The Presbyterians came mainly from Scotland and almost from the beginning of the growth of Presbyterianism in 18th century America.

The Presbyterians had to face the fact they were not going to be in charge.

And they were not going to want the civil government then to enforce what the civil government would be inclined to enforce as true religion.

American Christians were quite different from what those Scottish immigrants were used to.

They arrived at about the time of the Great Awakening,

and how they responded to that revival

serves as a lesson to us in the 21st century. In fact, this entire series, American Presbyterians

and Revival, is full of practical lessons as W. Robert Godfrey walks us through this chapter

in church history. Today is the final day you'll hear from

Dr. Godfrey, so be sure to request the complete 11 message series before midnight tonight

when you give a donation of any amount at renewingyourmind.org. Here's Dr. Godfrey.

Well, we've been looking in a very rapid way at the 17th century and in the 18th century.

We are going to slow down when we finally get to the 19th century. But we're trying to look at the,

in a very broad-brushed way, at the movements that are taking place. And we had gotten to the

point where the American

Revolution has happened. Congress has been restricted from establishing a church. America is

officially in a post-imperial Christianity situation. For Christianity to thrive, it's going to have to,

to use a later expression, sell itself. It's going to have to

convince people. It's going to have to stay in touch with people. And that's one of the ways where

the history of America in religion differs significantly from the history of the church in Europe.

And it enables, I think, Christianity to have a much more profound presence and impact on America

in the 19th and through much of the 20th century, then proved to be true in Europe.

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