Hour of Power
Part 1
The Great Awakening
Origins of the Great Awakening
The event that has become known as the Great Awakening actually began years earlier in the 1720s. And, although the most significant years were from 1740-1742, the great revival continued until the 1760s.
Many of the early colonists and Pilgrims had come to the new world to enjoy religious freedom, but as the land became tamed and prosperous they no longer relied on God for their daily bread. Wealth brought complacency toward God. As a result, church membership dropped.
Wishing to make it easier to increase church attendance, the religious leaders began to allow membership without a public testimony of conversion. The churches were now attended largely by people who lacked a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Sadly, many of the ministers themselves did not know Christ and therefore could not lead their flocks to the true Shepherd.
Then, suddenly, the Spirit of God began to move and to touch the population of the colonies, now 13 in all—New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia).
People from all walks of life, from poor farmers to rich merchants, began experiencing renewal and a spiritual rebirth.
Jonathan Edwards, Father of the Great Awakening
As one brilliant pastor named Jonathan Edwards spoke to his church in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1730, he kept his eyes focused on the back wall of the church.
The preacher’s monotone voice and convicting words began to sink into the hearts of the assembly, and although his method of speaking lacked enthusiasm, his words were powerful. Revival followed.
The church in Northampton had felt the stirring of the Holy Spirit, moving them from their lukewarm apathy to an awakening of their souls.
Delivering his most famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” on July 8, 1741, now pastoring in Enfield, Connecticut, a great commotion swept over the people and they began wailing, crying, and screeching loudly.
Frequently Edwards asked the congregation to control themselves so he might finish his sermon. As a result of his preaching and the work of the Spirit, lives began to change and soon it spread with complete towns transformed.
“By December,” wrote Edwards, “the Spirit of God began extraordinarily to set in. Revival grew, and souls did as it were come by floods to Christ.” Over a six month period, Edwards recorded three hundred conversions. These were the beginnings of the stirring of revival.
Meanwhile, across the ocean in England, a man named George Whitefield, an Anglican evangelist and friend of John and Charles Wesley, began traveling throughout Britain bringing the gospel of Christ, and also made seven trips to America between 1738 and 1770.
While Edwards was the most prominent theologian of the time, by far the most influential and famous evangelist of the Great Awakening was George Whitefield. He was born in England and educated at Oxford, where he met and became friends with John and Charles Wesley.
Pictured Below: A Portrait of George Whitefield
During his spare time at college, he visited the poor and those in prison. On June 20, 1736, at the age of twenty-two, he became an ordained minister. God blessed him with an amazing ministry, and wherever he spoke revival accompanied him.
He became well-known in both the 13 American colonies and Great Britain. His preaching spread revival and a new birth to the hearts of tens of thousands.
Unfortunately, many ministers became jealous of his God-given ability. In Bristol, the churches refused to allow him the use of their buildings. Undeterred, Whitefield took the gospel into the open air and preached outside on more than one occasion to upward of 30,000 people.
He spoke persuasively with a loud, commanding, and pleasant voice. With weighty emotion and dramatic power Whitefield presented the gospel message to the masses, spreading the light of Christ with vigor and enthusiasm.
During his life he preached upwards of 18,000 sermons! There was hardly a portion of the early American colonies that did not feel his influence.
Though Benjamin Franklin never openly became a Christian himself, he did become a friend of Whitefield’s.
He was impressed with the change Whitefield’s gospel preaching brought on society. Franklin wrote that it was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing religious so that one could not walk through the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street.
The faith and prayers of the righteous leaders were the foundation of the Great Awakening. Before a meeting, George Whitefield would spend hours–and sometimes all night–bathing an event in prayers. Fervent church members kept the fires of revival going through their genuine petitions for God’s intervention in the lives of their communities.
Effects and Results of the Great Awakening
The Great Awakening in America in the 1730s and 1740s had tremendous results. The number of people in the church multiplied, and the lives of the converted manifested true Christian fruit. Denominational barriers broke down as Christians of all persuasions worked together in the cause of the gospel. There was a renewed concern with missions, and work among the Indians increased.
As more young men prepared for service as Christian ministers, a concern for higher education grew. Princeton, Rutgers, Brown, and Dartmouth universities were all established as a direct result of the Great Awakening.
Some have even seen a connection between the Great Awakening and the American Revolution –Christians enjoying spiritual liberty in Christ would come to crave political liberty.
The Great Awakening not only revived the American church but reinvigorated American society as well.
The powerful move of God during the Great Awakening was far-reaching. Truly converted members now filled the pews.
In New England, during the time from 1740 to 1742, memberships increased from 25,000 to 50,000. Hundreds of new churches were formed to accommodate the growth in church-goers.
For the first time, the individual colonies had a commonality with the other colonies. They were joined under the banner of Christ. Clearly, their unity gave them strength to face the impending danger of war with England.
Not only did the Great Awakening unite the colonies religiously but also politically. After being freed from inner sin, the colonists also sought freedom from external tyrants. The motto of the Revolutionary War was, “No King but King Jesus!”