Beyond the Means of Grace:

Revivalism’s Pelagian Drift

Today, August 6, 2025, marks the 224th anniversary of the "revival" that hit a Presbyterian camp meeting in Cane Ridge, Kentucky. Within a week, 25,000 were attending the revival services. It was the largest and most famous camp meeting of the Second Great Awakening.* Considering the historical significance of the Cane Ridge "revival" as we mark its anniversary, significant concerns arise regarding revivalism's negative impact on the church.

Undermining Ordained Authority Outside the Visible Church

Revivalism often operates outside the visible church, bypassing duly ordained ministers who are called to shepherd God’s flock through established ecclesiastical order (Ephesians 4:11-12). This is evident in the unstructured gatherings of the Second Great Awakening, where lay enthusiasts, rather than ordained clergy, took the lead, weakening the authority of the church's ordained leadership.

Neglecting the Means of Grace for Emotionalism

Furthermore, revivalism downplays the ordinary means of grace, especially the sacraments, which Christ instituted for the spiritual nourishment of His people. Instead, it exalts emotionalism, as seen in the ecstatic displays at Cane Ridge, where fervor often overshadowed the consistent administration of Word and sacrament. This shift prioritizes subjective experience over the objective promises of God conveyed through these means.

Finney’s Pelagian Influence and New Measures

A pivotal influence is Charles Finney’s Pelagian theology, which introduced "new measures" like the anxious bench to manipulate conversions, rather than trusting the Spirit’s work through preaching (Romans 10:17). Finney’s rejection of original sin and emphasis on human ability to choose salvation directly contradict Reformed doctrines of total depravity and sovereign grace. As Michael Horton observes, Finney’s "Systematic Theology" prioritizes ethics over atonement, reflecting a framework where human effort overshadows divine initiative—a legacy that has distorted Christian truth and fostered a decision-based theology alien to the Reformation. These innovations, rooted in Pelagianism, have historically undermined the sufficiency of the means of grace, fostering a church culture more focused on human effort than divine action.

As heirs of the Reformation, we must steadfastly uphold the centrality of ordained ministry and the means of grace within the visible church to protect against these distortions.

*Today in Church History (https://x.com/HistoricalRook/status/1953042551637742047)