Western District Moravian Leaders Speak Out To Honor 550th Anniversary

By Kathryn Scepanski, Member of the Western District 550th Anniversary Celebration Committee

Ecumenicist Michael Kinnamon told Moravians at a synod gathering that the Moravian Church not only has a great deal to celebrate, but also if the church takes these things for granted, it shouldn’t.

“In an ‘either-or’ era,” Kinnamon said, “Moravians (at least in my experience) have been a ‘both-and’ people. Both evangelical and ecumenical; both focused on service in the world and focused on intense fellowship in the community of faith. And this refusal to divide what surely belongs together is a gift of the Spirit, a witness of great importance to the church universal.”

As the Moravian Church celebrates its 550th anniversary on March 1, 2007, several church leaders who reside in the Western District of the Moravian Church of North America have decided now is a good time to speak about aspects of the Protestant denomination’s past and present they each believe should be more fully shared.

The Rev. Betsy Miller of Lake Mills, Wisconsin, is the director of the Western District Office of Congregational Leadership and Resources for the 37 congregations in the Western District. She wants people to know that Moravians were not simply the first organized Protestant missionaries, but also continue to be a powerful missionary presence in the world today.

“While leaders in the ecumenical circles celebrate the ongoing contributions of Moravians in the world, a lot of people today don’t know that Moravians still exist,” she said.

Miller wishes more people knew that the denomination continues to welcome all people from wherever they are on their faith journey.

“I have not forgotten Kinnamon’s description of us as ‘a both/and church in an either/or world,’” Miller recalled. “We do somehow manage to be evangelical and ecumenical, conservative and liberal. As Moravians, we are at our best when we stop trying to be like everybody else and be who God called us to be in the world.”

The president of the Western District adds that it is God’s concern for all people that has driven the Moravian Church when it has been at its best. The Rev. Jim Hicks is convinced the love the Moravian Church embodies bears a timely message for today.

“Respecting the dignity and worth of each precious soul on this small planet can set a powerful example in the midst of the many religious, social, political, and economic agendas that tend to tear people down, rather than build them up today,” Hicks said. “Even an old custom like addressing each other as ‘sister’ or ‘brother’ affirms that we are neighbors. A world that is pre-occupied with Super Stars, being right and economic wealth is sorely in need of a better understanding of what being neighbors means.”

Hicks cites a portion of a prayer from the church litany in the Moravian Book of Worship to illustrate his point:

We pray for ourselves and for all Christians, for the people of Israel and Islam, who are close to us in heritage and faith; and for persons of every religion, that we all may come to a fuller knowledge of your truth and love.

“We strive to be concerned for the well-being of even those who are different from ourselves. We have centuries of experience in doing just that ….”

Bishop Paul Graf of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, said the Moravian Church has historically met people where they are, rather than force them through theological, doctrinal, and cultural hoops. Graf offered the methodology of early Moravian missionaries Leonard Dober and David Nitschmann who traveled to the Virgin Islands in 1732 as an example. “They soon learned that if they were to impact the slaves with the Gospel, they needed to become one of them and be one with them.”

“People today don’t always come to us in the neat little packages to which we are accustomed. In our most vital years, we exhibited a higher degree of meeting people where they’re at.”

What Graf wants people to know about his denomination today is “how very hard we work to stay at the table with one another, regardless of theological, doctrinal, cultural, or gender disputes.” He said divisiveness has been a challenge in recent years to Christian churches throughout the country.

“Today, we have to work harder to stay at the table with each other in a way that exemplifies more than civility. It should be nothing less than the fullness of love described in 1 Corinthians 13. We miss the high mark of Christ’s calling when we allow ourselves to get sidetracked into thinking that ‘theological correctness’ is of ultimate importance.”

Bishop Kay Ward of Rudolph, Wisconsin, (the first woman to be elected a bishop in the worldwide Moravian Unity) said she longs to see the general public more aware of the historical significance of Comenius and other Moravian forefathers. “We need to figure out a way to share the fact that we’ve been in this business a very long time without having to say we came before somebody else, which seems to come across the wrong way.”

An aspect of today’s church she would like to see more fully shared with others is the “precious connectedness” she knows exists between the 19 provinces of the world-wide Moravian Church. “This helps provide a bit of directive for us in our Western way of seeing things,” she said. “Our members in other provinces can raise questions we have to wrestle with when they question our wealth or the way we think. We have real relationships with these people as our brothers and sisters. Because we are a smaller denomination, we get closer to each other. I see this sense of connectedness growing among our young people who have a rising sense of mission and are able to experience that connectedness with other Moravians more often as travel becomes easier.”

The oldest bishop in the Western District of the Moravian Church is Milo Loppnow of Watertown, Wisconsin. He would like to see the rich history of hymnody of the Moravian Church shared more fully. “I wonder if we are doing as much as we can with our rich chorales,” he said. “Some prefer the praise music of today, but I don’t find the same content there as in the great hymns of our church. I think we have fallen prey to the praise music view. Some of our pastors might rebuff me on that. They’d say ‘Milo, you’re dreaming.’ Maybe I am.”

Yet even the strength of his own music preferences does not detract from his allegiance to the motto he feels the Moravian Church needs to share with others at this point in time. “We need to get back to the motto (in essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; and in all things, love.) That ought to be our sermon every week. It’s a gift we have to share with the rest of the world and we aren’t using it as often as we should.”

Bishop Hopeton Clennon of Downey, California, said the Moravian Church has historically seen its mission as working among people in less fortunate communities. “We used our resources to improve the conditions of individuals and families very different from ourselves.”

The part of the Moravian way he would like to see shared outside the walls of the denomination is the emphasis on simplicity and fellowship.

“We have a tendency to accept people where they are, sit among them and share the love of Christ. It’s in the midst of fellowship and growing in faith that we become the best we can be. In the Moravian Church we do not look down on or turn our backs on those who are different, but welcome everyone into fellowship and in the context of that community inspire each other to become the best that we can be.”

Ruth Behrend of Watertown, Wisconsin, widow of the late Bishop Wilbur Behrend, knew what her husband would have to say if he were alive today. “He always wished,” she said, “that more people were aware of all the ways our denomination has influenced others over the years – in music, in mission, in education, and in a lot of other things – in spite of our being a small denomination.

“He would have said that the general public today needs to know we are mainstream, and all the ways we cooperate with other denominations.”

The Western District of the Moravian Church of North America will host one of many celebrations of the 550th anniversary of the worldwide church with a conference at the Radison Paper Valley Hotel in Appleton, Wisconsin, March 23-25, 2007. Glenn McDonald, author of The Disciple-Making Church: from Dry Bones to Spiritual Vitality is the featured speaker. Visitors are also expected to step out of Moravian history throughout the conference.

Fact Sheet

The Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) is the Oldest Protestant Denomination.

The Moravian Unity consists of 19 provinces across the globe, including:

The Moravian Church of North America includes: the Southern Province with 67 congregations in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia; the Northern Province which includes the Canadian District, the Eastern District and the Western District.

The Canadian District is in western Canada and consists of eight congregations in Alberta.

The Eastern District has 53 congregations in Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Toronto and Washington, D.C.

The Western District consists of 37 congregations in California, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin.

The Kralitz Bible was translated and published between 1579 and 1593 under the auspices of the Moravian Church, which enabled Czechs to read the Bible in their own language, much like Luther’s translation did for Germans and the King James Version did for English.

The Moravian Daily Texts, a daily devotional guide published since 1731, now appears in 51 languages and dialects. More than 1 million copies of this devotional are published annually in Germany, which far surpasses the 30,000 members of the Moravian Church in all of Europe.