A Prayer Meeting that Lasted 100 Years

The year was 1727, on the 13th of August a young German aristocrat started a prayer meeting that would last 100 years, uninterrupted 24 hours a day 7 days a week. His name Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf.

He had been deeply impacted by the gospel some years before when he saw a painting depicting the suffering of Christ by Domenico Feti called ‘behold the man’, with an inscription underneath saying ‘this have I suffered for you; now what will you do for me?’. Zinzendorf was so moved by this that he opened up his estate to persecuted Christian Moravian refugees to build a village on his land, but before long doctrinal rivalries took hold between the Moravians and divisions began to take hold.

This is when Zinzendorf started this prayer meeting (which can only be described as epic) with the statement “I have one passion: it is Jesus, Jesus only“.

From this movement of prayer, the small village of Herrnhut (which means “The Lord’s Watchful Care.”), sent out missionaries to spread the gospel to over 33 nations all over the world. Some of these missionaries made a deep and lasting impact on Charles and John Wesley (English revivalists and founders of the Methodist church), when they were sailing to America and caught in a terrible storm, the Moravians were confidently singing songs of praise!

From one movement of prayer, revival was born all over the world. Can we join them in radical uniting prayer?

 

by Ashley Kauffman