Tent revival

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A marquee tent set up for a tent revival in rural Pennsylvania, 2008 Tent Revival tent (Pennsylvania 2008).jpg
A marquee tent set up for a tent revival in rural Pennsylvania, 2008

Tent revivals, also known as tent meetings, are a gathering of Christian worshipers in a tent erected specifically for revival meetings, evangelism, and healing crusades. Tent revivals have had both local and national ministries.

Contents

The tent revival is generally a large tent or tents erected for a community gathering in which people gather to hear a preacher in hopes of healing, peace, forgiveness, etc. In the continental United States, from an administrative perspective tent revivals have ranged from small, locally based tents holding as few as a hundred people to large organizations with a fleet of trucks and tents able to hold thousands.

Most tent revivals in the U.S. have been held by Methodist Christians (inclusive of the holiness movement), [1] [2] as well as Pentecostal Christians. Some tent meetings are ecumenical, with the participation of Christian preachers from different denominations. [3] As tent revivals are held outdoors, they have attracted people who after hearing the preaching undergo a conversion experience and join a local Christian church. [4] With radio and television playing an increasingly important part in American culture, some preachers such as Oral Roberts, a very successful tent revivalist, made the transition to these media. Such pioneers were the early televangelists. Other evangelists who have been noted for their continued use of tents in crusades include David Terrell, [5] R.W. Schambach, Reinhard Bonnke and J. A. Pérez. [6]

Practice by denomination

In Methodism (inclusive of the holiness movement), tent revivals occur at various parts of the year, especially in the summer, for preaching the doctrines of the New Birth (first work of grace) and Entire Sanctification (second work of grace). [7]

Among Baptists, preachers at tent revivals focus their sermons on the New Birth with those receiving it undergoing baptism. [8]

Cultural representations

See also

Related Research Articles

Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement that emphasizes direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, an event that commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks, as described in the Acts of the Apostles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Great Awakening</span> Protestant religious revival in the early 19th-century United States

The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the late 18th to early 19th century in the United States. It spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching and sparked a number of reform movements. Revivals were a key part of the movement and attracted hundreds of converts to new Protestant denominations. The Methodist Church used circuit riders to reach people in frontier locations.

The Holiness movement is a Christian movement that emerged chiefly within 19th-century Methodism, and to a lesser extent influenced other traditions such as Quakerism, Anabaptism, and Restorationism. The movement is historically distinguished by its emphasis on the doctrine of a second work of grace, which is called entire sanctification or Christian perfection. Churches aligned with the holiness movement additionally teach that the Christian life should be free of sin. For the Holiness movement, "the term 'perfection' signifies completeness of Christian character; its freedom from all sin, and possession of all the graces of the Spirit, complete in kind." A number of evangelical Christian denominations, parachurch organizations, and movements emphasize those beliefs as central doctrine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oral Roberts</span> American religious leader (1918–2009)

Granville Oral Roberts was an American Charismatic Christian televangelist, who was one of the first to propagate Prosperity Gospel Theology. He was ordained in the Pentecostal Holiness Church until 1947 and in the United Methodist church briefly in the 1960’s. He is considered one of the forerunners of the charismatic movement, and at the height of his career was one of the most recognized preachers in the US. He founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University.

The Holiness Baptist Association is a holiness body of Christians with Baptist historical roots.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Pentecostal Holiness Church</span> Pentecostal denomination

The International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC) or simply Pentecostal Holiness Church (PHC) is an international Holiness-Pentecostal Christian denomination founded in 1911 with the merger of two older denominations. Historically centered in the Southeastern United States, particularly the Carolinas and Georgia, the Pentecostal Holiness Church now has an international presence. In 2000, the church reported a worldwide membership of over one million—over three million including affiliates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camp meeting</span> Christian gathering which originated in 19th-century America

The camp meeting is a form of Protestant Christian religious service originating in England and Scotland as an evangelical event in association with the communion season. It was held for worship, preaching and communion on the American frontier during the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century. Revivals and camp meetings continued to be held by various denominations, and in some areas of the mid-Atlantic, led to the development of seasonal cottages for meetings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revival meeting</span> Series of Christian religious services

A revival meeting is a series of Christian religious services held to inspire active members of a church body to gain new converts and to call sinners to repent. Nineteenth-century Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon said, "Many blessings may come to the unconverted in consequence of a revival among Christians, but the revival itself has to do only with those who already possess spiritual life." These meetings are usually conducted by churches or missionary organizations throughout the world. Notable historic revival meetings were conducted in the United States by evangelist Billy Sunday and in Wales by evangelist Evan Roberts. Revival services occur in local churches, brush arbor revivals, tent revivals, and camp meetings.

