George Whitefield: On the Go With the Gospel in Early America
Throughout the over two-thousand-year history of the Christian church there have been individuals whose lives seem to have been lived at a different pace, extended a wider reach, and left a more lasting impact than what is humanly possible. An overview study of the Old Testament makes evident that God indeed raises up prophets and preachers among various groups of people to call them to repentance and faith that his covenantal love might go to all the earth (Jeremiah 7:25). Preachers like Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Elijah left lasting impacts upon the Israelites and their future. In the New Testament, the Apostles of the first century church went out into the highways and byways of major metropolitan areas in order to reach as many people far from God as possible (Acts 4). Peter, Paul, and others gave all of themselves to extend the gospel to all people and viewed their lives as vessels of God’s grace. From the end of the Apostolic era in the first century, there have been many preachers who continued in this lineage of gospel ministry and left profound marks of gospel influence on churches, towns, regions, and for some - entire continents.
In the early days of the forming of America upon the discovery of the continent of North America, there was a wide variety of religious beliefs and particularly of theological distinctions amongst European settlers[1]. The energy around the newness of the nation and the often-difficult circumstances of its citizens laid a fertile ground for conversions and masses of people to come to Christ. While many ministers had come, and would come, there lacked a single figure who would do the hard work of travel and carry with him a zeal to motivate him onward through the terrains of the American landscape. There was no single Christian minister who bridged gaps between denominational divides and had the courage and voice to send the gospel call to whites, blacks, natives, and others from a wide spectrum of religious beliefs and practice. Who then, would be a leading voice for Christ in early colonial America? Who, like Isaiah, Elijah, Peter, would carry a zeal of spirit and leverage their life to spread the truth about God and reach untold thousands? In order to understand America, a nation founded widely by Judeo-Christian thought and practice, it is essential to understand the nation’s earliest preachers of greatest impact; and one of the most influential men in the shaping of a young nation’s soul was evangelist George Whitefield. George Whitefield played a significant role in the shaping of early American life with his evangelistic zeal to proclaim the gospel of God.
Whitefield was a key figure of early American life and is recognized widely as such by both religious and secular historians today. Due to Whitefield’s massive impact on the religious life of early America, he consequently had an influence on the general way of life in the early eastern colonies. Because of Whitefield’s denunciations of dead-church methodology and his personal zeal to see people converted, his ministry subsequently impacted entire towns and regions and without question the religious landscape of America still today. The evangelistic zeal of Whitefield is worthy of study for any Christian, particularly in an increasingly secularized society such as modern America.
Whitefield’s Pre-American Background
Whitefield was born to an upper-middle class family in Gloucester, England in 1714 to well-respected parents who maintained an Inn as the family business. The last-born of seven children, George’s father, Thomas, passed away when George was only two years old.[2] In his young life, Whitefield had a passion for the theatrics and though he was taught well and considered learned as a boy, Whitefield sensed that due to his father’s passing it was unlikely he could attend Oxford, a leading university. However, with his mother’s persistence and dedication, George would enroll at Pembroke College, Oxford in the fall of 1732.[3]
While in school, Whitefield’s religious life may have been in question as is common among young people in the early stages of an independent life; but not so with George. George would be introduced to two brothers, Charles and John Wesley, who would eventually comprise three of the leading figures of what was later deemed “The Holy Club.”[4] This small band of young men was barely known at the time, but the three in particular would rise to heights of Christian leadership nearly unparalleled in the whole scope of modern church history. Through this group, Whitefield was exposed to soul-searching reading and acquiesced to the rigorous spiritual disciplines of the group and soon realized he was not converted and began having fits of emotion and which at some points greatly hindered his physical health and ability to live normally. In his personal memoirs about this time, he notes,
… a horrible fearfulness and dread (was) permitted to overwhelm my soul… I felt an unusual impression and weight upon my chest, attended with inward darkness… God only knows how many nights I have lain upon my bed groaning under the weight I felt, and bidding Satan depart from me… Whole days and weeks have I spent lying prostrate on the ground.[5]
Following this period of extreme anguish and soul-awakening, George developed a spiritual longing for God, including periods of fasting and strict denials of worldly comforts, and would eventually fully thrust himself on God’s grace and be unmistakably born-again to a new life as a Christian at the age of twenty.
