COUNT NIKOLAUS LUDWIG VON ZINZENDORF (The Founder of The Moravian Community) (Part 8)

A Divine Encounter at the Danish Coronation

In 1731, Zinzendorf and Watteville were invited to the Danish court to celebrate the crowning of Christian VI as king of Denmark. The Danish royal family was still sending Christian missionaries throughout its colonies. This was a time when church and state worked nicely together. The state valued the gospel but didn’t force it.

The Cry from the West Indies

At the coronation, Zinzendorf met Antonius Ulrich, a former slave from the island of St. Thomas in the West Indies. Ulrich had become a Christian while on board a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean, but he expressed great remorse that his fellow slaves in St. Thomas had no way of hearing about Christ.

“If only some missionaries would come,” Ulrich mourned. “Many an evening have I sat on the shore and sighed my soul toward Christian Europe; and I have a brother and sister in bondage who long to know the living God.”

A Renewed Passion for World Missions

Zinzendorf was shocked that the Christian plantation owners in St. Thomas did not openly share the gospel of salvation with their native slaves. With the same excitement he had when meeting the first missionary fifteen years earlier, Ludwig rushed back to the Moravian leadership with a renewed passion for foreign missionary work.

The Call of Leonard Dober

That night, June 23, 1731, Leonard Dober lay in bed in the single men’s house, tossing and turning until dawn. Before him loomed the African slaves of the West Indies, held captive and without hope in Christ. “Here am I; send me” was the cry of his heart. To be continued…

Tale Tuesday 111

Date:  7th January , 2024
Title: :  COUNT NIKOLAUS LUDWIG VON ZINZENDORF (The Founder of The Moravian Community) (Part 8)
Source:  God’s generals- The Missionaries
Author: Roberts Liardon