With roots in 1458, the Moravian Church is a product of the Bohemian Reformation, and one of the oldest Protestant denominations in the world.

The Moravian Church was part of the Hussite movement attributed to Jan Hus, who objected to some of the doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church. He believed that the liturgy should be celebrated in a language understood by the people, that lay people should receive both the bread and the wine during communion, and that priests should be allowed to marry. He also disagreed with the practice of indulgences and the idea of purgatory.

In the 1450s, Gregory the Patriarch became dissatisfied with the Hussite church and organized the Bohemian Brethren, also known as the Unity of the Brethren, in 1457. The group emphasized a strict observance of the Sermon on the Mount, including non-resistance, a prohibition on oaths, and the discouragement of accumulating wealth. They held themselves as separate from the Hussites who did not hold to these teachings.

Ordained through the Waldensians in 1467, they rebelled against the Roman Catholic Church fifty years before Martin Luther.

During the early 17th century, the Moravian Church was nearly exterminated when the Catholic Hapsburgs came to power in Bohemia. The Brethren were forced to operated clandestinely, executed, or expelled from the country.

Although an underground remnant of Bohemian Brethren survived in northern Bohemia, the majority were dispersed across Northern Europe, and a religious community of Brethren found refuge in Saxony, in what is now eastern Germany.

From Saxony, they carried out organized missions work, beginning with the slaves on St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, where the Moravians were the first to ordain women of African descent as pastors and evangelists.

In the United States, they found success among the Native Americans in Ohio, but their work was almost entirely destroyed by a massacre of Moravian Indians by American militia.

More lasting missions were carried out in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. During the 19th century, the church sponsored work among Scandinavian and German immigrants in the Midwest.

They became well established in Central America and the Caribbean, much of which has recently spread to the United States through Moravian immigrants.

Structurally, the Moravian Church operates as one body, which is divided into provinces. In North America, its provinces are the Northern, Southern, and Alaska provinces. Each province is administered by a provincial synod, which meets once every four years to organize the missionary, educational, and publishing work of the denomination. In some parts of the world, the Moravian Church has experiences splits, usually stemming from charismatic revivals, but both sides have remained connected to the international church.

The Moravian Church holds that there is one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Rebaptism is not permitted. Children born to members of the church are baptized as infants commonly, and baptism may take the form of pouring, sprinkling, or immersion. The church teaches that the body and blood of Christ are present during communion, but individuals are allowed to hold other interpretations.

The Moravian Church accepts several declarations and creeds, including the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, the first twenty-one articles of the Augsburg Confession, the Confession of the Unity of the Bohemian Brethren, the Barmen Confession, the Small Catechism of Martin Luther, the Synod of Berne, the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England, and the Heidelberg Catechism.

In various parts of the world, the Moravian Church draws on a variety of traditions that may have been discarded in other areas. In many places, the Moravians observe the Lovefeast, which is a communal meal shared among members. Most congregations use older, traditional music in worship. Older congregations may continue the tradition of burial in God's Acre, a graveyard with only flat headstones that are organized by gender, age, and marital status rather than by family.

Today, the Moravian Church is strongest in Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

The central point of this category is the Moravian Church. Appropriate sites may include denominational sites, including its districts, provinces, boards, and associated organizations and corporations. Sites featuring prominent Moravians may also be listed here. Websites representing local congregations or churches should be submitted to the Local & Global category representing the geographical location of the church, however.

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