Unity Prayer Watch
Although the Moravian Church traces its roots back to 1457, the Renewed Moravian Church is considered to have been established in the year of 1727 in Herrnhut, Saxony (modern day Germany). This happened on May 12th of that year when a covenant called the Brotherly Agreement was signed. However, upon hearing news of this signing, Dresden, the capital of Saxony, threatened to dissolve the Herrnhut community. The grounds for the charge: this covenant was a new profession of faith in opposition to the state Lutheran Church, and therefore illegal. In response, this newly formed group of Christians, claiming to be a new religious community within the state Church, began what is known as a prayer watch.
Essentially each hour of everyday was divided between 24 men and 24 women, who agreed, one of each, to pray continuously during their assigned hour for Herrnhut during this time of crisis. This 24-hour prayer watch proved so beneficial that it was continued for nearly three decades after its initial assembly on August 27th, 1727. It has been revived many times since then, most notably during the first Worldwide Unity Synod in 1957. Since 1957, there has been a Moravian around the world praying for their church, and the world every minute of every day.