page_title: Congregationalism in the United States
section_title: Great Awakening
hierarchical_section_title: Congregationalism in the United States / History / 18th century / Great Awakening
caption_attribution_description: Old South Meeting House
context_page_description: Congregationalism in the United States consists of Protestant churches in the Reformed tradition that have a congregational form of church government and trace their origins mainly to Puritan settlers of colonial New England. Congregational churches in other parts of the world are often related to these in the United States due to American missionary activities.
  Congregational churches have had an important impact on the religious, political and cultural history of the United States. Congregational practices concerning church governance influenced the early development of democratic institutions in New England, and many of the nation's oldest educational institutions, such as Harvard University and Yale University, were founded to train Congregational clergy. Congregational churches and ministers influenced the First and Second Great Awakenings and were early promoters of the missionary movement of the 19th century. The Congregational tradition has shaped both mainline and evangelical Protestantism in the United States. It also influenced the development of American Unitarianism and Unitarian Universalism.
context_section_description: By 1740, there were 423 Congregational churches in colonial America—33.7 percent of all churches. Nevertheless, at the start of the 18th century, many believed that New England had become a morally degenerate society more focused on worldly gain than on religious piety. Church historian Williston Walker described New England piety of the time as "low and unemotional." To spiritually awaken their congregations and rescue the original Puritan mission of creating a godly society, Congregational ministers promoted revivalism, the attempt to bring spiritual renewal to an entire community. The first two decades of the 18th century saw local revivals occur that resulted in large numbers of converts. These revivals sometimes resulted from natural disasters that were interpreted as divine judgment.  For example, revival followed after the earthquake of October 29, 1727.
  In 1735, Jonathan Edwards led his First Church congregation of Northampton, Massachusetts, through a religious revival. His Narrative of Surprising Conversions, describing the conversion experiences that occurred in the revival, was widely read throughout New England and raised hopes among Congregationalists of a general revival of religion.
  These hopes were seemingly fulfilled with the start of the Great Awakening, which was initiated by the preaching of George Whitefield, an Anglican priest who had preached revivalistic sermons to large audiences in England. He arrived at Boston in September 1740, preaching first at Brattle Street Church, and then visited other parts of New England. Though only in New England for a few weeks, the revival spread to every part of the region in the two years following his brief tour. Whitefield was followed by itinerant preacher and Presbyterian minister Gilbert Tennent and dozens of other itinerants.
  Initially, the Awakening's strongest supporters came from Congregational ministers, who had already been working to foster revivals in their parishes. Itinerants and local pastors worked together to produce and nourish revivals, and often local pastors would cooperate together to lead revivals in neighboring parishes. The most famous sermon preached during the Great Awakening, for example, was "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" delivered by Edwards at Enfield, Connecticut, in July 1741. Many in the congregation were affected by Edwards's sermon with minister Stephen Williams reporting "amazing shrieks and cries" caused by the heightened religious excitement.
  By 1742, the revival had entered a more radical and disruptive phase. Lay people became more active participants in the services by crying out, exhorting, or having visions. Uneducated men and women began to preach without formal training, and some itinerant preachers were active in parishes without the approval of the local pastor. Enthusiasts even claimed that many of the clergy were unconverted themselves and thus unqualified to be ministers. Congregationalists split into Old Lights and New Lights over the Awakening, with Old Lights opposing it and New Lights supporting it.
  A notable example of revival radicalism was James Davenport, a Congregational minister who preached to large crowds throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut. Davenport denounced ministers who opposed him as being "unconverted" and "leading their people blindfold to hell." In March 1743, he held a book burning of the works of Increase Mather, William Beveridge, John Flavel and others.
  Concerns over the revival led the Connecticut General Assembly to call a synod in 1741, which was the last Congregational synod convened under state authority. This "General Consociation" consisted of both lay and clerical representatives from all of the consociations in the colony. It ruled that itinerant ministers should preach in no parish except with the permission of the local pastor. In May 1742, the General Assembly passed legislation requiring ministers to receive permission to preach from the local pastor; violation of the law would result in the loss of a minister's state-provided salary.
  In 1743, the annual Massac
caption: Old South Meeting House, one of the churches where George Whitefield preached while in Boston in 1740.[36]
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