The Story of George Whitefield

Published in

UWCCF

11 min readNov 21, 2021

Hello dear friends,

This has been on my heart for a while now, and I figured that with the time that God has blessed me with, I could use it to encourage all of you. What I’m talking about is this: stories. I love stories. I love hearing them, reading about them, and even imagining them. There are good ones — and there are bad ones. The good ones are the ones that change you. Good stories, as I’ve learned, can encourage you, teach you, and most importantly, God can use them to light the fire of passion within you. Even the Gospel, which we love and hold dear, is a story, but among other stories, it is the greatest of them all. God has given me a love for stories and has grown me much through the good ones. As such, my hope now is that I can share these good stories with you, so that God may similarly bless you through them.

Before we dive into the story, I think it’s appropriate to share these verses with you:

Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. (Hebrews 13:7)
Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. (Philippians 3:17)

I want you to keep these verses in your mind as you read this story. Keep in mind that it is Scripture that tells you to consider and remember the lives of holy people. I hope that through these stories, you would be encouraged by their faith and that you would imitate them. Just as Paul followed Christ and imitated Him, let’s learn from those who came before us, who’ve walked the narrow path to the end.

Introduction

The first of hopefully many stories that I’d like to share with you is one about a great theologian and preacher. This man, by all means and considerations, was a legend. Even in the eyes of many great saints, this man stood as an example for them to admire. During the great American religious revival of the 1730–40’s, known as The Great Awakening, there was one man who was so well known, that his name was more recognized by colonists than even George Washington. This man was arguably America’s first cultural hero, and he went by the name of George Whitefield.

George Whitefield was an extraordinary man. As I read more about Whitefield, I can’t help but compare myself to him, and let me tell you, I don’t come out of that feeling very good about myself. When I measure my faith against Whitefield’s, I slowly realize how far I have to go in my own walk with Christ. Standing with my candle flame of passion and faith next to this guy’s behemoth-sized wildfire, I can’t help but feel that my fire for God feels lukewarm in comparison.

“Study to know Him more and more, for the more you know, the more you will love Him,” -George Whitefield

“George Whitefield was very devoted to God and Scripture.” If you were to do some research on his daily life and how he lived, I’d reckon that you’d only find reasons to believe that’s an understatement. This was the kind of guy you could not accuse of lukewarmness. Whitefield was so on fire for God, and treasured Him so supremely, that you could easily tell. He treated the Bible, God’s Word, like it was a feast for his hungry soul — he just couldn’t get enough of it. Compared to us who might “call it a day” after 15 minutes or so, Whitefield was a man who did not get tired of scripture. Not only that, it was also noted of Whitefield that he read the Bible on his knees. His reasoning for doing so? Simple. He just felt that it was the best posture for understanding the truth of God. The word of God was his daily bread, and it was said of him that, “Whitefield was able to stand before men because he first kneeled before God.”

“Other men may preach the gospel better than I, but no man can preach a better gospel.” ~ George Whitefield

God’s Work in Whitefield’s Heart

How Whitefield came to faith in Christ was a clear example of God’s providence. Even in Whitefield’s early years, God was certainly pulling the strings, as throughout his youth, Whitefield loved reading and performing plays, and considered acting his greatest passion. In his pursuit of the dramatic arts, God lead him to study at Oxford, where he was invited to a Christian club and met two of the most notable evangelists in Church history. These two were John Wesley, the “father of Methodism”, and the great evangelical poet, Charles Wesley. As for their stories, I’ll leave them for another time, as there’s much to say about them, but for Whitefield, their influence was life-changing. The meeting between these historical figures was no coincidence, and God later used the Wesley brothers profoundly in the years surrounding Whitefield’s conversion.

