Great Awakenings

By the early eighteenth century, Christianity in the English-speaking world had grown stale. The spiritual fires of the Reformation and Puritan movements had cooled into formalism, rationalism, and moral complacency. Deism—the belief in a distant God who created the world but no longer intervenes—was fashionable among elites. Church attendance was mandatory in many places but genuine piety was rare.

In colonial America, the situation was particularly dire. Though the Puritans had founded New England as a "city on a hill," their descendants had drifted far from their ancestors' fervor. The "Half-Way Covenant" of 1662 had allowed the baptism of children whose parents showed no evidence of conversion, filling churches with nominal members. By 1700, perhaps only one in seven New Englanders were full church members.

In England, the established church was plagued by pluralism (clergy holding multiple positions), absenteeism, and spiritual deadness. The lower classes had been largely abandoned; the industrial revolution was creating a new urban proletariat that the parish system could not reach.

Into this context, God poured out His Spirit in what we now call the Great Awakenings—waves of revival that transformed individuals, churches, and entire societies.

The First Great Awakening (1730s-1740s)

The First Great Awakening began almost simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic. In Northampton, Massachusetts, a young pastor named Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) witnessed an unexpected movement of God beginning in 1734.

Edwards was no revivalist showman. He read his sermons from manuscripts in a calm, measured voice. But his preaching pierced hearts. His most famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (1741), depicted the precarious position of the unconverted with terrifying clarity:

Yet Edwards also preached the beauty and sweetness of Christ. His theology was not merely fire and brimstone but a vision of God's glory that made sin appear ugly and salvation appear precious. People wept, cried out, and fainted under conviction—and emerged transformed.

Edwards carefully documented the revival in his work A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God, providing the first systematic account of revival phenomena and defending the awakening against critics who dismissed it as mere emotionalism.

George Whitefield: The Great Itinerant

If Edwards was the theologian of the Awakening, George Whitefield (1714-1770) was its evangelist. An Anglican minister with a voice that could reach 30,000 people without amplification, Whitefield revolutionized evangelism through itinerant open-air preaching.

Whitefield crossed the Atlantic thirteen times, preaching throughout Britain and the American colonies. He was the first transatlantic celebrity—newspapers tracked his movements, and crowds gathered wherever he appeared. Benjamin Franklin, a skeptic, calculated that Whitefield's voice could reach over 30,000 people and declared him "the most entertaining preacher I ever heard."

Whitefield's methods were innovative for his time:

• Field preaching — He preached wherever people gathered: fields, marketplaces, mines, dockyards
• Dramatic delivery — He acted out Scripture, wept openly, and spoke extemporaneously with passion
• Media savvy — He used newspapers and printed sermons to extend his reach
• Ecumenical cooperation — He worked across denominational lines, prioritizing the Gospel over secondary issues
• Social concern — He founded an orphanage in Georgia and advocated for the poor

John Wesley and the Methodist Revival

In England, John Wesley (1703-1791) and his brother Charles led a parallel awakening that would eventually birth the Methodist movement. Wesley's "heart-warming" experience at Aldersgate Street in 1738 transformed him from a legalistic Anglican priest into a passionate evangelist.

Initially reluctant to preach outside churches, Wesley was convinced by Whitefield to try field preaching. The results were dramatic. Wesley would spend the next fifty years traveling over 250,000 miles (mostly on horseback) and preaching over 40,000 sermons.

Wesley's distinctive contribution was his organizational genius. Where Whitefield was a brilliant evangelist but poor organizer, Wesley created structures to conserve the revival's fruit:

• Class meetings — Small groups of 12 for accountability and mutual encouragement
• Lay preachers — Trained laymen to lead local societies
• Circuits — Organized geographic areas served by traveling preachers
• Annual conferences — Gatherings for coordination and training

Wesley's system produced disciples, not just converts. Methodism grew from a handful of members to over 100,000 in Britain by Wesley's death, and it would become one of the largest Protestant denominations in America.

The Second Great Awakening (1790s-1840s)

After the Revolutionary War, American religion was at low ebb. The war had disrupted church life, Enlightenment rationalism was ascendant, and some predicted Christianity would disappear within a generation. Instead, another awakening broke out—even larger than the first.

The Camp Meeting Phenomenon

The Second Great Awakening's most distinctive feature was the camp meeting—outdoor gatherings lasting several days where thousands assembled to hear preaching, pray, and seek conversion.

The most famous was the Cane Ridge Revival of August 1801 in Kentucky. An estimated 20,000-25,000 people gathered—in a state whose largest town had only 2,000 residents. For nearly a week, multiple preachers preached simultaneously from different platforms while people fell to the ground under conviction, cried out for mercy, and experienced dramatic conversions.

Observers described extraordinary physical manifestations: people falling as if dead, jerking uncontrollably, laughing, barking, and running. Whether these were genuinely supernatural, psychological, or demonic was hotly debated then and now. But the lasting fruit—transformed lives, new churches, changed communities—was undeniable.

Camp meetings spread rapidly across the American frontier. They were ideally suited to the scattered, mobile population of the West: people could travel once or twice a year to a central location and receive months' worth of spiritual nourishment. The meetings also served social functions—reconnecting far-flung families, providing opportunities for courtship, and building community.

Charles Finney and "New Measures"

Charles Grandison Finney (1792-1875) was the most influential evangelist of the Second Great Awakening. A lawyer converted in 1821, Finney brought analytical rigor to revivalism, developing what he called "new measures" to promote conversions:

• The "anxious bench" — A front seat where those under conviction could sit for focused prayer and counsel
• Protracted meetings — Extended series of services over multiple weeks
• Public prayer for individuals by name — Creating accountability and urgency
• Women praying in mixed gatherings — Controversial at the time
• Immediate decision — Pressing for conversion now rather than waiting for God to act

Finney's theology was controversial. He rejected the Calvinist emphasis on human inability, insisting that sinners could choose to repent if properly motivated. His famous statement—"Revival is not a miracle... it is a purely philosophical result of the right use of the constituted means"—implied that revivals could be manufactured through technique.

