COUNT NIKOLAUS LUDWIG VON ZINZENDORF (The Founder of The Moravian Community) (Part 13)

Different Gifts, Same Spirit

Most leaders of denominations and churches want everyone around them to have the same gift and anointing that they do: “Speak like me; minister like me; walk like me.” But it is the Spirit that is to be the same; there are different gifts. When the head of a church demands conformity of gifting from his followers, the church will stay small because there is beauty and growth in the different gifts in the body of Christ under the same Lord. Christians must have a relationship with Jesus Christ and good sound doctrine, but their gifting can still be different.

Sometimes, people who need the freedom to be who they are in Christ will leave a church or ministry because they are being constrained; an insecure leader will call them rebels. But they are moving in the same Spirit. The difference, as in Zinzendorf’s life, is in their gifting and anointing.

Exiled – No Problem

The Christian community at Herrnhut was thriving. Dozens of missionaries had been sent out; more were training to go. Satan was angry. How could the enemy undermine the work of Herrnhut and stop this move of God? Attack its founder. Slanderous statements and half-truths about Zinzendorf began circulating through the courts of Europe.

To make matters worse, the elector of Saxony, Augustus the Strong, had passed away. His son, August III, was suspicious of Ludwig and his “zealous” dedication to Christ, and listened to the lies of jealous court members. On March 20, 1736, the new Saxon king sent forth an edict: “Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf is permanently exiled from the kingdom of Saxony, including the village of Herrnhut!” Ludwig, who was traveling in Holland with his family, did not hear the news until one month later. Fortunately, a special permit from the new court allowed the Moravian Brethren to remain in the community they had lovingly built, even though their leader had been banished.

Called to the World, Not a Place

As always, Zinzendorf’s response reflected his belief that God was the One who established the course for his life. “I could not have come to Herrnhut, irrespective of this, for the next ten years; for it is time to gather the pilgrim church and preach the Savior to the world….That place becomes our home where I can accomplish the most for the Savior at the time.”

Ludwig was determined that his exile would not stop the mission work of Christ. “I am destined by the Lord to proclaim the message of the death and blood of Jesus, not with human ingenuity, but with divine power, unmindful of personal consequences to myself.”

To be continued…

Tale Tuesday 116

Date:  11th February, 2024
Title: :  COUNT NIKOLAUS LUDWIG VON ZINZENDORF (The Founder of The Moravian Community) (Part 13)
Source:  God’s generals- The Missionaries
Author: Roberts Liardon