Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf

Life

Zinzendorf was born in 1700 in Dresden, Saxony, into a family of counts. (In Korean his name is also spelled 친첸도르프.) He was deeply influenced by Pietism, whose leading representatives were Philipp Jakob Spener and August Hermann Francke. Pietism was a renewal movement within Lutheranism that emphasized personal conversion and a godly life over doctrine. He reportedly wished to enter the ministry but was for some time prevented from doing so by the opposition of his family and the state.

In June 1722 several families who had fled persecution in Moravia (in what is now the eastern Czech Republic) asked to settle on his estate at Berthelsdorf in Saxony, and he granted their request. The settlement that grew up there was named Herrnhut, meaning "the Lord's protection." As refugees and Pietists from various regions gathered there, disputes arose over differing views of the faith. Zinzendorf visited the households to urge reconciliation, and the community signed the "Brotherly Agreement," a covenant its members pledged to keep together. The revival that occurred at a Communion service in the Berthelsdorf church on August 13, 1727, is remembered as the starting point of the renewal of the Brethren.

In 1735 he was ordained a Lutheran minister. The Saxon authorities, however, regarded him as the leader of a sectarian movement and banished him from Saxony from the late 1730s until 1747. During this period, in 1737, he was consecrated a bishop of the Brethren. While in exile he traveled throughout Europe, England, and North America founding communities, and in 1741 he established the settlement of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. His banishment was lifted in 1747, and he died at Herrnhut in 1760.

Ministry and Achievements

• Community movement: Zinzendorf initially sought to establish "a little church within the church" (ecclesiola in ecclesia) inside the Lutheran Church. Herrnhut became a community in which faith and daily life were bound together, and it served as the model for Moravian settlements founded in Europe and America. He is also known for an ecumenical spirit that placed little weight on the theological differences between Lutherans and the Reformed. Rooted in the fifteenth-century Hussites, this community is known today as the Moravian Church.
• Foreign missions: Missionaries went out from Herrnhut to the West Indies, Greenland, South Africa, Native American lands, and elsewhere. The number of missionaries sent out in the eighteenth century is reported to be 226. His missionary principles are commonly summarized as preaching Christ rather than a theological system, living humbly alongside the native peoples, and seeking out individuals searching for the truth rather than attempting to convert entire nations.
• Encounter with Wesley: The Moravian society he founded in London influenced John Wesley's conversion experience in 1738 (the Aldersgate experience). In August of the same year Wesley visited Herrnhut in person.

Influence on the Korean Church

In the Korean church, Zinzendorf is presented chiefly as an example of prayer and mission. Churches in the Wesleyan tradition, such as the Methodist and Holiness churches, are connected to him through Wesley. In 2022 the Class Meeting Research Institute under the General Conference of the Korean Methodist Church organized a tour to Herrnhut following in Wesley's footsteps. In missiology, studies have identified lessons from Moravian missions for the Korean church, including intercessory prayer for missions, community-based mission, and self-supporting mission (tentmaking). In sermons and mission lectures, the story is often told that Moravian missionaries built their own coffins and took them along, resolved to remain on the mission field for the rest of their lives.

Assessment

Zinzendorf is regarded as a pioneer of Protestant foreign missions. He is also remembered as one who pursued unity among denominations and who, through Wesley, influenced the Methodist movement. At the same time, he could not avoid doctrinal controversy with the Lutheran orthodoxy of his day, and the Saxon authorities banished him as a sectarian leader. Some scholars criticize him for seeking excessive authority, for example by wishing to be called "Papa" within the community.