Worship And Evangelism In Nineteenth-century Revivalism

In America, nineteenth-century revival movements forged a relationship between worship and evangelism that continues to be widely influential today, even in worship traditions not traditionally associated with revivalism. Understanding the history of this relationship provides a context in which its current influence can be appreciated and critiqued. Throughout the early history of American Protestantism the Lord's Supper has been very much a part of revival movements. The emphasis upon experiential religion and conversion has gone through several stages, included in the Great Awakening of the eighteenth century and the Western Revivals of the nineteenth, climaxed by the Cane Ridge Meeting in 1801. A Presbyterian Approach to Evangelism Until midway through the nineteenth century American revivalism took place in the framework of the Presbyterianism brought to this country from Scotland and Ireland. From early in the Reformation Scottish churches developed a pattern of annual celeb…