IT ALL STARTED WITH A NOON PRAYER MEETING!
The greatest spiritual awakening known in the USA was triggered by the most unlikely of people!
On 1 July 1857, a quiet and zealous businessman named Jeremiah Lanphier gave up his business and took up an appointment as a City Missionary in downtown New York. Lanphier was appointed by the North Church of the Dutch Reformed denomination. This church was suffering from depletion of membership due to the removal of the population from the downtown to the better residential quarters. The new City Missionary was appointed to visit people in the immediate neighbourhood with a view of increasing church attendance among the floating population of the lower city.
He began by distributing leaflets, inviting people to a noon prayer meeting for New York businessmen. Only six people turned up for the first one, held on the third floor of the Old Dutch Reformed Church on Fulton Street.
The next week brought 20; the third week was attended by between 30 and 40. The meetings were so encouraging that
it was decided they should meet daily and a week later, "over 100 people, many of them not professors of religion, but
under the conviction of sin and seeking an interest in Christ" were attending.
By mid-November, the two lecture rooms had to be used, and both were filled. Within six months, these noon time prayer-meetings were attracting 10,000 businessmen who were confessing sins, getting saved and praying for revival.
A Boston journalist gives a picture of what the early meetings were like:
"The meeting is begun at twelve o'clock precisely, and it closes exactly on the hour (1pm). The room is full and crowded, and the interest appears to increase from day to day. It began with a modest meeting held once in the week. But attendance and benefit seemed to demand the more frequent observance of the privilege. Any one comes in or goes out as he pleases. It is the rule of the place to leave at any moment. All sects are here: the formal, stately Churchman and the impulsive Methodist who cannot suppress his groan and his 'amen'; the sober, substantial Dutchman and the ardent Congregationalist, with all Yankee restlessnesss on his face; the Baptist and the Presbyterian, joining in the same chorus and bowing at the same altar. Not one woman is present, and the singing from 200 male voices is really majestic."
As the noontime prayer meetings increased, attended predominantly by the male workers of the city, the effect in the city was tremendous. Many ministers began having nightly services in which to lead men to Christ. A chain reaction of church after church began to hold morning, afternoon and evening meetings for both prayer and counselling for those concerned about their souls.
Ships coming into New York harbour came under the power of God's presence. On one ship a captain and thirty men were converted to Christ before the ship docked. Four sailors knelt for prayer down in the depths of the battleship, 'North Carolina', anchored in the harbour. They began to sing and their ungodly shipmates came running down to make fun, but the power of God gripped them and they humbly knelt in repentance.
"Do you have to stop business at noon and go to a prayer meeting?" A customer from Albany asked a New York City merchant.
"Yes, I must. Why don't you go with me?" The customer went with him and received Christ. He returned to Albany and started prayer meetings there.
When the news spread that there were daily prayer meetings where sinners were welcomed, prayed for, and encouraged to turn to Christ, some hardened criminals were saved. Many thousands forsook crime and became devoted followers of Christ. Crime and vice drastically declined. Wealthy people generously helped the poor, whom they regarded as their brothers and sisters.
The same scenes were soon reported all over the nation, from New York to California, Florida to Maine. It affected judges and college students, businessmen and housewives. At times, schools had to close in order to pray and seek God.
In Jayne's Hall, Philadelphia, 4,000 were meeting. An elderly philanthropist named John Crozer, wrote in his diary, "I have never, I think, been present at a more stirring and edifying prayer meeting, the room quite full, and a divine influence seemed manifest. Many hearts melted, many souls devoutly engaged."
Under this third "Great Awakening" in the USA, it was the layman who moved out to evangelise. Though largely ignored by secular historians, this revival was considered the greatest of the awakenings experienced by the USA with a million converts added to the churches and a further million church attenders revived within two years.
Links: www.gospelcom.net www.smithworks.org
This article has been extracted from Jesus Life magazine, published by Jesus Fellowship
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