Charles Grandison Finney

His name may not be familiar to you (or, at best, vaguely familiar) but his influence on your life is pretty significant. He died nearly a century and a half ago and what he did is still being felt by people throughout the world. He is one of the key figures in history that you never read about or study about. He is lost in our secularized, sanitized history of America (or the history of the world, for that matter). But you should know him or, at least, know about him. Let me introduce you to Charles Grandison Finney.
Finney was a lawyer who became a Christian (already he breaks the mold, huh?). He lived in Western New York in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. After he was converted (I'm talking about the same day) he shared the gospel with a client and helped lead him to the Lord. He went out into the streets and began to share his new found faith with others. Not bad for the first day of your new spiritual life! He began preparing for ministry by rejecting the normal route (going to Princeton for some seminary training) and was "apprenticed" to a minister for individual training. He chose to study the Bible rather than slaving away on the books in the pastors library. He disagreed with most of the conventional theology of the Presbyterian Church, but they ordained him anyway. The rest, as they say, is history.
Western New York in 1825 was the frontier of America. It was where people went who wanted to escape the hustle and bustle of Eastern society went to start a new life. It was where Finney grew up and where he began his ministry. And when he began to preach, incredible things happened. Dozens, hundreds, even thousands started to come to come to Christ. Finney was so effective that his revivals where huge social events that caused social changes in the communities in where he ministered. In one revival, hundreds of lawyers were converted. No, that's not a punch line to the joke, "What do you call hundreds of lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?" (Answer: a good start) Finney was the Billy Graham of his day.
So what, you say? Well, here is the rub. Finney was a biblical pragmatist. He followed the Bible in every way he could. But when the Bible was silent on an issue, Finney became a pragmatist. His view was, "If the Bible doesn't say anything about it then do whatever works!" That attitude changed how America worshiped. When you go to church and there is not a liturgy or prayer book in use, that's because of Charles Finney. If you have ever gone to a revival service or an evangelistic crusade where an altar call was given and people came forward to an altar, that's because of Finney (Finney called it the mourner's bench or the anxious seat). If you've ever heard someone address sinners from the pulpit directly, that's Finney. If you've ever heard a sermon that was based on logical, deductive reasoning and that sounded like a legal argument - that was how Finney preached. Finney could rightly be called the father of the discipline of Apologetics (proving the truths of Christianity). He was the person who changed the face of Protestant worship in America and gave it the distinctive evangelistic and pragmatic feel it has. If you ever went to a Billy Graham rally or a Promise Keepers Convention or a Camp Meeting service in an outdoor facility, you have experienced the effects of Charles Grandison Finney.
Finney moved from the frontier to New York City. During the four years he ministered there, he began seven new churches. People heard about the revivals on the frontier and attributed them to the lack of sophistication of the people who lived there. When Finney moved to NYC, he brought with him the same measures that worked on the frontier. Amazingly, they worked in the city, too - in NYC of all places! Finney got himself in trouble with the leadership of the Presbyterian Church, of which he was a minister. Why? Well, among other things, he favored the use of laity in the service. He had laymen and (aghast!) laywomen share in the services. He got in trouble with authorities for allowing women to be involved too heavily in ministry. He eventually moved to Oberlin, Ohio to become a Professor of Systematic Theology at a new college that was being started. Before going, he insisted that the college would have to allow both whites and blacks to attend the college. If the college refused, he would not go. They agreed and Oberlin became a leading voice in both the anti-slavery movement and women's suffrage. Oberlin became a leading institution in the training of ministers. His theology, religious ethics and activism changed the face of the American frontier and the values of middle America.
In 1865, at the end of the Civil War, Finney, now quite aged, had become the President of Oberlin. He remained both its' Systematics Professor and the pastor of the First Congregational Church in Oberlin. He wrote books on theology, an autobiography, and continued to do evangelistic work. In the fall of 1865, one of many young students returning from the Civil War, enrolled in Oberlin. He would take courses off and on during 1865-66 and 1866-67. That young preacher was Daniel Sydney Warner, the key figure in the beginning of the Church of God Movement. Much of what I know about church and ministry comes by way of my association with the Church of God. In many ways, most of what I know about God and ministry comes from, well, I guess it comes from Charles Grandison Finney. How would you like to sit under a sermon he preached with those eyes looking deeply into your soul?

P.S. If you want to read a sermon of his, here is a link:
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