Christianity in the 18th century

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The 18th century was a time of big changes for Christianity around the world. New religious movements challenged old patterns, and governments often affected how churches lived and worked.

Protestant revivals and personal faith
In Europe and the Americas, Pietism grew in Germany and the Dutch Reformed world. Pietists like Philipp Spener and August Francke stressed Bible reading, the need for personal conversion, and active lay involvement. This movement helped shape Protestant life and spread beyond Germany through missionary work.

In Britain and its colonies, the Evangelical Revival moved people to profess faith more personally. Leaders such as John Wesley, George Whitefield, and Charles Wesley promoted lively preaching and Bible study at home. In the colonies this helped form new church groups and strengthened the rise of Methodism. Meanwhile, inside established churches there were tensions between revivalist “new lights” and traditional “old lights.” The First Great Awakening in the American colonies (the 1730s–40s) left a lasting mark, renewing many Congregational, Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed, and German Reformed communities, and helping Baptists and Methodists grow. It reached enslaved people too and challenged old authorities, though it did not affect Anglicans and Quakers as much.

Catholic church life and the age of Enlightenment
Across Europe, the Catholic Church often found itself weakened by the Enlightenment. Governments increasingly controlled or limited church power, and the Jesuits were suppressed. In some places church lands were seized, and revolutionary movements attacked religious life. The French Revolution was especially hard on the Church, closing monasteries and exiling priests, and even trying to replace religion with secular ideas. Napoleon later restored the Catholic Church in France with the Concordat of 1801. After the wars, Catholic life revived in many areas and the papacy again attracted respect.

Missionaries and global spread
Catholic missions continued to spread Christianity in the Americas as European empires expanded there. In North America, missions founded by leaders such as Junípero Serra became important centers of religion and society. In Asia, missions faced strong limits: in China, the Chinese Rites controversy led the emperor to restrict Christian practice. In Siam (Thailand) and other places, rulers restricted or banned missions. In Korea, local Christians began to organize in the late 18th century, and the church would grow with foreign help in the following decades.

Orthodox and other Christian communities
In the Ottoman Empire, Christians faced pressure and periodic upheaval. The Serbian Church, once independent, lost its autonomy and was brought under the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople by the 1760s. In Russia, the Orthodox Church was brought under state control in 1721, with the Holy Synod directing church affairs instead of a patriarch.

The 18th century ended with major shifts in Christian life: revival and personal faith renewed Protestant churches around the world, Catholic life faced challenges from Enlightenment and political upheaval, and missions continued to spread the Christian message to new lands.