Renewal and Charismatic Movements.

Factors that led to the great awakening and their characteristic. The term Great Awakening is used to refer to a period of religious revival in American religious history. Historians and theologians now identify three or four waves of increased religious upheavals occurring between the early 18th century and the late 20th century. Each of these enthusiastic waves in religion were classified as "Great Awakenings" which became characterized by widespread revivals led by evangelical Protestant ministers, a sharp increase of interest in religion, a profound sense of conviction and redemption on the part of those affected, a jump in evangelical church membership, and the formation of new religious movements and denominations. Debate over the reasons behind the Great Awakening was nothing compared to the somber spirituality felt in 1700 as the revivalism ushered in by the Awakening brought people back to “spiritual life” because they now felt a greater intimacy with God. Up until this period, there had been fighting between religious and political groups which ended in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. This ensured the establishment and the dominance of the Church of England as the primary religion of the country. As a result, other religion such as the Catholicism, Judaism and Puritanism were then repressed. Everyone now practiced the same religion which may sound right from a political perspective. However, in the religious sense it created disenchantment and alienation which eventually brought some reactions against this complacency which now developed into a new spiritualism or revivalism which enables Christians to believe from the depth of their hearts during worship as opposed to going through the motion during services. People like the Wesley brothers and George Whitefield in England were affected by this new breed in spiritualism which now spread to the American Colonies during the first half of the 18th Century. Consequently, the Awakening ensured the practice of new style of sermons, therefore the way people practiced their faith breathed new life into religion in America. Participants became passionately and emotionally involved in their religion. Hitherto, they had passively listened to intellectual discourse in a detached manner at most service. This new style of preaching enabled people to nickname Ministers who used this new style of preaching as "new lights", while the preachers who remained unemotional by still treading in the old path were referred to as "old lights". However, people affected by the revival also began to study the Bible at home which was quite unlike the period before the Great Awakening. This effectively decentralized the means of informing the public on religious manners and was akin to the individualistic trends present in Europe during the Protestant Reformation. The Awakening also played a major role in the lives of women especially, though very rarely were they allowed preaching or take up public roles. Conclusively, however the following characteristics can be identified with the period of the Great Awakenings as a result of an encounter with the Holy Spirit 1. Every period of Revival started with prayer that came not mechanically but intuitively upon the witness of the Revival 2. The people were drawn closer to the authority of the word of God which put them at variance with established religious norms. 3. The Holy Spirit spurred them to doing things that are not sensible but super sensible, just like the day of Pentecost. As a result, people became passionately and emotionally involved in their religion as opposed to listening to theological/intellectual discussions in the worship 4. There were spiritual cleaning not to man but to God and there were complete turnaround and restitution. 5 The supernatural occurrence miracle that defy human scientific arguments. Some of the things that will happen when you have an encounter with the Holy Spirit: People were pulled away from ceremonies and rituals with severe emphasis on faith. 6. You must put away any un-confessed sin. The powerful preaching during the awakening moved people beyond its base, thereby encouraging them to recognize their sin and the need for them to take decisive action in coming back to God. It also taught the fact that peoples action will dictate their relationship with God 7. Any doubtful habit 8. Obey the Spirit promptly and the importance of Baptism with the Holy Spirit was stressed. 9. You must confess Christ publicly. The Great Awakening therefore has become a religious revitalization movement that swept the Atlantic world, especially the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, leaving a permanent impact on American religion. It resulted from powerful preaching that gave listeners a sense of personal guilt and of their need of salvation by Christ. Pulling away from ritual and ceremony, the Great Awakening made religion intensely personal to the average person by fostering a deep sense of spiritual guilt and redemption, and by encouraging self belief and a commitment to a new standard of personal morality which hitherto were non existent.