Great Awakening is the name given to a series of religious revivals in the American Colonies during the mid-1700’s. The movements began in the Middle Colonies in the 1730’s and spread to New England and to some areas of the South. Leaders of the Great Awakening included Jonathan Edwards, a Congregational pastor in Massachusetts; Theodore J. Frelinghuysen, a Dutch Reformed pastor in New Jersey; Gilbert Tennent, a Presbyterian pastor in New Jersey; and George Whitefield, a traveling Methodist preacher from England.
The Great Awakening had a strong influence on American religious life. It produced a new, excited form of preaching. The structure of worship services changed to permit increased participation by the laity. Elements of revivalism also became widely accepted as a means of converting people to a particular church. Revivalism emphasizes individual religious experience rather than the doctrines of a specific church. The issue of personal experience divided many congregations and denominations. Supporters insisted that such an experience was necessary as a test of membership in a church. Opponents declared that a person could belong to a church without having such an experience.
