"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