The Kind of People That Pray

What kind of people commit to non-stop prayer for over a hundred years? What kind of people seek God’s protection over their community, even in the middle of the night?

If you are picturing spiritual giants who arrived at some higher level of piety, you’d be wrong. If you’re imagining people who are so wealthy or bored they just don’t know what else to do, you’d be very wrong. If you’re imagining any type of person that is quite different from you, I think you’d be wrong again. 

The story I’d like to tell you is a simple, historical story full of simple, historical people. There are few statues dedicated to them though they undeniably changed the course of modern Christianity. Few of their leaders are remembered; and yet, you might be able to recognize that even today their voices are being heard.

If you’ve been around Gateway House of Prayer long enough, you’ve probably heard a reference or two to the Moravian prayer and mission movement that started in the eighteenth century. The cliff notes version is that a group of religious refugees built a settlement in Germany at the invitation of a remarkable young man, Count Nicolaus Zinzendorf. They endeavored to live in deep harmony. However, tensions began to mount and disagreements over worship services and more started to brew. In this perfect social storm, a wonderful thing happened: God visited his people. He responded to their repentance and poured the Holy Spirit out at a communion service. They would never be the same.

Because they recognized the plot of the enemy to sow discord and animosity, they committed to a non-stop prayer chain. Men and women took “watches”-- similar to the idea of watch men who would call out the hours during the night and be on the lookout for suspicious activity. Instead of hearing, “One o’clock and all is calm!” at Herrnhut, the Moravian settlement, you might have heard someone singing a hymn such as “The Savior’s' Blood and Righteousness”, by Zinzendorf:

“The Savior’s blood and righteous

My beauty is, my glorious dress;

Thus well arrayed, I need not fear,

When in His presence I appear.”

This prayer chain lasted over a hundred years! Why? It’s clear that the community recognized the true threat against them was not simply wolves or thieves or angry emperors. The heart and soul of Christianity has been familial love since its inception. Persecution or external suffering cannot steal that kind of love, in fact, it usually increases it. But hatred, fear, and tribalism, the demons who provoked Cain to murder Abel, these are the enemies that must be destroyed. 

And so the Moravians prayed and sang. Day and night. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, every day. From my understanding, they did not do this to gain God’s attention or have another revival or launch a mission’s movement. The motive was simply to guard against the enemy and invite the will and kingdom of God to be done in Herrnhut. The non-stop prayer meeting was a response to the outpouring of the Spirit, not a pleading for it.

What happened next was extraordinary. Perhaps, if we read our Bibles carefully, we wouldn’t be surprised. Out of this tiny community of three hundred or so refugees, a movement of deep compassion and commitment to reaching the lost was born. Men sold themselves into slavery in order to reach brothers and sisters they had never met on plantations in the Caribbean.​​

As Zinzendorf said, “I have but one passion - it is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ."

Their missionary exploits deserve an entire article. Instead of sharing more about that here, I want to highlight something less often talked about: The Moravians were a prophetic sign to existing Christian communities. The leader of the Methodist movement, John Wesley, was forever marked by his encounter in the middle of the Atlantic with Moravian missionaries. Zinzendorf became one of the first great voices of ecumenism. His longing for unity within the Church forever shaped Christianity. In the aftermath of one of the darkest periods of Christendom, when Christians imprisoned and killed each other in the name of serving the Crucified King, the bright light of the Moravians gave a different witness. This witness is best seen in their often quoted motto: “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things love". 

What I find so fascinating about this story isn’t just the incredible impact of a praying community. It’s more the fact that the people who chose God were the people who needed Him and knew it. They didn’t pray because they were supposed to but because they were allowed to. Their story isn’t so much one of religious devotion but of liberation. Instead of public praying and singing being reserved for clergy, the Moravian leaders empowered everyone in their community to be a part of this vital practice.

I think that speaks to all of us. Anyone seeking true connection with God through prayer and worship: remember the story of these humble men and women. Don’t count yourself out. Don’t seek God for some other reason than because you need him, and others need Him, and for some crazy reason we’re all invited into the story He’s writing. 

Prayer, the way Jesus taught it, is not the silver bullet of the self-improvers or the guilty conscience or the confident cleric. It’s the language of a humble child. Someone who recognizes that most of life is outside of their control. Someone who is honest. Remember our Rabbi’s words: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3 NIV)

We want to create a space for that kind of pray-ers at Gateway. No matter who you think you are or where you might be coming from, if you want to join us in inviting God’s kingdom to come into us and our region, you’re welcome. The prayer room is open to the public from 4am - 11pm. If you want to come during the night, please reach out and let us know who you are. Our team of over a hundred volunteers have signed up to pray throughout the day and night and are more than willing to pray for you. If you’d like to join the team, again, please reach out! 

We’re not doing this to be cool or trendy– trust me, the motivations die pretty quickly at 3 am. Our heart is to follow the well worn path of people like the Moravians. We recognize our need for God’s Presence and our calling to pray. What would happen if you and I became the kind of people that pray?

Written by Tim Ornelas, Assistant Director. Thank you for reading!