The Joy of Count Zinzendorf

How Singing Led to the Gospel
Being Taken to the Ends of the Earth

*All Nations kindly gives me the chance to indulge myself in several of my passions in the All Nations Book Club. Some of my indulged passions include: the spread of the worship of Jesus, books, history, and fellowship based around meaty discussion. We read a different missionary biography each month, and then we meet to discuss it. It has turned into a real community for the small group of us who meet monthly. So, I thought it might be nice for us to share a summary of what we learn there each month. This is a report on the book “The Lord of the Ring” by Phil Anderson. (To get cheap copies, try going to the Olive Tree App. Otherwise, the book can be hard to get.) If you think you’d like to join our All Nations Book Club, let us know.

“The essence of Christianity does not consist in being pious but in being joyous.” - Count Zinzendorf

Winter is hard for me. The days are too dark for too long. On top of that, it’s the end of the year. This means that we have to do year end evaluations. It’s just not in my nature to ever give myself a passing mark for any given year of my life. I always wish I had done more than I did. I always wish I had been more holy, more loving, more productive. So, December is depressing for me. This December in our All Nations Book Club reading I came across this quote about joy. It stood out to me.

Count Nikolaus Ludwig Von Zinzendorf (1700-1760) has been a hero of mine for a long time. He had a hard time in school when he was young because the other kids didn’t like him. (We can already relate to this guy, right?) However, by the time he was about 15, he and his other teenage friends established the Order of the Mustard Seed. In this order, one agreed to:

1. Be kind to all people

2. Be true to Christ

3. To send the Gospel to the world.

The idea was that members of this order would use their lives and their professions to serve Christ. Among other things, they agreed to be brave and joyful.

When Zinzendorf was 26 or 27, he welcomed a group of refugees to come settle on his land in Herrnhut, Germany. This group of refugees were Protestants that had nearly been wiped out due to severe persecution in modern Czechia and Austria. The problem was that the various refugee groups that settled down on his land didn’t get along.

(Now, that sounds familiar, doesn’t it?)

To try to stop the fighting, Zinzendorf helped the refugees in this new community form a rule of life. The settlement was not a commune, but people did often live in group housing, all worked productively, and all agreed to live simply and give generously so that all would have enough and to finance mission work.

One of their values was that they wouldn’t put out a list of jobs that needed to be fulfilled. Instead, they would see what people the Lord provided and what gifts those people had. Then, they would determine what could and couldn’t be done. If someone died, and left a spot vacant, sometimes that task or spot just disappeared when no new person had that same gifting. (How many of us have tried to fulfill a job that we weren’t made for?)

Spiritual Practices that Lead to Joy

1. Singing:

They were also very fond of singing! The were even organized into “choirs” that would share not only songs but life and Bible study. The mere term “choir” shows the emphasis on music that they had among them. (I find it mildly amusing that their favorite instrument was the trombone, but valves weren’t invented yet and pianos were still a fairly new invention at the time.) They sang at sunrise, they sang before work, they sang after work, they hummed during work. They learned music theory, how to play instruments, and composed worship songs.

2. Praying

They also had a regular practice of praying for people. At one point, they had 1,200 names on their prayer list! Then, one night in 1727, the Holy Spirit fell. They began to pray in shifts that covered the entire 24 hour day in prayer. They kept this up for 100 years. As a part of that practice, they would gather to hear reports from around the world and to learn how to pray for the world. There was time set aside for this! As incredible as that is to me, that’s not the most amazing thing about these folks.

3. Going

The most amazing thing is that they decided to proclaim Jesus to the ends of the earth. At this time, there were no missions sending agencies or any expectation of going to all the people groups of the earth. There were no airplane flights or even towns or stores in some of the places they went.

Truly they seemed to go to the most desperate and the hardest places. Fairly quickly they sent missionaries to the United States, South Africa, Greenland, the Middle East and other places. A brief mental check of geography reveals that those places are about as far from each other as can be.

(This was the mid 1700s??? Wow!)

Although their thinking wasn’t modern (why would it be?), their thinking was much more egalitarian and honoring of local cultures than anyone else at their time. They learned local languages, lived like local peoples, trained locals to be leaders, and declared that all human beings shared the same dignity in Christ - no matter their skin color or background. Many of them died to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth. Zinzendorf gave his entire life fortune to it.

They endured much and had plenty of opportunity to be sad, to be mad, or to just give up. Many people credit the value of prayer for their longevity, but I think we might just as easily credit their value on joy and singing for their longevity. I know for me, singing repels the blues, brings my soul into alignment with the Lord, and enables me to pray and intercede for others again.

4. Declaring

I asked our book club how they maintain joy and they shared with me the things they do. A common refrain was declaring the goodness of the Lord out loud so that our ears can hear what our hearts know to be true. I have been doing this new practice, and it seems to be helping so far. When I am feeling discouraged (often many times a day), I declare out loud that Jesus is good and command my soul to “forget not his benefits.” (Psalm 103:2) How will you pursue joy this year?

Psalm 103

A psalm of David.

Let all that I am praise the Lord;

with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.

Let all that I am praise the Lord;

may I never forget the good things he does for me.

He forgives all my sins

and heals all my diseases.

He redeems me from death

and crowns me with love and tender mercies.

He fills my life with good things.

My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

The Lord gives righteousness

and justice to all who are treated unfairly.

He revealed his character to Moses

and his deeds to the people of Israel.

The Lord is compassionate and merciful,

slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

He will not constantly accuse us,

nor remain angry forever.

He does not punish us for all our sins;

he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.

For his unfailing love toward those who fear him

is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.

He has removed our sins as far from us

as the east is from the west.

The Lord is like a father to his children,

tender and compassionate to those who fear him.

For he knows how weak we are;

he remembers we are only dust.

Our days on earth are like grass;

like wildflowers, we bloom and die.

The wind blows, and we are gone—

as though we had never been here.

But the love of the Lord remains forever

with those who fear him.

His salvation extends to the children’s children

of those who are faithful to his covenant,

of those who obey his commandments!

The Lord has made the heavens his throne;

from there he rules over everything.

Praise the Lord, you angels,

you mighty ones who carry out his plans,

listening for each of his commands.

Yes, praise the Lord, you armies of angels

who serve him and do his will!

Praise the Lord, everything he has created,

everything in all his kingdom.

Let all that I am praise the Lord.

Call to action:

1. Join the All Nations Book Club. Link here.

2. Pursue Joy!

About the author: Dr. Pam Arlund is a Member of the All Nations International Leadership Team, providing leadership in the areas of training, research, and security. She began serving in missions more than twenty years ago as a church planter and Bible translator among an unreached people group of Central Asia. She currently lives in Kansas City with her mom, a cat, and a really great house mate.

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