At this point in his life, Whitefield was immersed in growing in his faith and a right understanding of doctrine. The zeal of young Whitefield soon caught the attention of friends and acquaintances, prompting many to Christ, and gaining disdain from others.[6] Though initially frightened by the idea of entering the ministry as a preacher, Whitefield eventually realized it to be precisely what God had called him to do and continued his studies at Oxford where he would obtain a bachelor’s degree and eventually be ordained to the ministry in 1736 in the Gloucester Cathedral. When he preached, George had a certain zeal and passion to preach on regeneration and the “new birth” (John 3:8) of those who did not know Christ through faith. Historian Albert Belden describes a particular response to Whitefield’s first sermon as “sounding and preaching like a lion”[7] Although unbeknownst to the new preacher at this time, this same zeal would be necessary to carry him through another country as he would preach to thousands in the open-air fields of the America.
After a few short-lived itinerant preaching ministries in churches in London, Whitefield was soon intrigued by the invitation to serve as a missionary to Georgia, one of the first states. According to historian, Arnold Dallimore, “Georgia had been founded by a philanthropical Englishmen, Colonel Oglethorpe. He intended it especially as a place where persons released from debtors’ prisons could be resettled and also in which Europeans who had suffered Romanist persecutions might find refuge.”[8] During a near year wait to set off for America, Whitefield continued to preach in churches with such zeal and charisma that combined a sound Calvinistic soteriology with the zeal of an evangelists to all of the truest form with such fervency that commentators of this era of his life describe him as having “startled a nation”.[9] Regarding the quick and sudden rise of Whitefield’s influence in England, Tracy notes, “He preached nine times a week, and the people listened ‘as for eternity.’ Thousands went away from the largest churches, unable to gain admittance.”[10] Whitefield’s love of Christ, zeal for the gospel, commitment to the Bible, and bold-hearted charisma would lead him to the “Brave New World” of America where his infectious zeal for preaching the new birth would be received up and down the eastern shore of the new nation.
Whitefield’s Evangelistic Zeal and an Exposition of 2 Timothy 4:5
How had God made Whitefield different from other men who had set out to America with similar dreams of seeing early colonists come to faith in Christ? Heaven may only know. But there are distinguishing aspects of Whitefield’s character and practice that, over time, would clearly set him apart from even men such as John Wesley who had went to America only to return in a spirit of defeat due to the challenges of the spiritual landscape. Perhaps growing up without a father led him to feel a greater sense of drive and stick-to-it mentality as he was required to learn more than he would have otherwise. Perhaps it was his own radical discovery of his own need for regeneration against the backdrop of having grown up in a religious home that pressed his heart deeper into the doctrine of salvation. Having grown up under the theological sway of the Church of England, Whitefield, like many others had for a time come to believe that their baptism as an infant and affiliation with the church guaranteed their standing before God without any need for saving faith and the new birth.[11] It must have stunned Whitefield to his core upon his discovery that he had not genuinely received the baptism of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:12–13) but perhaps had rarely heard a clear gospel message that demanded a response. One cannot be sure of the exact psychological pattern of Whitefield’s thinking that drove his zeal for sharing the gospel, only that it was his single greatest passion. He would spend his days in America heralding a clear gospel message and beckoning any who would believe to repent and be saved.
Exposition of 2 Timothy 4:5
Whitefield carried a burden for the souls of other upon his back, and did so in similar fashion as early church leaders – namely, the Apostle Paul. Having experienced his own radical conversion out of a works-based religiosity (Acts 9:1–31), Paul knew of and preached the important of a personal supernatural conversion and wanted to instill the necessity thereof into his young ministry protégé, Timothy. Like Whitefield, Paul desired to see all fellow Christian ministers be greatly used by God for the purpose of seeing souls saved. For this reason, as Paul is writing to Timothy, he wants to be sure to instruct him in the necessity of being a zealous evangelist. Paul referenced Timothy as a “beloved child” which is viewed as a special kind of mentoring relationship.[12] Wall and Steele suggest that the verbiage incorporated by Paul likens this relationship as being similarly shaped by a form of obligation to a family business that assumes the undertaking of future responsibility upon the departure of a forerunner.[13] Perhaps Whitefield’s absence of a Christian father or his close bond with fellow American evangelists, Charles and John Wesley, spurred him into the direction of picking up the evangelistic work of imparting the gospel to others and not leaving any good work undone.
