Church History · 1730s to 1740s
The First Great Awakening
In the 1730s and 1740s a wave of revival swept the American colonies and Britain. Jonathan Edwards preached Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, and George Whitefield drew crowds in the tens of thousands.
Read it in the Bible: John 3:1-8 Acts 2:37-41 Romans 2:4 2 Corinthians 5:17
The First Great Awakening was a wave of revival that swept the American colonies and Britain in the 1730s and 1740s. It began with local revivals, including one in Jonathan Edwards' church in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1734 and 1735. It reached its peak when the English preacher George Whitefield toured the colonies in 1739 and 1740, preaching outdoors to crowds in the tens of thousands. Edwards' sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, preached in 1741, became the most famous sermon in American history. Thousands of people came to a personal faith in Christ, and American Christianity was never the same.
What Was the Church Like Before the Awakening?
By the early 1700s many colonial churches had grown cold. In New England people still went to church, but many treated faith as a family tradition more than a living relationship with God. Sermons were usually read from a manuscript and were heavy on argument. Ministers worried that the children and grandchildren of the Puritans had inherited the church but not the faith.
What Happened in Northampton?
Jonathan Edwards was a brilliant pastor and one of the greatest thinkers America has ever produced. In late 1734 he preached a series of sermons on justification by faith. Suddenly the town changed. People who had shown no interest in God began to seek Him. Young people gave up their wild parties. Edwards said there was scarcely a person in town who was not concerned about eternal things.
In 1737 he published an account of it called A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God. It was read across the colonies and in Britain, and it made people pray for the same thing in their towns.
What Was Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God?
On July 8, 1741, Edwards preached this sermon in Enfield, Connecticut. He was not a dramatic speaker. He read his notes quietly. But the sermon painted a vivid picture of people held over the pit of hell only by the mercy of God, as a person might hold a spider over a fire. One witness wrote that before the sermon was done, there was such crying out that Edwards had to stop and wait for quiet.
People often remember only the scary parts. But the point of the sermon was mercy. God was holding them up. The door was open, and Christ was calling. Edwards wanted people to run to Him while they could.
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Acts 2:37
Who Was George Whitefield?
George Whitefield was an English preacher who had been part of the Holy Club at Oxford with John and Charles Wesley. He had a booming voice, a gift for drama and an unstoppable love for souls. When churches closed their doors to him, he preached in open fields.
In 1739 and 1740 he traveled from Georgia to New England, preaching almost every day. Benjamin Franklin, who was not a religious man, went to hear him in Philadelphia. Franklin walked backward from the crowd to test how far the voice carried and figured more than 30,000 people could hear him at once. He also admitted that he went planning to give nothing to Whitefield's orphanage and ended up emptying his pockets. Whitefield crossed the Atlantic 13 times and preached thousands of sermons before dying in Massachusetts in 1770.
Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” John 3:3
You must be born again was Whitefield's favorite theme. It was a simple message that cut across every denomination.
How Did the Awakening Change America?
The Great Awakening touched Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Dutch Reformed and Anglicans. Some leaders, called New Lights, welcomed the revival. Others, called Old Lights, worried about emotional excess and untrained preachers. The debate split some churches, and Baptists grew rapidly as a result.
The Awakening also helped start colleges to train ministers, including the school that became Princeton, where Edwards briefly served as president before he died in 1758. For the first time, large numbers of enslaved and free Africans in America embraced Christianity, and many found in it hope and dignity.
Honesty requires adding something painful. Both Whitefield and Edwards owned enslaved people, as many in their time did. Later revivalists would see more clearly that the gospel they preached condemned slavery.
Was the Great Awakening Only in America?
No. Revival also broke out in Britain. In Wales, Howell Harris and Daniel Rowland preached across the hills. In Scotland, thousands gathered at Cambuslang in 1742. In England, John Wesley and his brother Charles led the movement that became the Methodists. You can read that story in the article on John Wesley and the Methodists.
Why It Matters for You Today
The First Great Awakening reminds us that faith is not something you inherit like your grandmother's dishes. Every person must meet Christ personally. Revival does not start with big crowds. It starts with people taking God seriously, one heart at a time.
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Questions People Ask
What was the First Great Awakening?
The First Great Awakening was a series of religious revivals in the American colonies and Britain in the 1730s and 1740s. Preachers like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield called people to personal conversion, and thousands came to faith.
When was Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God preached?
Jonathan Edwards preached Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God in Enfield, Connecticut, on July 8, 1741. It is the most famous sermon of the Great Awakening.
How many people heard George Whitefield preach?
Whitefield often preached outdoors to many thousands at a time. Benjamin Franklin estimated that more than 30,000 people could hear him at once in Philadelphia, and over his lifetime millions heard him in Britain and America.
What was the result of the Great Awakening?
It brought many conversions, encouraged personal faith across denominations, grew Baptist and Presbyterian churches, helped found colleges like Princeton and brought large numbers of Africans in America to Christianity.
Related
- 1738John Wesley and the Methodists
- About 1790 to 1840The Second Great Awakening
- 1620The Pilgrims Sail on the Mayflower
- 1457The Moravian Church Is Founded