Place it in church history
- Era
- The Great Awakenings
- Key dates
- 1730s through the late nineteenth century
- Location
- Britain and North America
Find The Great Awakenings on the interactive timeline.
Published by Vince Baker Ministries ·
What happened in the First Great Awakening?
In the 1730s and 1740s, traveling preachers and local pastors called hearers to conversion. George Whitefield reached crowds through outdoor preaching across Britain and North America. Jonathan Edwards described renewal in Northampton and examined the relationship between spiritual experience and the fruit it produced. Supporters and critics disagreed about the meaning of emotional intensity and the place of traveling preachers in local church life.
How did Methodists sustain renewal?
John Wesley organized societies and small groups that gave members a place for prayer, accountability, and growth. Charles Wesley’s hymns carried theology into congregational song. Susanna Wesley’s household teaching helped shape both brothers. The Methodist example shows how a large meeting could lead to repeated practices that continued after an evangelist left town.
How did the next awakening differ?
The Second Great Awakening unfolded across several decades beginning around the turn of the nineteenth century. Camp meetings such as Cane Ridge in 1801 and later urban campaigns brought different audiences together. Charles Finney became known for organized revival campaigns and public invitations to respond. In the nineteenth-century Holiness movement, Phoebe Palmer taught about consecration and helped spread the message through meetings and writing.
How should we assess revival?
Awakenings could energize mission and social reform while leaving serious contradictions, including slavery and racial exclusion, in church life. Examining the record means asking who could lead, who could hear, and whether the renewal reached everyday conduct. Read Acts 2:37–47 and trace the movement from response to teaching, fellowship, and practical care.
Scripture to read alongside the history
- Acts 2:37-47 · KJV
- Romans 12:1-2 · KJV
- James 1:22-25 · KJV