Paul exhorted Timothy to “preach the word” as a primary task of his ministry that he should devote much attention to (2 Timothy 4:2). This focus on the mandate for preaching and gospel proclamation is a common theme in Paul’s writings to early church pastors (1 Timothy 5:20, 2 Timothy 2:14–15, Titus 1:13; 2:15).[14] Paul extended his argumentation of the usefulness of Scripture from 2 Timothy 3:16 through the natural outworking of faithful preaching which should result in reproof, rebuke, and exhortation from the divinely inspired Word of God (2 Timothy 4:2b). Though Paul was advocating for Timothy to preach the full counsel of God as found in the Scriptures (all Scripture), the mandate specifically called for Timothy to preach the gospel of salvation.
One term for preaching in the New Testament is euangelizō, which specifically denotes a heralding of the gospel.[15] Lea and Griffin write, “Many American Evangelicals use the term ‘the word of God’ as a reference to the words of Scripture. In the Pastorals, the term ‘word,’ or ‘word of truth’ is frequently a reference to the gospel.”[16] Indeed, the charge to preach was a customary verb Paul employed for his own gospel proclamation.[17] This charge from Paul comes towards the end of the epistle which many believe to be some of the apostle’s final written words (2 Timothy 4:7–8).[18] Paul desired to ensure that his investment in Timothy would present a clear charge to preach the word of God and that Timothy would continue investing in others and the generations that would follow (2 Timothy 2:2).
Paul concludes this section regarding the nature and work of Holy Scripture in 2 Timothy by exhorting Timothy to “do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:5b). On the meaning of fulfilling (from plērophorēo) the ministry, commentator Robert Yarbrough writes, “Here it means to carry out completely; to leave nothing undone; to execute tasks with the high standards and fidelity to Christ that Paul has called for throughout the epistle.”[19] While all Christians are called to be evangelists of sorts by fulfilling the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19–20), there is a specific call on the pastor/preacher to fulfill their ministry be heralding the good news of Jesus. By concluding this section with an emphatic direct address to Timothy in saying “as for you” (2 Timothy 4:5a), Paul continues his exhortation to Timothy by contrasting a faithful evangelistic ministry with those who neglect the true calling of the minister to faithfully proclaim the Scriptures and herald the gospel (2 Timothy 4:3–4). Therefore, a ministry that is not rooted in God’s Word and lacks a passion to see souls saved is an unfulfilled ministry. As we will find, when George Whitefield embarked towards American soil, he would zealously “fill up” the eastern shore with this Apostolic mandate to do the work of an evangelist with the gospel of God.
Whitefield’s Influence on Early American Life
As influential as Whitefield quickly became in his time preaching in the churches of England, it would be his work in America that would leave the biggest impact on the souls of people and, in one aspect, the soul of a nation. George encountered a difficult trip to the new nation due to storms but would eventually find land in New Hampshire at the age of twenty nine.[20] On the precipice of the American Revolution, the nation was united on many political and economic fronts, but perhaps more divided than ever as the nation had become a melting pot of religious, denominational, and theological diversity perhaps more-so than any nation on earth at the time – a reality that continues on very much today.
