Chap­ter III — The First Year in Geor­gia marks a time of intense labor and hope­ful ambi­tion for the new­ly arrived Mora­vians. Span­gen­berg, along­side his fel­low Brethren, was filled with a deep sense of pur­pose and grat­i­tude as they set to work con­struct­ing their new set­tle­ment. Each day was met with the same spir­it of deter­mi­na­tion, their hands mov­ing swift­ly to com­plete the com­mu­nal house that would shel­ter them through their first uncer­tain months. Tim­ber was gath­ered, nails were pound­ed, and plans were drawn with both faith and prac­ti­cal­i­ty guid­ing every deci­sion. Their shared belief in divine pro­vi­sion bol­stered their spir­its, even as the Geor­gia heat bore down and the tasks mount­ed.

Progress came steadi­ly, thanks to the uni­ty and coop­er­a­tion among the group. The con­struc­tion became more than a build­ing project—it was a sym­bol of their resolve to live dif­fer­ent­ly, gov­erned by peace, humil­i­ty, and broth­er­hood. As the walls of the house rose, so too did their con­fi­dence that this place could become a refuge of faith and fel­low­ship. Yet, not all was easy. The chal­lenges of unfa­mil­iar cli­mate, sick­ness, and cul­tur­al dif­fer­ences with neigh­bor­ing set­tlers made clear that the jour­ney would require endurance. Nev­er­the­less, they wel­comed their arriv­ing Brethren with open arms, eager to strength­en their num­bers and build a last­ing wit­ness in the New World.

The Mora­vians didn’t come to Geor­gia sim­ply to survive—they came to live out their faith in vis­i­ble, prac­ti­cal ways. Each morn­ing began with prayer and song, and then the com­mu­ni­ty turned to their var­i­ous duties: tend­ing gar­dens, craft­ing tools, and engag­ing in trade. Efforts were also made to learn local lan­guages, espe­cial­ly for those prepar­ing to engage in mis­sion­ary work among the Native Amer­i­can tribes. The set­tlers believed that through ser­vice and kind­ness, they could demon­strate the love of Christ more pow­er­ful­ly than words alone. This year became their train­ing ground, not only for skills of sur­vival but for the shap­ing of char­ac­ter through com­mu­nal life and spir­i­tu­al dis­ci­pline.

As days turned into weeks, their health and strength were test­ed. New ill­ness­es emerged, like­ly from both the damp envi­ron­ment and expo­sure to unfa­mil­iar pathogens. Some were con­fined to their beds, cared for by oth­ers with patience and prayer. Still, no one was aban­doned, and no work was left undone for long. Their mot­to, “In essen­tials, uni­ty; in non-essen­tials, lib­er­ty; in all things, love,” was not just spoken—it was lived. The bonds formed dur­ing these tri­als became the back­bone of their spir­i­tu­al iden­ti­ty in Geor­gia.

In addi­tion to phys­i­cal tri­als, spir­i­tu­al ten­sions occa­sion­al­ly sur­faced. Dif­fer­ing inter­pre­ta­tions of doc­trine, espe­cial­ly around how to inte­grate with the larg­er Protes­tant com­mu­ni­ty, sparked qui­et debates. Span­gen­berg nav­i­gat­ed these with humil­i­ty, seek­ing peace with­out com­pro­mis­ing the mission’s core val­ues. He wrote let­ters back to Her­rn­hut detail­ing their progress and request­ing guid­ance, rein­forc­ing the idea that their com­mu­ni­ty, though sep­a­rat­ed by oceans, was still part of a larg­er whole. The humil­i­ty with which they approached both con­flict and coop­er­a­tion helped to define the tone of their min­istry in the colony.

The Mora­vians also began their out­reach efforts beyond their own group. They forged respect­ful rela­tion­ships with local Indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties, not with the aim of con­trol but of shared under­stand­ing and mutu­al trust. Ear­ly inter­ac­tions were built on lis­ten­ing and help­ing, rather than preach­ing first. This approach, though slow, laid a foun­da­tion for longer-term trust, dis­tin­guish­ing the Mora­vians from many oth­er set­tlers of the time. In every action, they sought to reflect peace and com­pas­sion, believ­ing these to be more effec­tive than argu­ment or pow­er.

Despite the many hard­ships, their first year in Geor­gia was con­sid­ered a spir­i­tu­al vic­to­ry. Though their num­bers were small and their exter­nal influ­ence lim­it­ed, the inter­nal strength of the com­mu­ni­ty flour­ished. It was clear that their foun­da­tion had been laid not only in brick and tim­ber but in faith and fel­low­ship. This chap­ter in their his­to­ry remains a tes­ta­ment to what can be accom­plished when con­vic­tion, coop­er­a­tion, and courage are met with com­pas­sion. As the year drew to a close, the Mora­vians looked not to what they had endured, but to what still might be achieved through God’s lead­ing.