After the fiery passion of the Protestant Reformation "cooled down" and solidified into a new "orthodoxy", there was a need to rediscover inner spiritual life and to get beyond the formalism of church services and rigid theologies.
The next chapter in the history of the Christian church began in Germany in the Lutheran churches. The pioneer was Jakob Philip Spener and the movement he began is called "Pietism". Philipp Spener was and remained a Lutheran and held to all the tenets of his Lutheran faith, including the belief that the body of Christ is literally chewed in the mouth at Communion. However, the focus of his life and work was elsewhere - namely, on spiritual vigour and the need for Christian community. His famous book, Pia Desideria, published in 1675, identifies six important points. For example, the importance of preaching being edifying not merely polemical. Spener put this into practice, first at Strasburg, then in Frankfurt and finally in Dresden and Berlin. For example, he organised afternoon fellowship meetings after church at which believers could be built up in their faith. The Pietists became a renewal movement within Lutheranism. Spener's successor was August Francke. Pietists actively expressed their faith in Christian works, for example orphanages (such as the one at Halle in 1695) and, from the early 1700s, missionary work abroad.
A similar movement to Pietism was the Moravian church. Their origins went back to what is now the Czechlands and a man called Jan Hus who held views similar to those of Martin Luther a hundred years earlier, and who was martyred for his faith in 1417. The Hussite movement survived his death, but had to defend itself against military attack. Eventually, many of the Bohemian Brethren, as they were known, had to escape the advance of the counter-reformation, ending up in the Netherlands and elsewhere. One group, the Moravian Brethren, in the early 1700s came to take refuge in Germany on the lands of a prominent Pietist called Count Von Zinzendorf. In 1727, this community of Christians experienced what is described as the "Moravian Pentecost" - a Pentecost-like experience of revival from the Holy Spirit. As a result, this small community began non-stop prayer meetings and also sent out missionaries to lots of countries around the world. One of the places they sent missionaries to was Latvia, and this had a major impact on the history of the nation.
Around the same time, in the colonies of North America, there were also stirrings of spiritual life. A early pioneer was a Dutch reformed preached called Theodore Frelinghuysen in 1727. Some years later, around 1733-5, at a congregationalist church in Northampton (New England) a young preacher called Jonathan Edwards preached powerful sermons calling for deep-seated repentance and belief in the power of the gospel to give new life. This led to increasing numbers of conversions and growth of churches in the surrounding area. He wrote up his experiences in a book entitled, The Surprising Work of God. In the United States, this time was known as the "First Great Awakening". Jonathan Edwards began "concerts of prayer" praying, among other things, for the work of evangelisation. There were connections between Edwards in America and brothers in sisters in the reformed churches back in Britain.
Meanwhile, in the English state church, the Church of England, there was a group of keen students at the university of Oxford, who sought to live holy Christian lives of discipline. They were nicknamed "Methodists". One of their number, John Wesley, the son of a clergyman, chose to go to the Americas as a missionary, setting out by boat in 1736. During the sailing, the boat was caught in a storm. While John Wesley was seized with fear, there were Moravian Christians (see above) on board who were singing hymns of confidence in God. John Wesley conversed with one of their leaders, Boehler, who asked him whether he knew Jesus as his Saviour. John Wesley's was able to answer his questions, but later realised his answers were not based on reality. His "mission" to America was not successful and he returned to London in 1738. He thought to himself, "I went to America to convert the Indians; but oh, who shall convert me?" Shortly after his return home, he found a Moravian meeting in London. As the preacher read the introduction to the letter to the Romans, John Wesley's felt his heart "strangely warmed" and that night he had assurance of his sins forgiven. Other members of the "Holy Club" were converted in similar ways, including George Whitefield and John's brother, Charles Wesley. Ordained as ministers in the Church of England, they began preaching - first in local churches and then outside to increasing numbers of people around the country, and later also in other English-speaking countries such as Scotland and the Americas. Those who professed faith were organised into local fellowships and small groups, whilst retaining membership in the Church of England. Only after John Wesley's death in 1791 was the Methodist church established as a church in its own right. George Whitefield had a similar ministry, although their differences over the doctrine of election led to them going separate ways. This time of revival is known in Britain as the Methodist Revival, and had a major impact on the history of the nation.
The focus of the preaching at this time was on the three "Rs": ruin, redemption and rebirth (regeneration). A verse which summed it up was, "You must be born again." The preaching of the gospel naturally led to communities of support for those who came to faith, and also works of Christian charity.
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