The Shearer Schoolhouse Revival was a series of Christian evangelical meetings conducted in mid-1896 in Cherokee County, North Carolina, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Coe</span> American pastor

Jack Coe was an American Pentecostal evangelist, nicknamed "the man of reckless faith". He was one of the first faith healers in the United States with a touring tent ministry after World War II. Coe was ordained in the Assemblies of God in 1944, and began to preach while still serving in World War II. In the following twelve years, he traveled the U.S. organizing tent revivals to spread his message. Coe was frequently the center of controversy, preached extensively through the South, and employed some 80 persons."

Hugh Marjoe Ross Gortner is a former evangelist preacher and actor. He first gained public attention during the late 1940s when his parents arranged for him to be ordained as a preacher at age four due to his extraordinary speaking ability, making him the youngest known in that position to this day. As a young man, he preached on the revival circuit and brought celebrity to the revival movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Higher Life movement</span> Movement devoted to Christian holiness in England

The Higher Life movement, also known as deeper Christian life, the Keswick movement or Keswickianism, is a Protestant theological tradition within evangelical Christianity that espouses a distinct teaching on the doctrine of entire sanctification.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoebe Palmer</span> Evangelist and writer

Phoebe Palmer was a Methodist evangelist and writer who promoted the doctrine of Christian perfection. She is considered one of the founders of the Holiness movement within Methodist Christianity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maramon Convention</span> Annual religious meeting in Kerala, India

The Maramon Convention, a Christian convention in Asia, is held at Maramon, Pathanamthitta, Kerala, India annually in February on the vast sand-bed of the Pampa River next to the Kozhencherry Bridge. It is organised by Mar Thoma Evangelistic Association, the missionary wing of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church.

The People's Methodist Church was a Wesleyan-Holiness denomination in the Southern United States from 1938–1962 founded by revivalist Jim H. Green.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T. L. Osborn</span> American pastor

Tommy Lee "T.L." Osborn was an American Pentecostal televangelist, singer, author and teacher whose Christian ministry was based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In six decades as a preacher, Osborn hosted the religious television program Good News Today.

Christian revivalism is increased spiritual interest or renewal in the life of a Christian church, congregation or society with a local, national or global effect. This should be distinguished from the use of the term "revival" to refer to an evangelistic meeting or series of meetings. Proponents view revivals as the restoration of the church to a vital and fervent relationship with God after a period of moral decline.

A revivalist is a person who holds, promotes, or presides over religious revivals. A secondary definition for revivalist is a person who revives customs, institutions, or ideas. The definition has become more robust in recent decades, and has been revised and adapted by American Charismatic and Pentecostal Christians to be someone who "recognizes that God's manifest presence transforms lives and cultures." A revivalist can also include someone that either presides over, or actively pursues, a religious re-awakening or restoration to spiritual ideas, orthodoxy, religious or personal experiences, and/or communal pursuit of divine occurrences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Caughey</span> Methodist evangelist, 1810–1891

James Caughey was a Methodist minister and evangelist who was active in the United States, England and Canada. An imposing and effective preacher, he conducted highly emotional revival meetings at which many of his audience were converted or reaffirmed their faith. This brought him into some conflict with the more respectable members of the Methodist church in Britain.

References

  1. Durham, Erika E. (16 October 2003). "Methodist revival to be held in tent". Houston Chronicle . Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  2. "Winstead United Methodist Church plans tent revival". The Wilson Times. 23 April 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
  3. Tabler, Dave (18 July 2019). "That old-time Appalachian tent revival". Appalachian History. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
  4. Sorensen, Karen (16 June 2010). "Faith: The rise and fall of tent revival church services". Taunton Daily Gazette . Retrieved 4 June 2021.
  5. "Brother David Terrell". Archived from the original on 9 July 2012.
  6. "Ja Perez association — Photos by Events HISTORY ARCHIVES". Archived from the original on 2014-11-13. Retrieved 2014-11-12.
  7. Olson, Roger E. (2005). The SCM Press A-Z of Evangelical Theology. Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd. p. 22. ISBN   978-0-334-04011-8.
  8. Maynard, Mark (1 October 2019). "Riverfront tent revival brings 'holy chaos' as dozens come to Christ - Baptist Press". Baptist Press. Retrieved 4 June 2021.

Bibliography