The Great American Awakening

What a privilege it has been, these past months, to be giving our attention to revival. Focussing on the historical interventions of God. Great movements of his power. Sweeping the masses into his kingdom. Bringing whole communities to him in desperation for mercy. Transforming congregations with joy and sacrificial commitment that makes the watching world stand up and take notice. What good it is doing my soul, to be reading about these mighty works of God. Perhaps none more significant than what is generally described as The Great Awakening. In this brief article I will trace some of the key moments and try to draw some principles for us today. Perhaps one of the most thrilling things to recognise some 300+ years on is the continuing impact of this work, still evident today (more about this later). God continues his work. While I write, and you read, there are similarly far-reaching works of God transforming lives and whole communities in our world today. The Spirit of God is being poured out in revival power (just take a look at the stats on church growth in places like Iran) but the same truth remains – the Spirit alone determines His movements. As Jesus explained to Nicodemus, in response to his enquiry about the need to be born again. ‘The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.’ (John 3v8)

So, is there nothing we can do to see revival again in our cities. Is there nothing we can do to see the Spirit build his church among the nations where Christ is not yet known? To the contrary – the Lord has given us all a part to play in preparing the ground. The soil of our hearts is where it must begin. And the first step? To heed the command of the Lord Jesus as he stood at the frontier of a lost world. ‘Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’ (Matt 9v38)

The Great American Awakening encompasses a series of widespread revivals in the United States of America that deeply impacted the nation’s religious landscape and influenced movements across the world. Beginning in the 18th century, and continuing into the 19th, these movements sparked a renewed fervour for God and marked the establishment of what is now recognised as Evangelicalism. These ‘awakenings’ stressed personal conversion, powerful preaching, sacrificial service, community transformation and a direct, heartfelt experience of faith in Christ.

These movements were often characterised by large gatherings where people often experienced profound manifestations of the Spirit. Whilst this brought with it understandable scepticism from various quarters, the depth and breadth of the lasting impact testified to an authentic work of God in those days.

The soil from which the revival sprang

Though many in the American colonies lived within a broadly Christian culture, the movement of society and the church itself was away from the gospel. Churches were led by those no longer convinced of the need for people to be converted. Deistic thinking was on the rise. Practices in the churches were undermining the need for repentance and faith (e.g. restored fellowship with the Lord could be attained simply by attending communion). All this, led to widespread apathy toward the Lord and little sense of the need for salvation. There remained, faithful men and women, holding out the gospel, but community life was moving away from the Lord, despite a persistent veneer of Christianity. In Northampton, Massachusetts, one of the small towns credited with the beginnings of revival, a young pastor (Jonathon Edwards) described the moral decline among the young adults where the decay seemed at its worst. ‘Licentiousness prevailed among the youth of the town; there were many addicted to night walking, and frequenting the tavern, and lewd practices.’ And yet, it

was as the Lord began to convert some of the worst offenders, that the refreshing wind of the Spirit began to blow. It’s at this point that my confidence is renewed in the hope of God sending the fire of his Spirit among us in the UK today. For surely, we live in a supposedly Christian society where deism remains a strong root among those claiming some form of belief and yet the moral behaviour of the nation appears in permanent decline. Perhaps there is no greater time than now for us to be pleading with God in expectancy for his coming upon our land in saving power.

First Shoots

Though Edwards was cautious in announcing conversions at the outset, evidences of the remarkable work of God in that small town were abundant. Even in the early days (1734), he describes the comprehensive impact on the general populace. ‘Scarcely a single person in the town, old or young, left unconcerned about the great things of the eternal world.’ The normal business of life seemed far less pressing for the majority who were taken up in their new great concern to ‘get the kingdom of God’. Conversions continued at an increasing pace as people came ‘by flocks to Jesus Christ’. By 1735, the growing numbers of those now coming to Him in Northampton, was bringing such a ‘glorious alteration’ that the ‘town seemed to be full of the presence of God’ with ‘remarkable tokens of God’s presence in almost every house’. Not only this but the change was being felt most forcibly within the church itself. People were serving with a renewed joy and commitment and ‘the congregation was alive in God’s service’. There was a fresh hunger for the word of God where those in the assembly were frequently in tears whilst it was preached. As in the earliest days of the church (Acts 2), the ‘people round about’ were now praising God because of them. They were voluntarily meeting together on other days through the week from the youngest to the oldest.

As time went by, an increasing number of visitors were impacted by the outpouring of God’s Spirit, themselves then becoming the means of this spreading to neighbouring regions. However, this alone could not account for the rapid spread, as similar works were soon being observed in other towns across the county and in neighbouring Connecticut. And the blessing was touching people of all rank and background, ‘sober and vicious, high and low, rich and poor, wise and unwise’. Not only was the number of those affected quite staggering, so too was the extent to which people’s characters were being radically transformed, and with this, lasting changes in the community and society in general. Not only this, but it was all happening so very quickly. Edwards describes the most intense season from March to April 1735, when nearly 30 a week were turning to Christ in his town alone.

