College Hill Moravian Church Website

It is customary for Moravian Christians to begin a new year with the selection of annual ‘Watchwords.’ These watchwords are solitary scripture texts, drawn prayerfully at the beginning of a new year from an offering plate. Individuals are invited to draw personal watchwords, groups may draw watchwords for themselves, and finally, a watchword is drawn for the congregation as a whole.

The custom of watchwords can be traced back over 275 years to the Moravian community in Herrnhut, Saxony . The people of Herrnhut were deeply committed Christians motivated by a heartfelt love for Jesus, the Savior. There was nothing that they desired more than to know and do the Savior’s will. As one means of helping to discern that will, Count Zinzendorf, their leader, introduced the practice of the regular, prayerful drawing of Bible texts—texts that soon became known as Watchwords. Zinzendorf would say that because Christ took a special interest in each of his children, he could be trusted to guide the hand that selected the watchword, and Zinzendorf exhorted the Herrnhut congregation to treat these texts as God’s special message for them.

Watchwords were never intended to be a spiritualized form of ‘magic eight ball’, nor were they intended to substitute for faithful Bible Study, worship, spiritual counsel from others, prayer, and other means of hearing from Jesus. But when added to other spiritual disciplines by people yearning to know and follow the Savior’s will, our Moravian forebears found that watchwords often provided a very personal and meaningful avenue for a timely word from the Lord.

The practice of the selection of Watchwords continues at College Hill Moravian Church , and like our Moravian forebears, we seek to take it seriously. We pray over our watchwords before they are selected. We provide workshops for individuals wishing to explore their personal watchwords. Our Boards are asked to consider their Board watchwords carefully. And each year the congregation’s watchword becomes the focus of a January worship service, and a touch stone throughout the year and beyond.