Makes the heart sad - the "second and third generation problem"

The Single Brother's House - Salem

As years come and go one notes the rise of expulsions from Moravian communities in the Colonies and in Europe. What's up?

As one watches the generations pass by one can accurately notice that the congregational rules and code of conduct seem to be undermined - quietly or not so quietly challenged. 

Elizabeth Summer a student of the early Moravian communities has written on this generational decline. She calls it the "second generation problem." In short the second generation and succeeding generations lose the vision that was the glue of the communities. 

In Salem and elsewhere for Moravians trouble reveals itself especially among the single brothers. Members of the Single Brother's Choir absent themselves from the morning devotions increasingly. Disruption is more frequent. The brothers were arranging secret meetings with the Single Sisters and women outside the community - and more.

The disciplined life of the first generation Moravians was being impaired from without and within. Thus the unhappy spectacle of the growth of expulsions.

-- Adapted from, "Speaking to Body and Soul - Instructions for the Moravian Choir Helpers, 1785 - 1786.

To read more about the "Second and Third" generation problem I offer this excellent article by Dennis Bratcher - (click on title below)

The Third Generation:Nehemiah and The Question of Identity