How long would we persist in prayer?
The Moravian Church of Hernhut in Saxony is possibly one of the most missions minded churches in history. They went into foreign lands, sometimes under immense hardship and sacrifice, to share the Gospel. Some even became slaves in order to take the Gospel to slaves! All in all, they sent out over 300 missionaries!
The Moravian church is credited with bringing the gospel to places such as the West Indies, Greenland, Turkey and Lapland. Yet many historians count their greatest “success” as reaching John Wesley, who later became an instrumental figure in the Great Awakening in England and America in the eighteenth century which swept hundreds of thousands into God’s Kingdom.
Yet, what fuelled that mission work was prayer – in 1726, the Moravian church covenanted to not only send missionaries, but to support and endeavour with them in prayer. So they decided to embark on an “around-the-clock” prayer meeting for 100 years! Yes, that’s not a typo – 24hours, 7 days a week for 100 years!!
Church historian A.J. Lewis writes “for over a hundred years the members of the Moravian Church all shared in the ‘hourly intercession.’ At home and abroad, on land and sea, this prayer watch ascended unceasingly to the Lord.” They held the conviction that just as the sacred fire was never permitted to go out on the altar (Leviticus 6:13); so too the intercession of His saints should incessantly rise up to him
May we been inspired by this tremendous example of persistent prayer, and the remarkable impact it has on Christianity on not just one, but two continents!
Rev. Dr Jeremy-Joe Tan
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