Camp meeting (United States)

Camp meeting (United States)
Name	Camp meeting (United States)
Location	United States
Established	Early 19th century
Founder	Various revivalists

Camp meeting (United States) are outdoor religious revival gatherings that emerged in the early 19th century and became central to American evangelicalism, revivalism, and social reform. They influenced movements associated with the Second Great Awakening, shaped denominational expansion among Methodists, Baptists, and other groups, and left lasting marks on American religious practice, architecture, and popular culture.

Origins and historical context

Camp meetings arose during the period of the Second Great Awakening, building on precedents from First Great Awakening, frontier revivals, and transatlantic pietist traditions such as Methodism and Pietism. Early large gatherings took place in the Kentucky camp meetings region and at sites like Cane Ridge (Kentucky), where ministers including Barton W. Stone, James McGready, and itinerant preachers associated with Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) led mass conversions. The phenomenon intersected with westward expansion, transportation improvements like the Erie Canal and stagecoach routes, and media innovations including pulpit oratory promoted in newspapers such as The Christian Advocate. Political and social developments—among them debates in the Second Party System, temperance campaigns led by figures tied to American Temperance Society, and abolitionist activism associated with leaders in American Anti-Slavery Society—shaped camp meeting agendas and attendance.

Religious beliefs and denominational variations

Denominations adapted camp meetings to doctrinal emphases: Methodist Episcopal Church promoted Wesleyan holiness and experiential conversion through itinerant circuit riders like Francis Asbury; Baptist gatherings stressed believer's baptism and regeneration with leaders influenced by figures linked to Adoniram Judson; Presbyterian Church in the United States contested emotional displays while some Presbyterian ministers endorsed revival methods associated with Charles Finney; Campbellite groups connected to Alexander Campbell fostered restorationist practices. Holiness movements such as the Church of the Nazarene and revivalist strands within Pentecostalism later incorporated camp meeting models emphasizing sanctification, charismatic phenomena, and later speaking in tongues associated with the Azusa Street Revival. Evangelical organizations like the Young Men's Christian Association and mission societies borrowed revival strategies for outreach.

Structure, practices, and programming

Camp meetings typically combined open-air preaching, extended worship services, and itinerant ministry led by circuit riders, revivalists, and famous evangelists such as Charles G. Finney, Phoebe Palmer, and later figures patterned after Billy Sunday and Billy Graham. Programming included hymn singing from collections like The Southern Harmony and The Sacred Harp, public testimonies, altar calls popularized in revivalism, baptismal services, and Sunday school-style instruction influenced by Robert Raikes. Meetings could last days or weeks and used logistical practices drawn from itinerant ministries, revival publishing networks, and denominational conference structures like those of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Lay participation featured class meetings and covenant societies resembling Shaker order in communal discipline but distinct in evangelical purpose.

Social and cultural impact

Camp meetings fostered cultural exchange among rural communities, migrants, and urban visitors, influencing American music traditions through shape-note singing tied to William Walker and popular religious songsters later adapted by performers in Gospel music and Country music streams. They intersected with social reform movements—American Temperance Society, abolitionism, and women's reform networks linked to figures like Lucretia Mott—and affected political mobilization by shaping moral discourse in elections involving the Whig Party and Republicans. Camp meetings affected race relations variably: some integrated Black and white worshipers leading to connections with African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) and Richard Allen, while others reinforced segregation that paralleled developments in postbellum denominational life. Literary and visual culture picked up camp meeting imagery in works by authors such as Herman Melville and painters influenced by George Caleb Bingham.

Architecture, campgrounds, and material culture

Physical arrangements ranged from temporary tents to planned campgrounds with tabernacles, axes of roads, and cabin lots, exemplified by sites like Salem (North Carolina)-era meeting grounds and northern innovations at Ocean Grove (New Jersey). Architecture reflected portable and vernacular forms including open-sided tabernacles, brush arbors, and later frame tabernacles resembling structures at Mount Olivet and various Methodist campgrounds. Material culture included hymnals such as Southern Harmony, printed revival tracts, camp meeting stationery, and artifacts like tin cups and benches preserved in local historical societies. Campground layouts, registration practices, and land deeds sometimes involved municipal incorporation, with examples handled in municipal records of towns associated with Chautauqua Institution and seaside revivals.

Decline, revival, and contemporary forms of camp meetings

By the late 19th century, camp meetings faced competition from urban revivalism, professionalized evangelists, and new media including television evangelism precursors; urban missions and revival campaigns by leaders tied to Salvation Army and urban social gospel proponents shifted attention. Revival of interest occurred in Holiness and Pentecostal circles and in mid-20th-century evangelicalism shaped by figures linked to Billy Graham and grassroots parachurch organizations. Contemporary forms persist as denominational campgrounds, family camps, and heritage festivals that combine historical reenactment with worship at sites tied to Ocean Grove (New Jersey), Cane Ridge (Kentucky), and various United Methodist and Baptist campgrounds. Modern camp meetings incorporate contemporary worship music, programmed youth ministry influenced by organizations like Young Life, and continuing traditions of itinerant preaching and communal spiritual renewal.

Category:Christian revivals Category:Religious festivals in the United States