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Discussion Forum : Revivals And Church History : Christian Documentary on the Moravian Revival and Community

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 Christian Documentary on the Moravian Revival and Community

Saints,

I cannot express how this stirs my heart, would not God be able to raise up other radical movements of Christians to accomplish the mission to share the Gospel across the earth in these last days.


The Moravian Mission Machine (Christian Documentary)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQNWCQbm4bc


From the description of the documentary on youtube:

"May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering!

Praise the Lord! We finally posted this video!. It took Mike Atnip and I about 4 years to put this all together.

Years ago I was inspired by the testimony of the early Moravian missionaries through Paris Reidhead's sermon, "Ten Shekels and a Shirt.". After hearing of their incredible dedication and bravery I began to research them further. The more I read-- the more impressed I became. I felt this testimony had to be made known so I wrote the article “The Moravian Mission Machine. “ Soon after the article was published the Lord put it on my heart to make a video documentary. I had never done something like this but I felt the Lord telling me to do it. So, With the help of Mike Atnip, my wife and my children I took my home video camera and began to make the video.

It is my prayer that their testimony will inspire others too. And most importantly it is my prayer that the testimony of these early Moravian Missionaries would inspire others to go further in devotion and service to Christ. We serve a creator God and what He does today man not look exactly like what it did in the past. Nevertheless, I believe that if we would take the Moravian zeal and radical devotion and put it into practice today, the world would be a different place and God would be glorified.


~If you would like to donate a small amount to help make future radical Christian testimonies available that would be great. Scroll publishing has provided a secure website to send the donation. All donations are tax deductible.

Here is the site for donations:
http://www.scrollpublishing.com/store...

You can support the ministry by purchasing this documentary on DVD from scroll publishing.

You can purchase the DVD at:
http://www.scrollpublishing.com/store...

Please visit our website for more great radical Christian resources at:
http://www.RadicalReformation.com


------------Now.... a summery of the documentary---

On Christmas Eve, 1741, the Moravians founded Bethlehem, PA. The brothers and sisters there lived communally. The main purpose of this community was to provide the funding and training to send missionaries out to the Indians. This is the exciting story of a people giving all for Christ.

This color video documentary tells the story of the Moravians from their exile from Bohemia through their time at Herrnhut with Count Zinzendorf and their missionary journeys. As mentioned, it particularly focuses on the community at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The Moravian missionaries had more success in their missions to the Indians than did most other groups.

I pray, “Do it again Lord, DO it again!”

Dean Taylor


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SI Moderator - Greg Gordon

 2014/9/12 22:39Profile
Jeremy221
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Joined: 2009/11/7
Posts: 1532


 Re: Christian Documentary on the Moravian Revival and Community

Thanks Greg.

 2014/9/13 2:25Profile









 Re: Christian Documentary on the Moravian Revival and Community

God bless YOU, brother!!!

nice eye!...like yourself, I am enamored in the Holy Spirit of the testimony, witness, and walk of the Moravians and Count Zinzendorff...... I mean it wasn't all "milk and honey", but a hundred year pray meeting?

cant wait to prayerfully watch this, you find some real Gems in Christ, God love you saint, neil

 2014/9/13 7:28
Jeremy221
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Joined: 2009/11/7
Posts: 1532


 Re: Christian Documentary on the Moravian Revival and Community

This was very beneficial and revealing. It blessed me to see the Moravians' dedication and desire to know and have reason for everything to the glory of God. It seemed like this piece brought up many questions than it answered though it provided a much more human to a group I have only heard about in anecdotes in messages stripped of their context.

There was something that bothered me when the Moravians moved to Bethlehem. The arm of the flesh was introduced to support the work of God. Looking at the more recent mission movement in the Western Church seems to have had the same life. Rather than living 100% for Christ as pilgrim and stranger following the Cloud withersoever It leads, they settled and sought to provide funds to back the missions, even buying ships to enable the missionaries. Doesn't this sound eerily like those who have purchased cruise ships, helicopters, jets and motorhomes in our day? Or those who start a business to "support the Gospel" only to get lost in the lust for money or trying to stay afloat?

I am a reminded of Denny Kenaston's account of his own experience running a business with his sons. He relates that he started the business wite the purpose of being able to work with his children and be close to home. He found that it changed to trying to figure out what things to carry, the right strategy and how to be more successful. In the end he warned about getting into something for the wrong reason. He had similar motives to the Moravians wanting to glorify God in all that he did, serving his family and spreading the Gospel but he too got wrapped up in the cares of this life. He is someone we can relate to today.

The issue of being a pilgrim and stranger that the host commented on regarding himself and the Moravians was rather interesting. It made me wonder. He states that most of the Moravians were refugees from other areas when they fled to Hernhoff thus there was a practical aspect to their alienation that supplimented their belief. I would suggest that this does not constitute what it really means to be an alien and stranger. Having lived among people who spent their formative years outside of their home country, I have found that being a real outsider has more to do with home. I have met missionaries that were aliens abroad but very much at home in the US though their cultural references were out of date. If you visited their homes in the field, you would find that they were a homage to their home country rather than the Heavenly Jerusalem and the presence of The Lord. I have been in homes that were simple and those that have been ornate that demonstrated the fragrance of Christ and the reverse. The issue of being not of this world is foundational to being a Christian and we must work out what that means so that we are not found unworthy of our Lord.

