PASSION MOVES FRONT AND CENTRE: REVIVALS, LOVE FEASTS, AND CAMP - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

PASSION MOVES FRONT AND CENTRE: REVIVALS, LOVE FEASTS, AND CAMP MEETINGS

Berwick Camp Tuesday July 28, 2015

AGENDA FOR TUESDAY MORNING

• John Wesley and others take (spiritual) passion to new heights
• Conversion and Revival
• Class Meetings and Love Feasts
• The Incarnation of the “Camp Meeting”

BREAK

• Activity Time

Sandra Beardsall/July 2015 Berwick Camp

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791)

• Born in an Anglican rectory; Susanna challenged John and

(16) other siblings to holy living

• Both John and brother Charles attended Oxford - formed and

served in “Holy Club” - received the name “Methodists”

• Visited Moravians at Herrnhut– deeply impressed by their

piety

• Experienced his “heart strangely warmed” at an evening

service in London (1738)

• Around same time, began “field preaching” with George

Whitefield against Deism and social decay, and for “experiential faith”

Sandra Beardsall/July 2015 Berwick Camp

THE WESLEYS AND THE METHODISTS

• Formed Fetter Lane Society with Charles and

George Whitefield – members met weekly to confess and pray

• Broke with other evangelicals over theological

issues

• Formed “United Societies” for those who

“desire to flee from the wrath to come”

• The “Rules” of this Society became the

foundation of the Methodist Discipline

Sandra Beardsall/July 2015 Berwick Camp

INFLUENCES ON WESLEY AND METHODISM

• The Early Church – via Non-

Jurors:

• Importance of Holy

Communion

• Asceticism – Simple Living
• The Medieval Monastics:
• Disciplined Life
• Spiritual Quests
• Medieval Reform Movements:
• Lay leadership
• Preaching Ministry
• Lutherans:
• Need for Grace
• Calvinist Puritans:
• Quest for Personal Salvation
• Need for Conversion
• Psalm Singing
• Pietists/Moravians:
• Small Group Ministries
• Hymnody

Sandra Beardsall/July 2015 Berwick Camp

WHAT DID EARLY METHODISTS DO?

• Listened to preaching that invited them to the

CONVERSION of their hearts to assurance of the forgiveness

• f their sins (justification)
• Joined a “Class Meeting” – received a ticket that was

renewed quarterly if they attended faithfully – at the “Quarterly Meeting” – prayed, testified

• Held “Love Feasts”: water, bread, and testimony
• Worked at “going on to perfection”
• Some became “local preachers” to lead worship in chapels
• Formed Sunday Schools
• Evangelized their families, neighbours, the poor
• Sang hymns, including the 6000 written by Charles
• AVOIDED: dancing, theatre, gambling, cards, fancy clothes,

alcohol except for medicinal purposes, and idle talk

English Methodist Class Meeting

Sandra Beardsall/July 2015 Berwick Camp

THE “CAMP MEETING”

• American in Origin
• The term “Camp Meeting” first occurs in 1802 in

Georgia or the Carolinas

• Sources:
• Pietist Swedish army encampments in the 18th

Century

• Presbyterian “Communion Seasons”
• Extended “Quarterly Meetings” – added

camping

• “Second Great Awakening” – increased revival

activity across USA

• Attendance:
• Interdenominational, but Methodists took hold of

the notion and fostered it Unidentified American Communion Season celebration

Sandra Beardsall/July 2015 Berwick Camp

DESIGN

Roman Military Camp, ca. 100 CE Rock Springs Camp Meeting, South Carolina, founded 1830 Berwick Camp Meeting, founded 1872

• Central platform

surrounded by dwellings (tents, later small cottages)

• Controlled access

Sandra Beardsall/July 2015 Berwick Camp

EARLY 1800s CAMP MEETING AGENDA

• 6 AM – Trumpet call to wake up
• 6:10 AM – Prayer and singing at the

door of one’s tent

• 7:00 – Breakfast, followed by prayer
• 10 AM – Preaching for Conversion
• Noon – Lunch
• 2 PM – Preaching for Conversion
• 5 PM – Supper
• 7 PM – Preaching for Conversion
• Late evening – Prayer and Testimony

DURATION: 8-10 days

Sandra Beardsall/July 2015 Berwick Camp

BOISTEROUS AFFAIRS

• “The evangelicals were

not only defined by their noises; they were noise.”

• Leigh Eric Schmidt

Sandra Beardsall/July 2015 Berwick Camp

CAMP MEETING AS THE RE-ENACTMENT OF THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES

• And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing

above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, ‘Amen, Amen’, lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

• And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the

Levites who taught the people said to all the people, ‘This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.’ For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.

• From Nehemiah 8

Sandra Beardsall/July 2015 Berwick Camp

THE APPEAL OF THE EARLY CAMP MEETINGS

• Held in a forest or grove: separation from the world, including

vistas and vast scenery

• Divine inspiration in nature: “Terra Spiritualis”
• Sociability of camping
• Opportunity to preach before huge congregations – asserted

power of clergy, yet in context of lay participation (inc. women)

• Opportunity for “sanctioned” carousing
• Remarkably effective tool for conversion

Sandra Beardsall/July 2015 Berwick Camp

EARLY CAMP MEETINGS IN CANADA

• First recorded in August 1805 in Upper Canada:
• Dundas (Ralph Morden’s farm)
• Hay Bay (Peter Huff’s property)
• Recorded in detail by Nathan Bangs
• Spread throughout Upper Canada via Methodist

Episcopal Church (American)

• Wesleyan Methodists (British) considered camp

meetings “unseemly” – preferred “Protracted Meetings” with more control by Methodist leadership

Sandra Beardsall/July 2015 Berwick Camp

LATER 19TH CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS

• By mid-1800s areas of North Eastern USA are

considered evangelically “burnt over”

• Camp meeting settings are becoming

comfortable: cottages, eating halls, furniture!

• Program is intended more to deepen

commitment than to convert: to “capture an elusive experience” (Stephen D. Cooley)

• US Northeast is highly urbanized, many

immigrants (Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish)

• Camp Meeting is a Protestant enclave

Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Cottage

Sandra Beardsall/July 2015 Berwick Camp

ENTER BERWICK!

• Edward Foster visits Camp Meeting in Hamilton, Mass., returns to

Berwick to form Camp Meeting Association

• First Meeting: July 4-11, 1872
• 1884 – 12 acres fenced (cost: $400)
• 1885 – Admission Tickets (no tickets sold on the Sabbath):
• 25¢ for season (inc. free horse and carriage parking)
• 5¢ per day
• 1885 - Boarding Tent: Breakfast and tea: 25¢; dinner 30¢
• Full Moon – offers best lighting; so camp is held during full moon

period each year

Sandra Beardsall/July 2015 Berwick Camp

BERWICK MATURES

• 1891: Flying Bluenose train

increases accessibility

• By 1898: 56 cottages; dining hall
• Attendance in 1890s: 3000-7000
• Highest daily attendance – often

“Temperance Day”

• Women evangelists as early as

1899

Sandra Beardsall/July 2015 Berwick Camp

ACTIVITY TIME FOR …

• ACTIVE BODIES: Berwick Bingo/Scavenger Hunt (see handout)
• There will be prizes!
• ACTIVE MINDS (AND MEMORIES):
• What was your first Berwick experience?
• What is your most memorable Berwick experience?
• How has Berwick engaged your faith passion (if at all)?
• ACTIVE IMAGINATIONS:
• Berwick and Poetry/Compose a poem (see handout)

Sandra Beardsall/July 2015 Berwick Camp