenberg, and the small band of Moravians whose living faith prompted John Wesley's “glorious day,” and led to his conversion.   

Posted by Dr. Christian Overman 

Missionaries Creating Businesses?

What is your image of a missionary?

The first major Protestant missionary movement took place in the 1700s. It was a surge of Moravians from Herrnut, Germany, under the leadership of Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf.

One uniqueness of this movement was that these pioneer missionaries left home for far-off places with the understanding that they would not be receiving financial support after they settled in.  

The Moravians believed it was a missionary's duty and obligation not only to "preach the Lamb" that was slain for the salvation of souls, but to also build spiritually and economically integrated communities for the glory of God.

Not only did these missionaries create businesses to meet their personal financial needs, earning their living "as they went," but the businesses they created generated financial support for their missionary endeavors.  

But that wasn’t their entire motive for creating businesses. They did this in order to provide much-needed employment for the economically depressed people they came to evangelize and truly love.

Let me say it bluntly: The first wave of Protestant missionaries created profit-producing businesses. Lots of them. 

The Moravians went to neglected and marginalized folk. They intentionally went to the poor and exploited people of the world. They went to slaves in Surinam. To Eskimos. To Native Americans in the USA.  

Among the many kinds of businesses they established were: textile manufacturing, pottery-making, baking, canoe-crafting and watch-making. In Labrador, the missionaries owned trading posts and cargo ships.

Missionaries creating businesses?

Indeed. It was an integral part of their vision. The Moravian missionaries understood that Christianity brings meaning and purpose to work in ways not possible apart from Christ. They understood that faith is lived out through vocation, as well as through hymn-singing on Sunday morning. Without work, faith is dead.   

Besides saving souls, Count Zinzendorf wanted to teach the natives “the dignity of labor." In the process of creating businesses, the Moravians labored in the marketplace beside neighbors who knew not Christ. These neighbors found relief from the shackles of sin and the shackles of poverty at the same time.  

Zinzendorf disliked taking offerings, or appealing for aid. He rejected the collection-plate approach to missions in part because he did not think it was right to compete with other Christian causes. 

If you want to know more about the first Protestant missionary movement, and the Moravians who boldly and bravely participated in it, read William J. Danker's eye-opening book, Profit for the Lord.

In Profit for the Lord, William Danker writes: "...the most important contribution of the Moravians was their emphasis that every Christian is a missionary and should witness through his daily vocation. If the example of the Moravians had been studied more carefully by other Christians, it is possible that the businessman might have retained his honored place within the expanding Christian world mission beside the preacher, teacher, and physician."

Posted by Dr. Christian Overman