Finney's revivals also birthed social reform. Converts were expected to demonstrate their faith through action, and Finney was a fierce abolitionist. The "Burned-Over District" of upstate New York, where Finney ministered extensively, became a hotbed of reform movements—anti-slavery, women's rights, temperance, and more.

The Third Great Awakening and Global Missions (1850s-1900s)

The mid-nineteenth century saw another wave of awakening that was global in scope. The Prayer Revival of 1857-1858 began in a small prayer meeting in New York City led by businessman Jeremiah Lanphier. Within months, thousands were gathering daily for prayer across American cities, and an estimated one million converts were added to the churches.

This revival was notable for its lay leadership, its emphasis on prayer rather than preaching, and its urban focus. It demonstrated that the Spirit could move through ordinary believers, not just celebrity evangelists.

D.L. Moody: Businessman Evangelist

Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) emerged as the leading evangelist of the post-Civil War era. A former shoe salesman with little formal education, Moody combined folksy warmth with organizational skill to become the most famous preacher of his generation.

Moody's approach was distinctly modern:

• Campaign-style evangelism — Carefully planned crusades in major cities with advance preparation, advertising, and follow-up
• Musical innovation — His partnership with song leader Ira Sankey made music central to evangelism
• Simple Gospel focus — Moody avoided controversy and theological complexity, emphasizing basic salvation truths
• Personal counseling — Trained workers to meet with inquirers individually after services
• Institution building — Founded schools (Moody Bible Institute, Northfield schools) to train future workers

The Explosion of Foreign Missions

The Awakenings fueled an unprecedented expansion of Protestant missions. The nineteenth century became the "Great Century" of Christian missions as awakened believers felt compelled to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Key figures included:

• William Carey (1761-1834) — "Father of modern missions," who spent forty years in India, translated Scripture into numerous languages, and inspired the formation of missionary societies
• Adoniram Judson (1788-1850) — Pioneer missionary to Burma who suffered imprisonment, the death of two wives, and years without a single convert before seeing breakthrough
• Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) — Founder of the China Inland Mission, who pioneered "faith mission" principles and adopted Chinese dress and customs
• David Livingstone (1813-1873) — Explorer and missionary who opened Africa to the Gospel and fought the slave trade

The Student Volunteer Movement, launched in 1886, recruited over 20,000 missionaries under the watchword "The Evangelization of the World in This Generation." This ambition was not fully realized, but it mobilized an army of workers who planted churches across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Social Transformation: The Fruit of Revival

The Great Awakenings did not only produce individual conversions; they transformed societies. Revived Christians felt compelled to address social evils:

Abolition of Slavery

The British abolition movement was led almost entirely by evangelical Christians, most notably William Wilberforce and the "Clapham Sect." Their decades-long campaign ended the slave trade (1807) and then slavery itself (1833) in the British Empire. In America, abolitionists like Finney, the Tappan brothers, and Harriet Beecher Stowe drew directly on revival-fueled convictions.

Social Reform

The Awakening sparked numerous reform movements:

• Prison reform — Elizabeth Fry transformed prison conditions in Britain
• Child labor laws — Lord Shaftesbury championed protections for young workers
• Education — Sunday schools, founded to teach reading to poor children, educated millions
• Hospitals and charities — Christians founded institutions to serve the poor, sick, and marginalized
• Temperance — Concern for families destroyed by alcohol led to reform efforts

These reformers understood that salvation had implications. If every person bore the image of God, then exploitation and degradation of any person was an offense against God. The Gospel demanded justice as well as mercy.

Lessons from the Great Awakenings

The Awakenings offer rich instruction for evangelism today:

The Sovereignty and Means of God

Revival is ultimately a sovereign work of God that cannot be manufactured. Yet God ordinarily works through means—preaching, prayer, community. We must labor as if everything depends on us and pray as if everything depends on God.

The Power of Proclamation

The Awakenings were Word-centered movements. Edwards, Whitefield, Wesley, Finney, and Moody were all preachers first. Despite changing methods, the power remained in the proclaimed Gospel. We must not abandon preaching for technique.

The Necessity of Follow-Up

Wesley's organizational structures preserved the Methodist revival's fruit. Whitefield, who lacked such structures, saw many of his converts drift away. Evangelism must be paired with discipleship, small groups, and church planting.

The Importance of Prayer

Every awakening was preceded and accompanied by extraordinary prayer. The 1857-1858 revival was essentially a prayer meeting that got out of control. If we want revival, we must pray for it—persistently, expectantly, and corporately.

The Integration of Word and Deed

Awakened Christians did not choose between evangelism and social action; they did both. The Gospel transforms not only souls but societies. We must recover this holistic vision.

The Danger of Manipulation

Finney's "new measures" produced many conversions but also many spurious ones. Emotional manipulation can create false assurance. We must distinguish between legitimate persuasion and illegitimate pressure.

The Multiplication of Workers

Wesley's lay preachers, Moody's trained counselors, and the Student Volunteers remind us that evangelism cannot be left to professionals. Every believer must be mobilized for witness.

The Great Awakenings remind us that God can do extraordinary things in ordinary times. The same Spirit who moved through Edwards, Whitefield, Wesley, and Moody is available to the church today. The question is whether we will seek Him, trust Him, and obey Him when He moves.