First Great Awakening
Revival history is an interesting topic and one that can be explored at great depths. Revivals of the past, if looked at through the right lens, can awaken hope and desire for God to move again, even in the darkest times. Revivals show us that God is still very much active and interested in His people. The Father desires that we would know Him as a real Person and who loves to make Himself known through His Son Jesus. I wrote my paper on the First Great Awakening mainly because I am from New England and I have a passion to see the church set ablaze again in that area. The heritage is so rich in that land and I believe that the Lord would love to encounter His people again with a great spiritual awakening. Below, I will go over the Great Awakening in detail discussing the dates, location, key leaders, scope of impact, main features, main message, controversial aspects, principles learned, and our application for today. The First Great Awakening was a religious revitalization movement that took place in the northeast, mainly in the New England area. The Great Awakening spread throughout the colonies on the eastern seaboard. The dates of when the First Great Awakening began vary due to the opinion of the chosen historian. Most say that the dates begin somewhere in the early 1700’s - 1740’s. The earliest stirrings of revival were recorded in the 1730’s in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The next noticeable move of God was in Northampton, Mass around 1734 - 36. The final thrust of awakening took place in the 1740s with the arrival of the powerful orator and itinerant speaker, George Whitefield. A contributor to the National Humanities Center validates these claims by informing, “The earliest manifestations of the American phase of this phenomenon—the beginnings of the First Great Awakening—appeared among Presbyterians in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Led by the Tennent family—Reverend William Tennent, a Scots-Irish immigrant, and his four sons, all clergymen—the