A Little Church History of a Middle Colony: The First Great Awakening

In the 1700s, Delaware witnessed powerful movements that shaped American Christianity. Today, Stephen Nichols continues exploring this colony’s church history, from George Whitefield’s Great Awakening preaching to the rise of Methodism.

Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. We are continuing our story of church history in the Middle Colony of Delaware. Last week, we looked at three moments in Delaware's colonial history. All of them were from the 1600s. In this episode, we're moving into the 1700s, and our fourth item of church history is about the Great Awakening, and it involves the Reverend Charles Tennent.

Charles Tennent is indeed part of that famous colonial family of the Tennents. He is the son of William Tennent Sr., who was the founder of Log College, which would eventually (starting there in Neshaminy, Pennsylvania) cross the Delaware River, and eventually become Princeton. Well, the Tennents were from Ireland. They immigrated. Charles was born there. He was born in Ireland in 1711. Of course, he came to the Pennsylvania colony with his family, and he too was a student of his father's Log College.

And then around 1730, he went to Delaware. He pastored until 1771. Is a little bit lesser known than his more famous brother, Gilbert Tennent, who preached his so-called Nottingham Sermon. The sermon entitled The Dangers of an Unconverted Ministry on March 8, 1740. Is also lesser known than his other brother, William Tennent Jr., another minister. There was a fourth brother, John Tennent, who was a minister briefly in New Jersey when he died at a very young age of 24. And there was one sister, Eleanor, but back to Charles.

In 1730, he makes his way to Delaware and he becomes the minister at the Presbyterian Church at Christiana Bridge. Then about seven years later, he moves just a couple of miles to White Clay Creek Presbyterian Church. And in 1739, George Whitefield came visiting. Of course, he knew of the Tennents, he knew of Charles' father, and he knew of this church. And as he was making his way through Delaware, he stopped and preached. Historians estimate, Whitefield estimates, that there were 8,000 who came to hear him preach at White Clay Creek. The First Great Awakening, as you know, is a little bit of a divisive thing, and the denominations in the colonial era, and you had the Old Side and the New Side Presbyterians. Well, that happened to White Clay Creek Presbyterian Church. There were those in the church that were in favor of Whitefield and what was happening, and there were those that were opposed. And so there was a split. Charles stayed with those who were in favor of the Great Awakening, and he continued pastoring there at White Clay Creek until 1763. At that time, he went to a church in Maryland, and then he died in 1771. So we have George Whitefield in Delaware.

Well, that brings us to our fifth and final moment in church history in the Colony of Delaware, and it involves the founding of Methodism. Right along Route One, which was the main highway in that area, a man by the name of Barratt built a very large meeting house on his property. It could hold 500 people and it was intended to be a meeting house for Methodists. Now, across what we call the Delmarva Peninsula, at the time there were probably not even a thousand Methodists, so Barratt was a man with a vision.

On November 14, 1784, Thomas Cook went to Barratt’s Chapel to preach. He had just arrived from England. He had just been ordained by John Wesley, and that evening also arrived Francis Asbury. He's the famous circuit riding preacher of early Methodism in the United States, and he was out circuit riding preaching, and he stops by Barratt’s Chapel, and it is where Thomas Cook and Francis Asbury meet. They spent the evening hatching a plan for what would be called the Christmas Conference for Christmas of 1784, and at the Christmas conference was born the Methodist Episcopal Church, the beginnings of formal Methodism in the United States, and it happened first in Delaware. Well, that's a little church history and the Colony of Delaware. And I'm Steve Nichols and thanks for listening to 5 Minutes in Church History.