Count Zinzendorf sounds like a name from a scary late night movie and the Moravian refugees that settled on his castle property in Eastern Germany don’t sound like they would have much significance in world history. Yet it was there, at the place called Herrnhut, that the modern mission movement began. The Moravians, who had been influenced by Martin Luther’s teaching, began meeting with Count Zinzendorf and he called them to unity and spiritual life.

They began a prayer movement that was truly a work of the Lord. They began praying every hour of every day and continued praying 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for 100 years. They were known for their devotional worship times and great number of songs.

Their missions began sixty years before William Carey set out for India. It was from this little community that 2158 people went out as missionaries. They went to Greenland, St. Thomas, Artic peoples, Algiers, Ceylon, Sri Lanka, China, Persia, South America, and America.

 The above really cause them to stand out, but Colin Grant highlights several other characteristics of the Moravians.  
1. The Missionary obedience of the Moravian was essentially glad and spontaneous, the response of a health organism to the law of its life.
2. This surging zeal had as its prime motivation a deep, on going passion and love for Christ, something that found expression in the life of Zinzendorf himself.
3. They faced the most incredible of difficulties and dangers with remarkable courage. They accepted hardships as a part of the identification with the people to whom the Lord had called them.
4. Many Moravian missionaries showed a tenacity of purpose that was of a very high order.