Charles Finney: The Evangelist In Early America

Sep 30
Now we want to look at some of the Evangelist in early America.
We start with, Charles Finney.

Charles Finney (1792-1875)

Born in Warren, Connecticut in 1792, Finney, the youngest of fifteen children. The son of farmers who moved to the upstate frontier of New York. Finney never attended college. His leadership abilities, musical skill, six-foot three-inch stature, and piercing eyes gained him recognition in his community. He and his family attended the Baptist church in Henderson, where the preacher led emotional, revival-style meetings. Both the Baptists and Methodists were known for their fervor through the early nineteenth century. Finney, "read the law", studying as an apprentice, and became a lawyer.

The 29-year-old lawyer

He had many misgivings about the fundamental doctrines taught in that denomination. He moved to New York City in 1832, where he was minister of the Chatham Street Chapel and introduced some of the revivalist fervor of upstate to his urban congregations. He later founded and preached at the Broadway

Shopkeepers closed their businesses, posting notices urging people to attend Finney's meetings. Reportedly, the population of the town increased by two-thirds during the revival, and crime dropped by two-thirds over the same period.
From Rochester, he began an almost continuous revival in New York City as minister of the Second Free Presbyterian Church. In 1834, he moved into the huge Broadway Tabernacle his followers had built for him.
He stayed there for only a year, leaving to pastor Oberlin Congregation Church and teach theology at Oberlin College. In 1851, he was appointed president, which gave him a new forum to advocate social reforms he championed, especially abolition of slavery.
In 1966 while serving as chairman of the Ohio Board of Evangelism, I went to Ashland, Ohio to meet with Carl Richardson who was one of the board members. We were working on a book called “Let's Have Revival”. While there Carl took me to Oberlin College, where the late Charles Finney served as President. I felt was a privilege just to stand in the chapel where he preached many of his great