Count Zinzendorf is probably a name you’re not overly familiar with, although if you’ve ever read anything about John Wesley his name may ring a bell. In Phil Anderson’s The Lord of the Ring: A Journey in search of Count Zinzendorf we learn of how Zinzendorf was a contemporary of Wesley and Zinzendorf’s Moravian movement had a profound impact on him,  the meetings at Fetter Lane where Wesley’s ‘heart was strangely warmed’ had been started by Moravians.

Zinzendorf’s Order of the Mustard Seed and the Herrnhut community he founded and led and the missionary impact throughout the world is quite staggering. The Moravians had an impact on Wesley and Whitefield, William Carey and scores of missionary societies. William Wilberforce turned to the Moravians for advice in his battle against the slave trade and scores of missionaries were sent throughout the world to share the Gospel to unreached people groups.

Zinzendorf was an aristocrat and used his position to network in the highest reaches of society, his order of the mustard seed counted kings, governors and archbishops as members and it functioned almost as a secret society but it’s aims were laudable;  to be true to Christ, to be kind to all people and to send the gospel to the world.

This readable and engaging book is both a biography of Zinzendorf and a personal travelogue as the author and a friend fly to Herrnhut for a weekend to engage in what they saw as the historical origins of the 24/7 prayer movement. Anderson is clearly a fan of Zinzendorf and has been personally inspired by his example so while he doesn’t ignore the more controversial elements of Zinzendorf’s career (of which there were several), a few excuses are made for him. Having said that this little book makes for enjoyable reading and fill you in on a highly influential but not well known church leader.