By the influence and resources provided by the Wesley brothers, God began a mighty work in Whitefield’s heart. After reading Henry Scougal’s The Life of God in the Soul of Man (lent to him by Charles Wesley), Whitefield soon began his pursuit of God, resolving to be born again, no matter the cost. It’s at the point of his conversion story where we begin to see Whitefield’s zeal and heart for God. While searching for God and to be born again, Whitefield worked so hard at it that he nearly killed himself. In his desperate desire to know God, he went to many extremes, like not eating, not speaking, and spending hours outside in the cold, just praying. To no one’s surprise, his health began to deteriorate, and one of his hands started to turn black. As his condition worsened week after week, those around him feared that he would die. Until finally, after 7 whole weeks of sickness, Whitefield cried out to God for help, and he was answered. He writes, “The Spirit of mourning was taken from me, and I knew what it was truly to rejoice in God my Saviour, and, for some time, could not avoid singing psalms wherever I was.”

“We can preach the Gospel of Christ no further than we have experienced the power of it in our own hearts” ~ George Whitefield

It’s hard to find Christians nowadays who share Whitefield’s resolve and desire for God. The lengths that he would go to might seem crazy to us now, but that in itself is a sad reminder of the hardness of our hearts, because God is more than worth it. The zeal found in Whitefield could be likened to that of Paul, in Philippians 3:8, when he writes, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” Whitefield lived this verse out. Can we say the same about ourselves?

“There are many likewise, who go on in a round of duties, a model of performances, that think they shall go to heaven; but if you examine them, though they have a Christ in their heads, they have no Christ in their hearts.” — George Whitefield

God’s Work Through Whitefield’s Heart

A short few years after his new birth, Whitefield could already be found preaching in churches. Despite his young age, he was ordained as a deacon of the Church of England at 21, as many were impressed by his character. He took quickly to the crowds and found that his God-given gift for speaking could be put to good use for the kingdom. Every time Whitefield spoke, it was as if the crowds simply materialized, as more and more people wanted to hear him preach. It got to the point where he had to move his preaching outdoors because the crowds just couldn’t fit inside the churches. Frenzied mobs could occasionally be seen pushing and shoving their way towards Whitefield as he prepared, and yet the moment he began to speak, complete silence would fill the air, as the people hung on his every word.

Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest preachers in Christian history, said this of him, “Whitefield’s sermons were not eloquent, but were rough and unconnected. But it was not in the words themselves, but in the manner in which he delivered them, the earnestness with which he felt them, the pouring out of his soul as he preached them. When you heard him preach, you felt like you were listening to a man who would die if he could not preach. Where, where is such earnestness today?” Despite being known as the Prince of Preachers, even Spurgeon was amazed at the preaching of Whitefield.

God used Whitefield as an instrument of revival. At the time, Whitefield’s preaching was considered a novelty, as his sermons resonated with genuine passion and power. This contrasted with what people were used to, as most preachers would simply recite prayers, read passages, and seemingly drone on in their sermons in a dull and monotone way. Many people were interested in this new way of preaching, and thousands would flock to hear Whitefield speak. Every stop along Whitefield’s trip was marked by record audiences, often even exceeding the population of the towns in which he preached.

Whitefield’s Heart While Doing God’s work

Despite the rise in his popularity, Whitefield was no stranger to opposition. As he travelled and preached, he was assaulted, received death threats, and was once even nearly stoned to death. All along his ministry, he faced no shortage of criticism and backlash, even from his fellow members of the Church. Many disagreed with how Whitefield preached, and complained about his emotional and enthusiastic methods, which led to many churches closing their doors to him. Whitefield’s conflicts with the clergy didn’t end there, as his conviction that genuine religion “engaged the heart, not just the head” further fuelled his rebukes against them for their lack of zeal. He would chastise Church leaders for not holding to the necessity of the new birth, and thus teaching only “the shell and shadow of religion.” While loved by many, there was no shortage of those who hated Whitefield as well. In his firm convictions and unyielding beliefs, at times it was as if where Whitefield went, controversy followed.

