The Moravian Church Northern Province Celebrates 550th Anniversary with Sold Out A Prairie Home Companion Event

March 1, 2007 marked the 550th anniversary of the founding of the Unitas Fratrum, which is known as the worldwide Moravian Church, the oldest Protestant denomination. In honor of the 550th milestone, the Moravian Church Northern Province, which has churches in the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Ontario and Alberta Canada, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin, sponsored the A Prairie Home Companion radio show the weekend of December 21 & 22, 2007. The event was held for a capacity crowd both nights at the Zoellner Arts Center on the campus of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Garrison Keillor, leader of A Prairie Home Companion and well-known story teller with his intriguing tales from Lake Wobegon, came to Bethlehem in November 2006 and decided then that the Christmas City was the perfect place to bring the Christmas broadcast of his popular public radio show. Quickly selling out the show that would be aired live across the nation on December 22, Zoellner and Keillor added a preview show on December 21, 2007. That show sold out immediately as well, showing the great appeal this show has beyond the mid-states where it originated.

The Northern Province of the Moravian Church added to the event with an after event reception of Moravian sugar cake, well known among the Moravians as a traditional treat, to be shared with all attendees of event. The Central Moravian Choir led by Rebecca Kleintop Owens not only sang during both shows but was an integral part of many of the skits providing background vocals and noises that added to the live broadcast for those listening to the radio show on Saturday night. Moravian touches were throughout the evening from the 54-inch Moravian Star hanging center stage to the young boy singing the traditional Christmas hymn “Morning Star, O Cheering Sight” and holding his beeswax candle trimmed in traditional red paper frills. Keillor carefully wove Bethlehem, the Christmas city, Moravians in general, Martin guitars from Nazareth, and the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, into the two hour show. The show ended appropriately for the season with the performers and audience singing “Silent Night” in alternating English and German.

Keillor has been the host of A Prairie Home Companion (APHC) for more than three decades. In addition to APHC, he is the author of many books as well as a writer of poetry and is featured daily on a literary radio series, The Writer’s Almanac. He has a weekly op-ed column which appears in newspapers coast to coast.

The Rev. David L. Wickmann, President of the Moravian Church Northern Province, said, “it was an honor for the Moravian Church to be such a large part of the A Prairie Home Companion show held in Bethlehem. Our strength as a denomination comes from our relationships with one another as a community of faith and it was a joy to share that with the rest of the nation through singing and stories on Keillor’s radio show. We look forward as a denomination to greater understanding of who we are in the faith landscape of the United States and Canada and continued growth as we carry on our ministry to and with others.”

Known historically as a mission-church with the goal of spreading the word of Christ rather than creating formal congregations, the Moravian church today seeks to revitalize its mission focus and to reclaim the Great Commission of, “Jesus said: Go ye into all the world and make disciples of all nations and I will be with you always even unto the end of the earth.”

For over five centuries the Moravian Church has proclaimed the gospel in all parts of the world. Its influence has far exceeded its numbers as it has cooperated with Christians on every continent and has been a visible part of the Body of Christ, the Church. Proud of its heritage and firm in its faith, the Moravian Church ministers to the needs of people wherever they are.

ORGANIZED IN 1457

The Moravian Church, or Unitas Fratrum (Unity of Brethren), as it has been officially known since 1457, arose as followers of John Hus gathered in the village of Kunvald, about 100 miles east of Prague, in eastern Bohemia, and organized the church. This was 60 years before Martin Luther began his reformation and 100 years before the establishment of the Anglican Church. By 1467 the Moravian Church had established its own ministry.

TO AMERICA IN 1735

After an unsuccessful attempt to establish a Moravian settlement in Georgia (1735-1740), the Moravians settled in Pennsylvania on the estate of George Whitefield. Moravian settlers purchased 500 acres to establish the settlement of Bethlehem in 1741. Soon they bought the 5,000 acres of the Barony of Nazareth from Whitefield's manager, and the two communities of Bethlehem and Nazareth became closely linked in their agricultural and industrial economy. Other settlement congregations were established in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. All were considered frontier centers for the spread of the gospel, particularly in mission to the Native Americans.

Bishop Augustus Spangenberg led a party to survey a 100,000 acre tract of land in North Carolina, which came to be known as Wachau after an Austrian estate of Count Zinzendorf. The name, later anglicized to Wachovia, became the center of growth for the church in that region. Bethabara, Bethania, and Salem (now Winston-Salem) were the first Moravian settlements in North Carolina.

Bethlehem in Pennsylvania and Winston-Salem in North Carolina became the headquarters of the two provinces (North and South), which developed as the Moravian Church in North America became established as an autonomous church body after the Unity Synod of 1848. The church spread out from the geographical centers of Bethlehem and Winston-Salem, following German emigrants to the Midwest. At the end of the nineteenth century they responded to the spiritual needs of Moravian refugees of German ancestry who were fleeing to western Canada because of persecution in Eastern Europe. Such wide geographical spread caused the Northern Province to be divided into Eastern, Western, and Canadian Districts.

After World War II, strong pushes for church extension took the Northern Province to Southern California (where only an Indian mission had existed since 1890) as well as to some Eastern, Midwestern, and Canadian sites. The Southern Province added numerous churches in the Winston-Salem area, throughout North Carolina and extended its outreach to Florida and to Georgia. In North America, the Moravian Church has congregations in 16 states, the District of Columbia, and in two Provinces of Canada. These North American provinces, including Alaska and Labrador, join 15 other provinces that make up the International Moravian Church consisting of nearly 800,000 members across the globe.