The Estate That Became a Movement

In 1722, a twenty-two-year-old German nobleman named Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf offered a corner of his family estate in Saxony as refuge for a small band of persecuted Moravian believers. His plan was modest — provide shelter, build a village, create a safe place to worship. He would construct something for God. God had other ideas entirely. What began as a handful of refugees on Zinzendorf's land at Herrnhut grew into a community that launched a continuous prayer vigil lasting over one hundred years.…