“If you are going to walk with Jesus Christ, you are going to be opposed…. In our days, to be a true Christian is really to become a scandal.” ~ George Whitefield

Whitefield’s struggles didn’t end there. Not only did he face opposition from others, but seemingly also from himself, as his body just couldn’t keep up with him. Whitefield was never a well man, and as time went on, he found his bodily weakness an increasing problem. Despite often being sick, and having chronic trouble breathing, Whitefield never stopped pushing himself to serve. Even with his health steadily declining, he would press on, time and time again. A writer notes of him that “His solution to any health problem was most usually to travel and then preach.” No matter how bad his sickness got, when the time came for Whitefield to preach, he got up and went.

It didn’t help Whitefield’s condition that he was a workaholic who rarely rested, and so by the time he was fifty-one, his physical appearance resembled that of an old man. Unwilling to be deterred by his health, Whitefield often said, “I had rather wear out, than rust out.” Whitefield’s days were filled with purpose, and he wasted little time, for he knew that the harvest was plentiful. In the final weeks of his life, as he stood to preach, someone said to him, “Sir, you are more fit to go to bed than to preach.” To which he answered, “True, Sir” but turning aside, he clasped his hands together, and, looking up, he spoke, “Lord Jesus, I am weary in thy work, but not of thy work. If I have not yet finished my course, let me go and speak for thee once more in the fields, seal thy truth, and come home and die.” After having finished his preaching for that day, he was filled with exhaustion, yet as he was going to bed, a press of people approached him still wanting to hear from him. So there at the top of a staircase, with a candle in hand, he preached once more. The next morning, he died.

The Work of God through the Life of Whitefield

Throughout his life, Whitefield worked extremely hard. He was diligent and disciplined, waking up at around 4am before beginning to preach at 6am. He often preached a dozen or more times per week, once totalling to a whopping 175 times within 75 days. It’s estimated that throughout his life, he preached more than 18,000 formal sermons, travelled thousands of miles from place to place, and crossed oceans repeatedly. By the end of his life, he had stirred up great spiritual revivals all throughout America, starting the Great Awakening in which great multitudes embraced faith in Christ.

George Whitefield was a living sacrifice. He lived so sacrificially, giving up so much of himself to his ministry and for God that he lost his life. The life he lived, by the world’s standards, some would call a tragedy. Whitefield didn’t get to retire, or own many things, he was often sick, and many people hated him to the point where they wanted him dead. While the world might look at his life with pity, I doubt heaven thinks the same. For Jesus once said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Matthew 16:24–25). I myself would reckon that Whitefield indeed found his life in Christ, as he surely lost his life for Christ’s sake. Spurgeon said this of Whitefield: “He lived; other men seem only to be half alive; but Whitefield was all life, fire, wing, force.” Through his sacrificial living for Christ, I think Whitefield was one of the few people out there who truly lived.

Closing Thoughts

While it may be hard to believe, George Whitefield was human, just like any of us. What made him so great was not his own personal greatness, but the greatness of His God. Just as the many great saints of old, the source of their godliness, strength, and perseverance was external to themselves. The greatest Christians simply see and understand more of who God is. It’s the revelation of God’s character and holiness that spurs them on to greater heights of love and devotion towards both God and others. Thus, when we honour these holy men and women, we ought to give God the glory, for He was the one behind their lives. By God, these saints were created, regenerated and given purpose, and it is by His good and sovereign will that people like George Whitefield lived the lives that they did.

As this story comes to a close, let us also not forget that while George Whitefield was a great and admirable man, by no means was he without fault and by no means did his greatness come from him. There’s no doubt he had his shortcomings, and surely there are things you could criticize him about, but as humans, we all make mistakes. Whitefield wasn’t perfect, but the one he trusted in and lived for was. He was a sinner just like us, but he had Jesus Christ as his hope, and through the power of God he was transformed into the man that we remember him to be. Let us remember that even as we seek to imitate the faith of Whitefield, we look to Christ as our ultimate example and the source of our strength. At the end of the day, Christ Jesus is the one whom we all strive to be more like every day.