As Whitefield made his way through the colonies, he would meet early opposition in the Carolinas where many Anglicans and those who opposed English dissenters resented Whitefield for his friendliness and encouragement of their views.[21] These attacks intended to suspend Whitefield’s work and accuse him of a form of revivalism that was unbiblical and effectively render him as an anathema or ministerial outcast in America. The Anglicans, with their staunch views of paedo-baptism and conformity to the Church of England, viewed Whitefield’s gospel ministry as creating a false sense of salvation that emphasized a sudden, instantaneous work of the Spirit rather than the prolonged gradual work through reason and persuasion.[22] Whitefield upset various groups within Methodist life, having been deemed a sheep stealer by some and a fanaticist by the those Whitefield considered to be spiritually dead in their orthodoxy.[23] Furthermore, Whitefield clashed with some Particular Baptist, who held similar doctrinal convictions, but believed Whitefield’s emphasis on the decision of the sinner to be dangerous along with the General Baptist who opposed his reformed soteriology.[24] It seemed that wherever the evangelist went, there were many who loved and appreciated his zeal for God but also those who would vocalize their disapproval on various grounds. Either way, Whitefield stormed through the early colonies proclaiming the gospel and leading in social endeavors that corresponded to the salvation which had so radically changed him and multitudes who heard him.
Whitefield would soon go to Georgia where he would pick up the work of his friends, the Wesley brothers, and would begin an orphanage near Savannah in 1740 after traveling up and down the eastern coast raising money for this endeavor.[25] During his travels, which were largely fueled by a desire to learn the American culture and spiritual condition, he would meet friends and often be invited to preach in some of the largest churches but would frequently need to resort to open-air preaching in fields because of the vast crowds who would come from miles away to hear the acclaimed evangelist.[26] After some time, George and his friends would found the orphanage, dutifully named Bethesda (which means: A House of Mercy), on over 500 acres of land. Whitefield was strongly doctrinal in his preaching, but believed that true doctrine and the effective work of salvation in the heart of a person led them to actions and extending love to all people.
With his enthusiasm for preaching and compassion for the orphans, Whitefield would soon gain the attention of Benjamin Franklin, an essential thinker and political influencer of early American life. Their friendship lasted many years, and without question Whitefield had an impact on Franklin. One example of this is that Whitefield often appeals to white slave owners to treat their slaves better and to cease making a mockery of the gospel in their treatment of those made in God’s image. He penned a letter that Franklin would have printed and distributed.[27] This letter, along with others, served as a sharp rebuke to slaveowners who were getting rich from their mistreatment of the slaves while treating them as animals and less-than-human. Needless to say, Whitefield continued his trend of influencing people while making both friends and enemies from various backgrounds. One may imagine how the rhetorical sharp tone of these letters (alongside that of others) from an English preacher impacted American thought, leavign long lasting rebukes to the minds of a nation that would soon undergo a radical division over these very issues with the Civil War and eventual emancipation of the slaves.
America would soon undergo perhaps its most important moment as the revival preaching of evangelists like Whitefield had soon become common, taking place in nearly every colony at equal length by different men. These revivals had in many ways sailed over from Europe as there was seasons of great spiritual renewal passing through the other side of the ocean in Germany, Switzerland, and Holland.[28] This period, which is historically termed as “The Great Awakening” would soon become a trans-Atlantic movement as men like Whitefield traveled to the new nation to spark the gospel flames of revival in a new land. Cairns defines this Great Awakening as, “… a series of simultaneous, spontaneous, unorganized, rural or village congregational awakenings led by godly pastors.”[29] Jonathan Edwards, a Congregational pastor and renown scholar, led the way of this Great Awakening early in American revivalism and was followed by men of similar influence but different theological persuasions as Charles Finney. Whitefield would befriend Edwards and continue his work in New England, drawing thousands to hear him preach in the open fields where American Puritanism had settled for over a century but had grown cold and dull spiritually.
