Essay About Great Awakening And Church Membership

Great Awakening
Essay title: Great Awakening
The Great Awakening was when religion was sweeping throughout New
England with more conversions and church membership. This spiritual
awakening took place from 1735 up until 1745. (Brief Outline Notes on the
Great Awakening, 1735-45 ) Most of this had taken place within the American
Colonies, especially New England.(McCormick, pars. 9) . The Great Awakening
had many causes, however the consequences benefitted many.
Many people were moving farther and farther away from religion, the
Great Awakening was a revitalization that had tried to change that. There was a
huge decline in church membership and the church wanted people to get back to
god. As well as the Enlightenment, this was a time period where many people
were using reason to receive their answers. Instead of relying on the church for
answers they used science and math (Brief Outline Notes on the Great
Awakening, 1735-45 ).In 1688, the Church of English became the primary
religion of the country. Many other religions were infact repressed. Basically,
people were becoming bored of the religion and it just became a past time for
them. They didnt worship god from their heart. This led to the decline of
attendance in church, memberships were decreasing as the years passed by
(Great Awakening).
To create change in such phenomenons, many minsters such as Thomas
Foxcroft gave sermons outside. People were actually eager to see him, he was
infact received by the chuches of Galatia. He presented something that didnt
drone on and bore the people. He noticed that people didnt really know much
about Christ, so he decided to pass it on. Another minister named Jonathan
Edwards, gave such passionate sermons that it brought many peoples attention
(Great Awakening).George Whitefield, a histronic man with a very loud voice.
His sermons were heard by Benjamin Franklin, who was a worldy man, but his
opinion was changed from this preacher. Another principle leader in the south
of the Awakening was Samuel Davies from Virginia. He read to his neighbors
the sermons of Whitefield and Luther. He preached moderately, however its
effect was numerous. The passionate sermons of these people led to the revival
of religon. More people came to church for the worship of god from their heart.
These ministers and preachers helped cause the Great Awakening that led to
many benificial consequences.(Lecture 4).
The work of these ministers and preachers paid off because of the
satisfactory results. A major result was the unification of many Americans
through religion. As well as the understanding of Christian faith and life. Many
non- established groups grew and enjoyed much more respect,such as the
Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians(Lecture 4). The colonists also figured out
that they can do things on their own. They didnt need others to interpret the
bible for them. This helped the colonists fight back against George III and his
tyrannical ways. They put in religious control over the destiny over their nation
and instead of asking the church about independence, they sought help from
god (Great Awakening).Colonists had infact also figured out that any man can go
to heaven. Even if they have money or not, religion apparently back then
stressed equality, this led to disturbances to the rich(McCormick,