Moravians - Centered in Christ

There was a time when the group of people history has called the “Moravians,” solely lived for Christ. Everything they did was done for the purpose that all would depend upon Christ.  

Before getting into the practicals of this, I want to say that it is what is behind the practicals that matters, much more than what is seen.

Nonetheless, from what was unseen and desired was born a response that for a season of time brought tremendous results.  

So in talking of these things, let’s remember why things were done the way they were, rather than what was done. Again the reason these things were done was for simple devotion to Christ.  

A lot of what is remembered about the Moravians was the well publicized period of 100 years that they unceasingly prayed and went in many places of the world spreading the gospel. What is less well-known is their emphasis upon spiritual growth concerning the body of believers; especially intimacy with Christ.  

One of the ways that they encouraged this to happen was to establish what they called, “choirs.”

Choirs were people of the same gender, age group, and marital status. They would live together communally. This happened as early as 18 months old, all the way to a time when people were widowed.  

All aspects of a person’s life took place within these arrangements. For example, when a child was approximately 18 months old, they were put within a choir of all the children of similar ages, until the age of 4. At that time they were separated until marriage from the opposite sex, as far as living arrangements and work was concerned.  

There was a series of these choirs throughout their lives. At around 12 they would go into another choir of older children of the same gender. Then at around 20 they would go into single brothers and single sisters’ choirs. If and when they married they would be in the choir of those who were married. When one was widowed they would be in the choir of those who were widowed. If they were remarried they would go back into the choir of those who were married.

The major reason this was done was to encourage intimate union with Christ.  
The practical reason was that those in the same age groups, gender, and life circumstances, would be in similar spiritual junctures. Thus they could support and encourage one another in their journey.  

Another very important reason for this was to deemphasize blood ties so that fellowship with Christ was first in their lives. The history of this practical outworking was that when there was counsel sought, the various brethren would direct them to Christ, not to themselves.  

The overall separation of genders was also for the sole purpose that there would be a total dependency upon Christ rather than a soulish dependency upon another human being.  

This doesn’t mean that they didn’t live close together; they did. They simply lived in different lodgings and worked separately, with differing responsibilities.  

The reason I mentioned at the beginning of the article concerning why these things were done is what’s important. Someone could easily copy these things and get terrible results. The point that was made was that they saw the most important thing in life: the simple devotion to Christ. Everything else was to pale in comparison to that. The practical steps they took were in response to that understanding.  

We need to center into the eternal aspect of these things, while looking to see if some of the practical can apply for us today.