Bohler was one of the many missionaries sent out to the Americas in the early 18th century by the leader of the Moravian Church, Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf.
As a part of the first large scale Protestant missionary movement, Bohler spread the religion across Georgia and other American colonies.
[1] On February 7 of the following year, when he was in London preparing for his trip to the Americas, Bohler met John Wesley, who would later found the Methodist movement, who had just returned from a two-year stint as chaplain of Savannah, Georgia.
Bohler first went as a missionary to America, in 1738, on the ship "Union Galley," with his assistant George Schulius, at the invitation of General James Oglethorpe.
However, for various reasons, including the ship needing extensive repairs, and waiting for the winds to be favorable, it did not start its journey across the ocean until July 16th.
As part of Zinzendorf's plans to revive the Moravian Church, Bohler preached the ways of the religion to black slaves and Native Americans, as well as white settlers in the colonies.
In 1739, most Moravians, and all of the Germans, left Savannah, because of the threats of attack, from the Spanish, down in Florida, as well as the hot, humid weather, and the devastating impact of yellow fever on the residents.
Bohler believed that the grace of Christ was so compelling that it would eventually win all hearts, a belief that is subtly distinct from Universalism.
George Whitefield (an ardent Calvinist), in a letter to John Wesley, wrote that Bohler had expressed a belief that "all the damned souls would hereafter be brought out of hell.