Whitefield would begin preaching tours in which he would travel up and down the coast holding revival meetings and drawing people from all walks of religious and denominational life. He would often preach twice a day and once at night in what to some appeared to be a supernatural gift considering he was preaching in open fields, often to hundreds or thousands with no microphone or voice amplifier.[30] One particular group who was heavily influenced during this era of revival were the Baptist of the southern colonies. Of the importance of this time for Baptist in America, Dallimore writes,
Baptist … were few in the southern region at this time, unbelief was entering among them, and a zeal for soul-winning was rare. But moved by Whitefield’s ministry many of these churches became firm in the faith, and a new fervor began to characterize them. They increased in number with great speed as men – many of them farmer-preachers – preached the gospel in tents, in barns, and in the open air. Souls in great numbers were won to Christ.[31]
As one considers this small aspect of Whitefield’s ministry, it is easy to understand how vast the influence was as the evangelists preached in such a way to revive an entire region of Baptist. In modern times, the Southern Baptist Convention (largely regionally southern) make up the largest Protestant denomination in America. With a similar zeal for evangelism and a “come as you are” mentality as Whitefield, Baptist in the south undoubtedly were influenced by this climactic growth of their forefathers during the era of the Great Awakening spurred on by Whitefield’s evangelistic zeal. In a similar spirit, evangelists like Dwight Moody and Billy Graham would follow in Whitefield’s ministry model of extending the universal call of the gospel to any would give him a fair hearing knowing that it was the gospel alone that could change a heart and in-so-doing bless a nation.[32] Whitefield’s cross-denominational ministry made him a favorite preacher of early America and as his story is understood in modern times, the impact on the religious landscape of all of America is undoubtedly of critical importance to both know and appreciate. This model of ministry has shaped America to be less exclusive denominationally and perhaps spurred some towards an ecumenical tendency that perhaps may not reside today were it not for Whitefield and others. The early divides of denominational groups in America nearly mirrored the sharp contrasts found in Europe which were, in some forms, the reason many Christians left Europe in search of a new way of living out their faith disjointed from the authority of the Church of England.
A Legacy for Soul-Winning
George Whitefield played a significant role in the shaping of early American life with his evangelistic zeal to proclaim the gospel of God. As he preached and ministered in both Europe and America, he left an undeniable mark of God-centered spiritualism and evangelistic zeal that would continune until his death in 1770. Historians often wonder what more impact Whitefield may have had would he have not pressed his body so much during his open-air preaching tours which certainly impacted his body and brought constant sickness as she traveled in various climates and seasons. Following the appeals of his young assistant shortly before his death, Whitefield is famed to have told him that he would “rather wear out than rust out.”[33] He knew that his entire life was not his own, and that he would give himself entirely to the gospel ministry. He followed in the steps of the Apostle Paul to know that it was Christ living through him and spurred on a life of faith and useful service (Galatians 2:20).
Much can be learned from this sort of fully-surrendered zeal Whitefield possessed. Christians today can study a man of this character and fortitude and feel a righteous sense of unease as they’re pulled in so many ways mentally and spiritually from the eternally impacted ministry before them. Pastors would do well to consider the over 1,800 sermons preached in in just over thirty five years of ministry and consider the calling to redeem the time.[34] Christians and ministers alike would do well to ask God for the faith and passion of this early Great Awakening preacher and call out to God to revive their homes, churches, cities, and nation.
Dr. Adam S. Denny
*originally submitted to Liberty University: Rawlings School of Divinity
Sources
Bebbington, David W. Baptist Through the Centuries: A History of a Global People. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2010.
Belden, Albert D. George Whitefield – The Awakener: A Modern Study of the Evangelical Revival. New York, NY: The MacMillan Company, 1953.
Cairns, Earle E. Christianity Through the Centuries: A History of the Christian Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996.
Dallimore, Arnold. George Whitefield: God’s Anointed Servant in the Great Revival of the Eighteenth Century. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010.
Edwin S. Gaustad and Leigh E. Schmidt, Religious History of America: The Heart of the American Story from Colonial Times to Today, Rev. ed. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2004.
Heppner, Ryley.“What George Whitefield Can Teach Us About Ministering in a Pandemic” https://ca.thegospelcoalition.org/article/what-george-whitefield-can-teach-us-about- ministering-in-a-pandemic/Accessed January 29, 2022.
Hiebert, Paul. Transforming Worldviews: An Anthropological Understanding of How People Change. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2008.
Lea, Thomas D. and Griffin Jr., Hayne P. NAC: 1, 2 Timothy, Titus. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 1992.
Tracy, Joseph. The Great Awakening: A History of The Revival of Religion in the Time of Whitefield and Edwards. Edinburg, UK: Banner of Truth Trust, 2019.
Yarbrough, Robert W. PNTC: The Letters to Timothy and Titus. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman’s, 2018.