Students and Movements
Note: the following is excerpted and adapted from Join the Movement:
This summer I am spending more time with young people than any summer of my life. So far the journey has been an amazing blessing. Being around so many students reminds me that the most overlooked aspect of historical movements of God regards the role of young people. Modern movements of God often started not in a local church with a pastor but with a group of youth meeting in a group somewhere or on a college campus, from Wesley’s Holy Club in the 18th century to the Asbury College revival in 1970. When you read the accounts of people who lived in the middle of great revivals, they regularly emphasized how youth played a vital role. No less than Jonathan Edwards stressed that awakenings particularly affected the younger generation. Concerning the effect of the First Great Awakening on youth in Northampton, Massachusetts, he commented:
God made it, I suppose, the greatest occasion of awakening to others, of anything that ever came to pass in the town… news of it seemed to be almost like a flash of lightning, upon the hearts of young people, all over town, and upon many other.[1]
Imagine if half your town met Christ in a life-changing way in less than a year as they did in Northampton. I would call that a movement of God. The revival in Northampton spread quickly to neighboring towns. In fact, Edwards remarked further on the role of youth in this revival, while indicting older believers for their indifference:
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The work has been chiefly amongst the young; and comparatively but few others have been made partakers of it. And indeed it has commonly been so, when God has begun any great work for the revival of his church; he has taken the young people, and has cast off the old and stiff-necked generation.[2]
Stern words for our day as well! Now lest I be too hard on older folks, let me add that every great revival was also helped by the maturity of older believers. We need the wisdom of the aged and the zeal of youth.
Edwards served a church that witnessed a series of spiritual movements sweep across the community, largely influenced by young people, over decades. The movement in 1734-35 began when Edwards encouraged (maybe scolded is more accurate) the youth to become more serious about the things of God. In particular he chided them for their frivolous attitude toward honoring the Lord’s day. Imagine a pastor telling young people to get right with God, and they did! The youth were also affected greatly by the sudden death of a young man and then of a young married woman in their town. Edwards proposed that the young people begin meeting in small groups around Northampton. By the way, if the role of young adults is the most underemphasized aspect of God-movements, the place of small groups would be second. The small group met with such success that many adults followed their example.
Revival erupted when Edwards preached a series of messages on justification by faith. Edwards himself was amazed at what he termed the “surprising work of God.” He wrote how that for some time in Northampton the only topic of discussion was of spiritual matters. Many persons came to Christ as a result of the supernatural activity of God. A frivolous young woman’s dramatic conversion was the first of many. Over three hundred professed faith in Christ in only six months.
By the spring of 1735 the church was crowded to capacity each week. Often the entire congregation was moved to tears due in some cases to joy, in others to sorrow for sin. In the months of March and April, nearly thirty were added to the church in addition to the spirit of revival among the believers. People came from other areas to see the amazing work. Many of them were awakened and spread the revival elsewhere. Edwards recorded that no less than twenty-seven towns ultimately experienced revival. Soon Edwards’ church counted over six hundred members, encompassing virtually the entire adult population of the town.
The testimony of those touched by God provide the fuel of a God-movement. Edwards wrote a very lengthy letter describing the movement. Published soon thereafter, the treatise known as the Narrative spread the fire of God as others read it in the colonies and in England. The Narrative had a powerful effect on both the contemporary scene and over the century following. It was immediately published and sent to England. Perry Miller commented on its impact there:
Without exaggeration one may say that the Narrative did for bewildered English nonconformists of 1736 what Geothe’s Werther did for young German romantics. It perfected a formula for escape from an intellectual dilemma by opening an avenue into emotion and sensibility.[iii]
The Narrative had a profound effect on a young John Wesley. Wesley read the account in 1738, writing in his journal that this movement was surely from the Lord. As a result he “was led to desire earnestly that England might not lay behind America in that path of grace.”[iv] In addition, George Whitefield read the work while in Georgia in 1738 at the age of 24. Whitefield, who had been with Wesley in the Holy Club at Oxford, would soon be the dominant human leader of the Great Awakening.
We would do well to teach youth how God has not reserved significant spiritual impact for the seasoned only. We would do well to challenge youth who learn trigonometry in high school to learn theology in church. That is why we are launching an MDiv in Student Ministry which includes languages and theology. I would submit that a youth pastor should know theology better than anyone, for he should challenge students to ask hard questions and should help them find the answers. Your thoughts?
[1]Jonathan Edwards, “A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God, in the Conversion of Many Hundred Souls, in Northampton, and the Neighbouring Towns and Villages of New Hampshire, in New England; in a Letter to the Rev. Dr. Colman, of Boston,” In The Works of Jonathan Edwards, ed. Sereno E. Dwight (London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1834), Vol. I, 347.
[2]Jonathan Edwards, “Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New England, and the Way in Which It Ought to Be Acknowledged and Promoted, Humbly Offered to the Public, in a Treatise on That Subject,” in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, I:423.