George Whitefield's Beliefs In The Great Awakening

During the 1730s, an extremely popular religious idea, Great Awakening, was spread across Europe and the British colonies in New England. The Great Awakening was a series of religious revivals which prompted a closer relationship with god. The revivals also represented a commitment showing a deeper devotion to their religion or “religion of the heart” (Walker 75). A new belief was adopted, one must ask for god’s grace to clear one’s sins in order for him/her to go to heaven. Minister would travel across the lands to preach and convert to Christianity. In particular, George Whitefield, a minister, was among the most popular ministers in New England. His preaching was so emotional and impactful that people from different towns would travel to him for his cathartic speeches. Among his followers, Nathan Cole, a Connecticut farmer, wrote about his experience when he was impacted by Whitefield’s preaching. When Cole first learned about Whitefield being near him, he stopped his work and immediately left
Small Baptist and Methodist churches gained popularity and more followers. As stated in “U.S. History” by P. Scott Corbett,” these churches focused more on baptizing adults that wished to convert to Christianity (120). White males were not the only ones converting, “women, the young, and people at the lower end of the social spectrum” (118). Which means other races like African slaves were also converted to Christianity. However, new churches also made others question the authorities, causing them to think for themselves rather than listening to ministers. This document says a lot about the faith of the people in the colonies during the 1730s. The Great Awakening accomplished more individual religious experience over the church’s doctrines. This lowered the popularity of the importance of church. Many new Christian groups surfaced as the significances of people’s faith increased. As a result, this movement unified the