Stirrings Across The Pond

Whilst all this was happening in America, God was beginning to move in Britain too, through people such as George Whitfield, John Wesley and his brother Charles. Meeting during in their time at Oxford in a ‘Holy Club’, they shared a passion for God that involved strict spiritual discipline with a profound sense of the need to proclaim the gospel. They longed to see renewal in the church of England but found increasing fruit outside through their open-air preaching which was soon gathering the unchurched by the thousand. The Wesley brothers departed for Georgia in 1735 but faced significant challenges and returned to the UK somewhat discouraged. Nonetheless, this paved the way for George Whitfield to follow in their footsteps. His preaching in the colonies, where they had prepared the ground, soon began to bear much fruit. The initial sparks in England quickly spread into a roaring flame with hundreds of thousands hearing the gospel up and down the land, and with a great proportion responding in repentance and faith. God was at work in a mighty way here too.

The Full Extent of the Blessings

At its height, tens of thousands gathered to hear the open-air preaching. At one of these gatherings in Philadelphia, eye-witnesses estimated a crowd of 20,000, a significant proportion of the city at the time. Many churches across New England enjoyed rapid expansion in their congregations with whole communities impacted. This revival recognised no boundaries of race or social class, calling together men, women and young people, uniting in Christ from African and Native American communities. New denominations arose in this rarefied atmosphere, with Baptist and Methodist movements growing, especially in the Southern colonies. The blessings were also spreading into Wales and Scotland as well as mainland Europe. From these roots, you can track the expansion of the global missionary movement too. This Great Awakening was spanning continents and cultures, leaving a last heritage for global Christianity.

And what a legacy! Spiritual renewal bringing a widespread revival of personal faith, repentance and a particular focus on personal salvation through the grace of Christ. Evangelistic zeal fuelling missionary efforts and the preaching of the gospel at home and abroad. Church growth in all quarters. Social transformation reforming communities, most notably among the young. The founding of Christian schools, colleges and training institutions would carry the blessings into future generations. Collaboration across denominations and historical dividing lines and with this a renewed emphasis on sound doctrine and theological instruction. This would surely prove to be one of the brightest spots in the history of the church.

However, such a widespread movement will also bring with it a variety of downsides. History records that this time of revival was not unusual in this respect. There were divisions between groups. Spurious conversions and the ongoing plague of false teaching. There were disagreements about discerning the authenticity of conversions and the working of the Spirit. Some pastors endorsed the revivals whilst warning against excesses. Others dismissed it altogether. However, given the sheer size, scope and depth of all that was happening, it remarkable that there was so great a general sense of unity, and such a universal focus on Christ and evidences of the transforming power of his Spirit. Whilst acknowledging that not everything was good, we must surely stand in awe of the God who wrought such a powerful work.

Lessons for Us

We could draw many helpful lessons, but three key priorities shout out to us from the pages of this revival’s history.

1. The Power of God’s Word Preached
God has not changed his plan from the beginning. The church is built as sinners become disciples through the preaching of God’s word in the power of his Spirit. Witnessing this historical moment, whilst observing God’s working in the world today, should strengthen us to hold fast to God’s word like never before, ‘shining among them like stars in the sky’ (Php 2:15).

2. The Need for Personal Renewal
In every case, this mighty work began with the stirring of God in the heart. Let’s pray again for this move of The Spirit in every one of his precious children, that in our time he would revive us again.

3. Partnership in the Gospel
As we have seen, the Great Awakening united believers across many boundaries and drew people to

Christ from many backgrounds. Let’s work hard then to centre on the gospel and lock arms with all those labouring with us in the same harvest field.

Final Word

Stirred again by this brief recollection, let’s rejoice in the work of God - great and small, remembering that the angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner who repents. Standing together with a swelling congregation on a recent Sunday evening, I had to pinch myself. As I looked around and sang of the goodness of God, I was being shown again the abundance of his blessing right there in the room. A couple behind me were saved and baptised recently; a young woman along the next isle; a young person at the back of the room – and so it went on. Oh Lord, what mercy and grace. You are saving men, women and children in our day. Hallelujah! But, out of our thankfulness, let’s foster a holy discontentment. This is not yet revival. At least not close to what history demonstrates God can do! A wholesale coming to him, that changes life in this community so radically, that no-one is denying it. And while we wait on God for what he alone must do, let’s remain faithful in the life he has called us to live (a sacrifice of worship through faith in Christ) and the work he has sent us into the world to finish (making disciples from our networks to the nations). Let’s strengthen each other to keep looking to Christ. Let’s long for the coming of his Spirit in the spread of his word. Send the fire Lord. And let it begin in me!