Charles Grandison Finney – Father of modern revivalism and the leading figure of the Second Great Awakening
Introduction
Charles G. Finney’s (1792-1875) unique methods of evangelism earned him the title of the “father of modern revivalism.” His methods paved the way for other mass-evangelists, like Dwight L. Moody, John W. Chapman, Billy Sunday, and Billy Graham, who adapted and built upon Finney’s methods.
Background Information
With this revival account being one in a sequence of revivals during the life of Charles G. Finney, we recommend reading them in chronological order:
► 1824 Evans Mills German Settlement Revival
► 1824 Antwerp, New York Revival
► 1824 Revival at Perch River and Other Locations
► 1825 Revival in Gouverneur, New York
► 1825 Revival in De Kalb, New York
► 1825 Revival in Western, New York
► 1825 Revival in Rome, New York
► 1826 Revival in Utica, New York
► 1826 Revival in Auburn, New York
► 1826-1827 Revival in Troy, New York
► 1827 New Lebanon & Stephentown Revivals
► 1827-1829 Revival at Wilmington and Philadelphia
► 1829 Reading, Pennsylvania Revival
► 1829 Lancaster, Pennsylvania Revival
► 1829 Columbia, New York Revival
► 1830 New York City Revival
► 1830-1831 Rochester, New York Revival
► 1831 Revivals in Auburn, Buffalo, Providence & Boston
► 1832 New York City Revival
► 1835-1840 Revivals in Oberlin, Ohio
► 1841-1842 Boston & Providence Revivals
► 1842 Rochester Revival
► 1842-1843 Revivals in Oberlin, New York, and Boston
► 1849 Revivals in Houghton, Birmingham, and Worcester
► 1850-1851 London, England Revival
► 1851-1853 Revivals in Oberlin, New York City, Hartford, & Syracuse
► 1853-1855 Revivals in Ohio & New York
► 1855-1856 Rochester Revival
► 1856-1858 Boston Revival (Third Great Awakening)
► 1859 England Revivals
► 1859-1860 Scotland & England Revivals
From England to Oberlin, Ohio
During Charles Finney’s 1859-1860 Scotland & England Revivals, he received many invitations from different locations throughout England to come and preach in their cities. He would have preferred to stay another 2 years to fulfill some of those requests, but decided to return to Oberlin, Ohio, due to pressing needs at Oberlin College where he was the president (1851-1866), as well as to tend to urgent matters at the First Congregational Church where he was the pastor.
After final farewells in Manchester, where a strong revival was happening, the Finneys traveled to Liverpool, England, and on August 4, 1860, boarded the RMS Persia for their return trip to the United States.
Condition at Oberlin:
Revival, Slavery, and the Beating of Civil War Drums
► In December 1858, at about the same time Finney left for England, 21 Oberlin citizens and members of the college attacked a U.S. Marshal and secured the release of an arrested escaped slave (Oberlin-Wellington Rescue).
► The First Congregational Church had internal problems, leading to the formation of another church.
► A group of people in the First Congregational Church were seeking the “gift of the Holy Ghost” and were considered fanatical, with one of them labeled as insane and committed to a mental asylum.
► There was a large number of new students who were not converted, and the faculty knew that a genuine revival was needed to see these new students converted to Christ.
Revival upon Finney’s Arrival in Oberlin
Finney was exhausted from his time in England and had been suffering terribly from lower back pain on the trip across the Atlantic. They arrived in New York on August 15, 1860, and after staying at homes of friends in New York, Albany, and Rochester, recuperating, they arrived back in Oberlin on September 5, 1860.
Upon their arrival, Finney’s strength quickly returned, and he was once again preaching, experiencing tremendous results. His wife, writing of this, said:
His labors here have been beyond everything I have ever known him to do. He said it seemed as if he had super human strength.
Hundreds Converted
On December 22, 1860, Elizabeth Finney wrote about the revival in her journal:
Our revival here continues and is greatly increasing in power—the whole town seems moved at the presence of God and such breaking down and humbling of the church I have never seen in Oberlin—I suppose several hundred have been converted.
It was also at about the same time, in December, that after four months of strenuous labor, Finney was confined to his bed for 2-3 months.
During Finney’s convalescence the revival continued. With him not being at the helm, the attendance did drop off, but the impact was still significant, as The Oberlin Evangelist reported on February 27, 1861:
There have been cases of hopeful conversion every week through the winter; during the last month more especially among the young men.
By August, Finney’s strength was still not enough to allow him to preach, but he wrote that even though there was no general revival, there were still frequent conversions. He also indicated that the Civil War had diverted people’s attention away from religious pursuits.
First Congregational Church in Oberlin, Ohio: then and now (relatively the same)
Periodic Outbreaks of Revival each Fall and Winter till 1868
The Lorain County News reported that in the fall and winter of each year the uptick in revival increased. The most noticeable period was from October 1865 – April 1866. At the height of this revival, at the end of January 1866, Finney’s health broke down again and he was confined to bed for three months. But by the next fall he was again helping to promote “one of the most remarkable revivals ever known at Oberlin.”
The Lorain County News said that this revival, from October 1865 – April 1866, was:
Like revival times of 30 years ago.
These revivals were seasonal, occurring mostly at the start of every school year, as Finney relates:
We have had more or less of a revival continually, summer and winter, since 1860.
Another newspaper reporting on that 1865-1866 revival, wrote:
Never will this winter be forgotten by this generation; memorable it must stand for its glorious work of grace.
The Lorain County News reported of the intensity that was ongoing through December 1866:
Three daily prayer meetings, beside the many other weekly and semi-weekly meetings, are now held and well attended.
This wasn’t only among the students of Oberlin College, it also involved the local community, with Finney reporting that:
Last winter, 1866, and ’67, the revival was more powerful among the inhabitants than it had been since 1860.
Even during times when Finney’s health would give way, and he would become bedridden for several weeks at a time, the revival continued unabated till the spring of 1867:
Though the attendance is somewhat diminished with the spring work [farming] the interest continues to an unusual degree… and new conversions are noted daily.
The Remaining Years
In December of 1868, when Finney was concluding his memoirs, he indicated that even that year, during the college’s fall term, they had “a precious revival,” and the First Congregational Church was still pursuing Christ:
Not only for a higher personal experience but for the conversion of the residue of the unconverted amongst us.
Primary Sources
► Chapter XXXVI: The Memoirs of Charles G. Finney by Charles G. Finney
► The Memoirs of Charles G. Finney: The Complete Restored Text by Charles G. Finney
Secondary Sources
► A History of American Revivals by Frank G. Beardsley
► A History of Oberlin College by Robert Samuel Fletcher
► Charles G. Finney by Wikipedia
► Charles Grandison Finney & the Second Phase of the Second Great Awakening by Christian History Institute
► Great Revivals and the Great Republic by Warren Candler
► Man of Like Passions: The Life Story of Charles Grandison Finney by Richard E. Day
► Memoirs of Revivals of Religion by Charles G. Finney
► The Fervent Prayer: The Worldwide Impact of the Great Awakening of 1858 by J. E. Orr
► The Story of Oberlin by Delavan L. Leonard
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