The beginning of the church's work in North America is usually given as 1740, when Bishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg sent Christian Henry Rauch to New York City on a mission to preach and convert native peoples.
Eager to learn more, the Mahican chiefs Tschoop and Shabash invited Rauch to visit their village (in present-day Duchess County) to teach them. In September 1740, they led him to Shekomeko, where he established a Moravian mission. The two Indian chiefs converted to the Christian faith.
By summer 1742, Shekomeko was established as the first native Christian congregation in the present-day United States. —Borrowed from the Moravian Church in North America website.
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