The Annual
wake forest lovefeast
In apostolic times, Christians periodically observed a common meal called “agape” from the Greek word meaning “love.” The Lovefeast continued as an important part of Christian worship for centuries, but nearly faded away. Then in 1727, a small band of Moravians assembled by German religious and social reformer, Count Nicolaus Zinzendorf, reintroduced it, and Moravian missionaries and immigrants carried the custom to the Americas. The first Lovefeasts of the Moravian Church in North America were held in Savannah, Georgia, from 1735 to 1740. In North Carolina, the first Lovefeast was held on the evening of November 17, 1753, the day the first Moravian colonists arrived at the settlement of Bethabara in what is now Winston-Salem. Begun by Moravian students in 1965, the first Wake Forest Lovefeast drew fewer than 200 people. Nearly six decades later, this simple service has become one of our University’s oldest and most beloved traditions. Gathering each year as a community for Christmas Lovefeast helps assure that the abiding spirit and appreciable character of Wake Forest endure.