George Whitefield

George Whitefield was a famous English preacher from the 1700s.

He was a key founder of the Methodist movement and the evangelical movement. He was born at the Bell Inn in Gloucester to Thomas Whitefield and Elizabeth Edwards. His father died when George was only two years old. This meant he helped his mother run the family inn.

As a young man, he went to study at Pembroke College, Oxford. Because he did not have much money, he worked as a servitor. This was the lowest rank for a student at the time. He performed duties like cleaning rooms and carrying books for others.

Whitefield had a very special way of speaking to people. He loved acting in the theater when he was younger. He used this talent to make his sermons very dramatic.

He often used religious eloquence and patriotism to connect with crowds. Some people thought his "lazy eye" helped him connect with listeners. It made them feel like he was looking directly at them. He was a very famous person in the American colonies. Many people say he was one of the first celebrities there. He even traveled on horseback from New York to South Carolina. This was the longest documented trip in North America at that time.

His religious work changed how many people practiced their faith.

He did not stay in one church building. Instead, he was an itinerant preacher, which means he traveled to different places. He preached in open fields and public parks. This helped him reach people who did not usually go to church. He was a follower of Calvinism. This is a specific set of religious beliefs. He worked closely with John and Charles Wesley. However, he and the Wesleys sometimes had disagreements about their ideas.

In 1738, Whitefield moved to the colony of Georgia.

While there, he decided to build a home for orphans. He named it Bethesda, which means "House of Mercy." He began building it on 500 acres of land in 1740. He raised money for this work through his preaching. The orphanage became very well known in the British colonies. However, some people criticized how he managed it. They disagreed with his methods for controlling the children. He also faced trouble when trying to build an orphanage for Black children in Pennsylvania.

Whitefield's life also included very difficult and serious topics. He was a plantation owner and a slaveholder.

He owned more than 70 slaves, mostly women. He believed their labor was necessary to fund the Bethesda Orphanage. He even campaigned to make slavery legal in Georgia. He argued that slavery would help the colony become prosperous. This was a very different view from John Wesley, who spoke against slavery. These complicated beliefs are a part of his historical record. Today, people study his many different impacts on religion and society.