 2014/9/13 9:01Profile
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Amen brother may God raise up many more pilgrims in our day. Mammon still chokes out spiritual fruit. We can see this in modern hutterite communities that are well off financially but poor spirituality in radical mission dedication as their forefathers.


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 2014/9/13 11:16Profile
DeanTaylor
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 Re:



He Jeremy,

I rarely get online but I stopped by this blog and thought I would just mention a few of my thoughts.

I read your remarks. Interesting thoughts. I appreciate your perspective. I particularly appreciate them when I consider where you have come from. I can understand that from your background, seeing material and business endeavors mixed with a pretense of holiness as nothing but, “the arm of the flesh.” However, I honestly think it is unfair to call what these brothers did by this label. I believe that Christ came in the flesh. Because of this He has sanctified all parts of our lives. I agree that most abuse this “flesh” part. But I believe that Christ is glorified when He can be lived out in every part of our lives.

The same with Bro Denny… I agree that Bro Denny was stretched beyond measure. I also agree that the challenge of ministry, business and family was near impossible. However, I don’t think that to put him in the camp of the Lancaster County big businessmen would not be fair either. I venture to guess that if you asked his son Daniel (African missionary) about those days when he was working next to his dad in the wood shop that he would say that they were some of the best discipleship days that he ever had.

I believe this was also the motivation for the Moravians. As a matter of fact, I remember a little remark in the Bethlehem Journals that blessed me when I read it. It was a little remark about a barn that they were putting up. They had abuilding group that would do this. Now, on one hand someone could argue perhaps, that the “barn company” that was putting this barn up was nothing more than a modern Anabaptists “mini barn business” ☺ ….. But I think the Moravians looked at it very differently.

Anyway… it just mentioned in the journal that a young David Zeisberger was there working with the crew. Later, as you know, this man grew up to be one of the greatest missionaries of all times. Now I can’t say that this work made this young man, but It just made me wonder what affect this kind of sanctified-work had on his young life.

To the Moravians, it was this involving of their whole lives in everything they did that worked as a powerful discipleship tool. To them there was no division between the sacred and the profane. Everything was to them, “holiness to the Lord.” Likewise, thousands of native-pagan people around the world were converted and found these “businesses” as wonderful ways to work with the brethren and be discipled. Hundreds of converts later took that training and became preachers and missionaries themselves.

What the Moravians pulled off was something very “other-worldly.” The believed that Jesus came to establish a kingdom on this earth. They believed that this sanctified kingdom would be counter to the evil and carnal kingdoms of the earth.
Like Jesus described in his parables of the kingdom in Matthew 13, the early Moravians believed that if we were totally dedicated to serving Jesus with all of our hearts, Christ’s kingdom would grow and glorify His name. Furthermore, instead of working for carnal means they lived their entire lives only for Jesus and for His service. Yes they bought ships…. But wow, when you read about what they did with them it makes think.

Now, don’t get me wrong. The Moravians had their issues too. Big ones. At the end of the day, I’m not sure if I could have even joined them.

But… that’s not why I made the documentary.

First of all I made it for myself. I made it so that I would be reminded that if I have faith, and total dedication to God I could go further than I am now. Secondly I made it out of a burden that the Lord has put on my heart for the church of Christ. Christ came to bring in His kingdom. My gut feeling, my burden is that as a church, we can go a lot further than we are now.

To give you an example of what I mean by this using sports as an example… Before 1954, most people assumed that it was just about impossible to run a mile in under four minutes. People would try hard and come close, but it was accepted as a general norm in those days that the 4-minute barrier was the human limit. However, one young man, a medical student from Oxford University felt that it wasn’t impossible. As a matter of fact, he was so confident that it was not impossible that he determined in his mind and body that he would break the 4-minute barrier—and he did. Today, most all Olympic-class runners break the 4-minute mile.

That’s why I made the documentary.

When people tell themselves that something is impossible, it usually is—at least for them. Such preconceived limits become our cages—cages that prevent us from dreaming, growing, and pursuing other possibilities. We could aptly name all such cages: “Tyranny of the Impossible.” When we make up our mind that something is “impossible” we cripple ourselves and prevent our true capabilities.

When the impossible is something like running a mile faster than everyone else, perhaps you could argue that it really doesn’t matter. But I am afraid that we as Christians are more apt to fall prey to this crippling mental condition in the Christian world than anywhere else, and it is here that the consequences are most devastating. The “Tyranny of the Impossible” is killing the dreams, visions, creativity, and most catastrophically, the faith of the Church—the kind of faith that moves mountains.

Please don’t think that I desire a carbon copy of the Moravians. I do not. But I do want to try to be be humble enough to see what a zealous group of young radical Christians did. Trying to exactly repeat the past would be a big mistake. I have had to repeat of this desire in my life.

