The Moravian Church teaches the necessity of the New Birth, piety, evangelism (especially missionary work), and doing good works. As such, the Moravian Brethren hold strongly that Christianity is a religion of the heart. It emphasizes the "greatness of Christ" and holds the Bible to be the "source of all religious truths". With regard to the New Birth, the Moravian Church holds that a personal conversion to Christianity is a joyful experience, in which the individual "accepts Christ as Lord" after which faith "daily grows inside the person." For Moravians, "Christ lived as a man because he wanted to provide a blueprint for future generations" and "a converted person could attempt to live in his image and daily become more like Jesus." The Moravian Church historically adheres to the position of Christian pacifism, evidenced in atrocities such as the Gnadenhutten massacre, where the Moravian Christian Indian Martyrs practiced nonresistance, singing hymns and praying to God until their execution.

Simplicity is a focus on the essentials of faith and a lack of interest in the niceties of doctrinal definition. Happiness is the natural and spontaneous response to God's free and gracious gift of salvation. The Pietist has his sin in the foreground and looks at the wounds of Jesus; the Moravian has the wounds in the forefront and looks from them upon his sin. Unobtrusiveness is based on the Moravian belief that God positively wills the existence of a variety of churches to cater for different spiritual needs. There is no need to win converts from other churches. The source of Christian unity is not legal form but everyone's heart-relationship with the Savior. The ideal of service entails happily having the attitude of a servant. This shows itself partly in faithful service in various roles within congregations but more importantly in service of the world "by the extension of the Kingdom of God".

Historically, this has been evident in educational and especially missionary work. Moravians not only worship Jesus, we also follow Jesus’s teachings and example. In fact, Jesus is the Chief Elder of our church. In all matters of faith, we look to Jesus and his teachings first. And in biblical interpretation, Jesus is our hermeneutical key. The Jesus-centered Pietism of the Moravian church has influenced the global Christian church for centuries. Moravians believe that Christians should be united as Jesus prayed (John 17). The Moravian Daily Text was first published in 1731 by Zinzendorf, but continues to be a widely used prayer devotional to this day. It’s been translated into 62 languages! To this day, Moravians around the world continue the tradition of around-the-clock prayer by participating in the Unity Prayer Watch. Moravians created the first Protestant hymnal, published in Bohemia in 1532.