Moravian Moment # 27
15th July, 2007
What Do Moravians Belief?
Every religious movement has some sort of belief system. The belief system is the central ground around which everything else revolves. Without this central belief system, things would fall apart, and everyone would do what he or she feels like. It is like the compass for the religious movement.
Moravians believe there is nothing that need separate all those who truly love Jesus Christ and accept Him as Lord. This is not to turn a blind eye to the differences in style and emphasis on the many traditions that make up Christ’s Church but to set those differences in perspective. The Moravian Church has adopted the ancient saying:
“In essentials, Unity; in non-essentials, Liberty; in all things, Charity.”
The challenge the Church faces is to identify and enumerate those things that it considers essential, so that every member of the Church can articulate them wherever he or she goes. In the Moravian Church world wide, everyone should be in a position, when he or she is asked about the essentials, to articulate them with conviction. It should not be left to each member to decide what is essential or not, remembering that the bible is our guide at all times.
As the name Unitas Fratrum indicates, the Moravian Church was from its inception a unity of brothers and sisters attempting to live together in fellowship through fellowship with Christ. In the Renewed Church, under the influence of Count Zinzendorf, emphasis was placed on a “heart relationship with Christ”. Conduct was accorded greater significance than Creed, as faith is not dependent on intellectual ability, or on complex theological statements but on simple trust. As Moravians who ought to be children of God, alcohol and cigarettes ought Not to be part of our diet. Obscene language, gambling and any form of prostitution should be abhorred by us. There are many who uphold the man made traditions, but they bring shame on the name of Jesus by their lifestyle of rum, cigarettes, obscenity, gambling, prostitution and the like. The centrality of Moravian belief is expressed in the Church Order of the Unitas Fratrum 1995:
“The Triune God as revealed in the Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testaments is the only source of our life and salvation; and this scripture is the sole standard of the doctrine and faith of the Unitas Fratrum and therefore shapes our life. The Unitas Fratrum recognizes the Word of the Cross as the centre of Holy Scripture and of all preaching of the Gospel, and it sees its primary mission and its reason for being, to consist in bearing witness to this Joyful message”.
In light of the divine grace, we recognize ourselves to be a Church of sinners saved by grace. We therefore require forgiveness daily, and live only through the mercy of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. He redeems us from isolation and unites us into a living Church of Jesus Christ. We must therefore live as children of the light.
