The Great Awakening

The Great Awakening

1. During the 18th century, Europe, England, and America were visited by a remarkable series of spiritual revivals wich changed the lives of many people and eventually affected the entire world.Catholic territories, and each country hag established an offficial state church. People often attended the state church only because it was ¨ the thing to do¨.

   • Pietism in Germany
     • Philipp Spener a German Lutheran pastor became concerned about the spiritual coldness and the lack of moral consciousness in Germany. Spener gathered a group of interested people from his congregation into his home each week for serious Bible study prayer, and discussion of the Sunday sermons Philipp Spener the idea spread rapidly throughout Germany. Groups such as Spener's became known as assemblies of piety, and those who attended them were called Pietists. Many Pietists remained in their state church, but some (either because they could no longer teel comfortable in it, or because they had never been a part of it) started new churches. The Brethren, or German Baptists, were one group that broke with the state church. Another group revived by Pietism was the Unitas Fratrum (United Brethren), better known as the Moravians.
   • The Wesleyan Revival in England
     • John Wesley
       • John Wesley was the great English revivalist, (1703-1791) he born in England at a time when that country, once known for its goodness en love for the Bible. The English people were more free in the 1700s. John Wesley when he was student, his brother Charles Wesley (1707-1788), and their friend George Whitefield (1714- 1770) met regularly with several other young men to study the Bible and the classics and to encourage each other in the spiritual development.
     • George Whitefield
       • The most powerful figure in the English revivals and, as we shall see, in America was George Whitefield (1714-1770). At the age of 23 years, he started to preaching and immediately became the England's most popular preacher.
   • Spread of the Wesleyan Revival
     • The ¨ reformation of manners
       • There it was a man called William Wilberforce, He created like an organisation of the True Christianity, then the people began to follow him, and with that the slavery ended, they began a popular education, and more things that contributed with the development of the country and the religion.
     • Beginning of popular education
       • In 1780, Robert Raikes started a Sunday school for poor street children. He gathered the children together each Sunday and hired four women to teach them Bible, manners, right living, and the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic, which they would not have received in any other way. Historians see the Sunday school movement as the beginning of popular education education for all children in Great Britain. Raikes is remembered as the Father of the Sunday School Movement.
     • End of slavery
       • Wilberforce led in England to abolish the slavery. In 1807 was banned the slave trade, and in 1833 finally disappeared all slavery in the British Empire
     • The Rise of modern missions
       • The rise of modern missions. Perhaps the greatest impact of the English evangelical revival has been the rise of modern missions. The Moravian and others had previously done some missionary work, but 1792 marks the official beginning of modern mission, for it was then that William Carey (1761-1834), an English shoemaker saved during the Wesleyan revival, began his historic ministry in India. In this way, the Wesleyan revival that began in the tiny territory of England eventually impacted the entire planet. Such was the impact that the following century, the 19th century, was dubbed "The Mighty Century of Missions."
   • The Great Awakening in America
     • Jonathan Edwards
       • The Wesleyan revival in England had its coun terpart in America , where it was called the " Great Awakening . " The Great Awakening began in 1734 , a few years earlier than the English revival , under the preach ing of Jonathan Edwards ( 1703 1758 ) , one of America's greatest thinkers
     • Whitefield in America
       • The great Eng lish revivalist George Whitefield arrived in America in 1739 for the first of seven evangelistic tours throughout the colonies . He had begun preaching outdoors in Eng land because the ministers of the established church disliked his evangel istic messages and closed the churches to him .
     • Spiritual impact
       • No merely local ized event , the Great Awakening affected the masses of the American people . The best estimate is that between the years 1740 and 1743 alone , there were 30,000 to 40,000 con versions in the colonies .
     • Political impact
       • The Great Awaken ing was strongly opposed by the majority of established churches in America , just as the Wesleyan Revival was opposed by the established Church of England . Whitefield for example , experienced intense opposition from established religious leaders in both England and America.