Editing Gilbert Tennent (section)

==Ministry==
In December 1725, Tennent accepted a call to ministry in [[Newcastle, Delaware]] but left abruptly after a few weeks. He was consequently reprimanded by the Synod.<ref name="Sprague" /> He assisted his father in the founding of [[Log College]] at Neshaminy, but soon accepted a call to establish a church in [[New Brunswick, New Jersey]].<ref name="Lunney">{{cite web |last1=Lunney |first1=Linde |title=Tennent, Gilbert |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/tennent-gilbert-a8501 |website=Dictionary of Irish Biography |access-date=25 June 2023 |date=2009}}</ref> 

While at New Brunswick, Tennent became friends with [[Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen|Theodorus Frelinghuysen]], a [[Dutch Reformed Church|Dutch Reformed]] minister who greatly influenced Tennent and helped him develop his ministerial and preaching skills.<ref name="Rickards" />

Tennent became an enthusiastic orator known for "preaching the terrors" and for his fiery exhortations to repent.<ref name="Rickards" /> Tennent met [[George Whitefield]], an itinerant evangelist minister from England, in April 1740. He accompanied Whitefield on a preaching tour of New Jersey and [[Staten Island]], and in the winter of 1741 embarked on his own tour of New England. George Whitefield was impressed with Tennent's preaching and referred to him as "a son of thunder" in his journal.<ref name="Coalter" />

Tennent's views increasing brought into him into conflict with the Synod. He supported "enthusiastic itinerancy," opposed changes to the Synod's educational requirements for ordination, and insisted that only those who experienced "genuine conversion" should be ministers.<ref name="Bendler">{{cite journal |last1=Bendler |first1=Bruce A. |title=Matter and Substance: The Tennent-Evans Controversy and the Presbyterian Schism of 1741 |journal=The Journal of Presbyterian History |volume=97 |issue=2 |pages=48-59 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26886189}}</ref>

He was scornful of his critics among conservative or "Old Side" Presbyterians and in his 1740 sermon ''The Danger of an Unconverted Ministry'', also known as the ''Nottingham Sermon'', denounced his opponents, calling them [[Pharisees]] who had, "no experience of a special work of the Holy Ghost upon their own souls."<ref>{{cite web |title=Biography of Gilbert Tennent | url=http://greatawakeningdocumentary.com/exhibits/show/biographies/gilbert-tennent |website=The Great Awakening: Spiritual Revival in Colonial America |publisher=Bob Jones University |access-date=23 June 2023}}</ref>  

In 1738, several  "New Side" ministers led by Tennent had split from the Presbytery of Philadelphia and formed the Presbytery of New Brunswick.<ref name="Rickards" /> In 1741, the Synod of Philadelphia voted to exclude the New Brunswick Presbytery, effectively expelling Tennent and other revivalist ministers. In 1745, the Presbytery of New Brunswick joined with the Presbytery of New York to form the Synod of New York.<ref name="Bendler" />

Tennent expressed regret for his role in fomenting the dissension that resulted in the scism.<ref name="Bendler" /> His sermons became less passionate and he worked towards reconciliation with the Old Side faction. In 1743, he left New Brunswick to become the founding pastor of Philadelphia's Second Presbyterian Church.<ref name="Lunney" /> 

In 1746, Tennent was elected a trustee of the recently chartered College of New Jersey (now [[Princeton University]]). In 1753, he travelled to England to raise the funds to build what would become [[Nassau Hall]].<ref name="Lunney" />

The Old Side and New Side factions reunited in 1758. The Synod of Philadelphia and Synod of New York merged and Tennent was elected as the new [[Moderator of the General Assembly|moderator]].<ref name="Lunney" />