April 20 - Anxious Seat
Revivals were happening across the country, but the Presbyterians (along with other Calvinists) weren’t about to have anything to do with all of that emotional hullabaloo. Then, along came Charles G. Finney.
He had joined the Presbyterian Church after finding God in the Bible due to the references that he kept discovering in his law books. He took his talent for speaking clearly in court to the highways, traveling on horseback preaching God’s Word. While other preachers were gaining notoriety for using emotionalism to grab a crowd, Finney knew that the Holy Spirit was working and unlike his fellow Presbyterians, had no qualms about allowing people to get excited.
By 1830, he had led several successful revivals and brought them to the larger cities in the east. He moved into a large church in New York City, but disagreed with the extreme Calvinistic beliefs and moved to a Congregational church. While there, he set up the ‘anxious seat,’ a bench set out front where people who were ‘anxious’ about their sins could come to request prayer.
Finney had all night prayer meetings and even gave women permission to pray publicly, something that was still unheard of in America. There were still detractors to the emotional outbursts that occurred at revivals, but Finney kept moving forward, confident that the Holy Spirit was working in the hearts of the people.
He brought organization to the revival, visiting a town first and recruiting ministers to help promote the event and asking them to design programs for follow-up and teaching of the newly converted. Supporters printed advertisements and promotion became a large part of evangelism. This new type of pre-event planning saw great success. In 1835, Finney published a treatise on “Lectures on Revivals of Religion” teaching how to do it correctly.
In 1835, Finney went to Oberlin College to teach and became its president in 1851. He continued to hold revivals until he died in 1875.
Revivals were happening across the country, but the Presbyterians (along with other Calvinists) weren’t about to have anything to do with all of that emotional hullabaloo. Then, along came Charles G. Finney.
He had joined the Presbyterian Church after finding God in the Bible due to the references that he kept discovering in his law books. He took his talent for speaking clearly in court to the highways, traveling on horseback preaching God’s Word. While other preachers were gaining notoriety for using emotionalism to grab a crowd, Finney knew that the Holy Spirit was working and unlike his fellow Presbyterians, had no qualms about allowing people to get excited.
By 1830, he had led several successful revivals and brought them to the larger cities in the east. He moved into a large church in New York City, but disagreed with the extreme Calvinistic beliefs and moved to a Congregational church. While there, he set up the ‘anxious seat,’ a bench set out front where people who were ‘anxious’ about their sins could come to request prayer.
Finney had all night prayer meetings and even gave women permission to pray publicly, something that was still unheard of in America. There were still detractors to the emotional outbursts that occurred at revivals, but Finney kept moving forward, confident that the Holy Spirit was working in the hearts of the people.
He brought organization to the revival, visiting a town first and recruiting ministers to help promote the event and asking them to design programs for follow-up and teaching of the newly converted. Supporters printed advertisements and promotion became a large part of evangelism. This new type of pre-event planning saw great success. In 1835, Finney published a treatise on “Lectures on Revivals of Religion” teaching how to do it correctly.
In 1835, Finney went to Oberlin College to teach and became its president in 1851. He continued to hold revivals until he died in 1875.
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