As a matter of fact…(if you allow me to ramble a bit more.) A few years ago I discovered that I had a very strange allergy. I realized that I was allergic to Old books-- Seriously. I brake out in a rash and even get short of breath around old books. When I was at the Bethlehem vault I had to pull my t-shirt over my mouth to prevent the breathing the dust.—but I still felt dizzy ~Silly I know. But I realized that as much as I appreciate church history, God does not want me to be content with just studying the testimonies of the past. He wants a living testimony today. He is a creator God, and I believe that what the Spirit does today will not be a carbon copy of what was done in the past. But on the other hand these heroes of the past are not dead. They are alive, still worshiping their Lamb, and they stand in that great cloud of witnesses watching for us to continue the fight.

Just some of my thoughts. ☺

Dean


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Dean Taylor

 2014/9/13 12:35Profile









 Re: Christian Documentary on the Moravian Revival and Community

Dear Brother Greg and All in the Kingdom Work of our Lord,

Just watched the film you all made. Absolutely wonderful documentary. Bringing to life the history of brothers and sisters of another age. Uniting us with them in Spirit...I agree with brother Mike's prayer, "Do it again Lord, do it again...with one caveat...if there is time!"

It can't ever be exactly the same, but the Spirit of the Lord moving through united believers whether it is local or coming together other through other means.

I want to cry out "I'm on board!! Where do we meet? I'm tired of living out of sync with the Body of believers." The Lord knows this great longing in our hearts to come together in Spirit and in purpose. HOW will He do this? One step at a time, one believer at a time coming together in communion and unity, confessing our sins to one another, keeping the bond of unity, allowing the Holy Spirit to come as Jesus prayed in John 17.

The cost is laying down our lives, our security, our own ambitions, our own ideas and surrendering our will for His Life. Can we answer those three questions the leadership of the Moravian's put to candidates for the mission field?

Have you lived long enough for yourself?
Have you lived long enough for the church?
Have you the courage and joy to die for the cause?

Sister Leslie


 2014/9/13 21:01









 Re:

I watched the movie. Very inspiring, and I was reminded of the similarities with the early Quakers but, unless we are online with the doctrines believed concerning holiness and how to achieve it, it will just remain wishful thinking. Only when we have been 'breathed on' will be in agreement and sadly most have not been breathed on let alone baptised.

I am interested in where exactly the Moravians and Wesley disagreed as I feel it is key.

 2014/9/14 6:03









 Re:

Quote:
Another cause of trouble was the Brethren's doctrine of justification by faith alone. Of all the charges brought against them the most serious and the most persistent was the charge that they despised good works. They were denounced as Antinomians. Again and again, by the best of men, this insulting term was thrown at their heads. They taught, it was said, the immoral doctrine that Christ had done everything for the salvation of mankind; that the believer had only to believe; that he need not obey the commandments; and that such things as duties did not exist. At Windsor lived a gentleman named Sir John Thorold. He was one of the earliest friends of the Moravians; he had often attended meetings at Hutton's house; he was an upright, conscientious, intelligent Christian; and yet he accused the Brethren of teaching "that there were no duties in the New Testament." Gilbert Tennent brought the very same accusation. "The Moravian notion about the law," he said, "is a mystery of detestable iniquity; and, indeed, this seems to be the mainspring of their unreasonable, anti-evangelical, and licentious religion." But the severest critic of the Brethren was John Wesley. He attacked them in a "Letter to the Moravian Church," and had that letter printed in his Journal. He attacked them again in his "Short View of the Difference between the Moravian Brethren, lately in England, and the Rev. Mr. John and Charles Wesley." He attacked them again in his "A Dialogue between an Antinomian and his Friend"; and in each of these clever and biting productions his chief charge against them was that they taught Antinomian principles, despised good works, and taught that Christians had nothing to do but believe.



http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2099/2099-h/2099-h.htm#link2HCH0025

I think that the Wesley did not understand the Moravians doctrine of not working in the flesh. How on earth could John and Charles think that these people were antinomian when they witnessed to absolute trust in God on the ship in the storm in the Atlantic, and when they lived in peace with one another to the extent that they did? Where were the brains of these two opposers?

 2014/9/14 6:59
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Quote:
Dear Brother Greg and All in the Kingdom Work of our Lord,

Just watched the film you all made. Absolutely wonderful documentary. Bringing to life the history of brothers and sisters of another age. Uniting us with them in Spirit...I agree with brother Mike's prayer, "Do it again Lord, do it again...with one caveat...if there is time!"



Sister,

Thank you for your wonderful kind comment but I was not involved in making the film. Brother Dean Taylor was and others who helped him. I am just glad to be able to promote it and share it with others. Let us pray God gives it wind and allows this little film to be watched by many and see a birthing of something new for His kingdom in our day.

The documentary can also be watched here on SI: https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/myvideo/photo.php?lid=4026


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 2014/9/14 9:28Profile





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