About the Moravian Denomination

There are little over one million Moravians worldwide and stand in the mainstream of Protestantism. The Moravians have been members of the World Council of Churches since its inception. They are also active members of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and participants in Christian Churches Together in the USA. In addition, the Northern and Southern Provinces of the Moravian Church are in full communion relationships with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and pending Synod approval, the United Methodist Church.

The Northern Province of the Moravian Church in America, headquartered in Bethlehem, Pa., counts more than 16,000 members in 90 congregations in 13 states in the U.S. and two Canadian provinces. The Southern Province, headquartered in Winston-Salem, N.C., includes over 13,000 members in 55 congregations, which are located primarily throughout the Southeast. Moravian congregations can be found in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Washington DC, along with congregations in Alberta and Ontario, Canada.  The worldwide Moravian Church consists of 19 provinces with more than 1 million members, half of which live in Africa.

The Worldwide Moravian Church is also known as the Moravian Unity. Every four years, a Unity Synod gathers to discuss and implement church practice and doctrine. Some matters are delegated to the Provincial Synods which also occur every four years. Each congregation is responsible for electing delegates to their respective synods.

Each province of the Moravian Church is led by the Provincial Elders’ Conference (PEC). The PEC consists of seven individuals, some pastors and some laypeople. These individuals monitor the status of congregations in the province, including but not limited to the calling of pastors, handling difficult issues that may arise, and overseeing the resources available to local congregations. The Southern Province is blessed to have the Moravian Board of Cooperative Ministries that provides resources for Christian Education, church promotion, and youth programming.

Each congregation is led by a Board of Elders and Board of Trustees. These elected individuals are tasked with the upkeep of the temporal and spiritual matters of the congregation.

As one may see, The Moravian Church runs a conferential style of government. No one person is in charge. This testifies to our belief in the true head of the church, Jesus Christ as our Chief Elder. Under His leadership and direction, we, as a community, can prayerfully and carefully manage the church as best as we can in order to glorify God.

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