Editing First Great Awakening (section)

===Conflict===
[[File:Arch Street, with the Second Presbyterian Church (19592935679).jpg|thumb|Philadelphia's Second Presbyterian Church, ministered by New Light [[Gilbert Tennent]], was built between 1750 and 1753 after the split between Old and New Side Presbyterians.]]
{{See|Old and New Light}}
The Great Awakening aggravated existing conflicts within the Protestant churches, often leading to [[schism]]s between supporters of revival, known as "New Lights", and opponents of revival, known as "Old Lights". The Old Lights saw the [[religious enthusiasm]] and [[Itinerant preacher|itinerant preaching]] unleashed by the Awakening as disruptive to church order, preferring formal worship and a settled, university-educated ministry. They mocked revivalists as being ignorant, [[heterodox]], or [[con artist]]s. New Lights accused Old Lights of being more concerned with social status than with saving souls and even questioned whether some Old Light ministers were even converted. They also supported itinerant ministers who disregarded [[parish]] boundaries.{{sfnm |1a1=Kidd |1y=2007 |1pp=28–29 |2a1=Smith |2y=2015 |2p=2}}

Congregationalists in New England experienced 98 schisms, which in Connecticut also affected which group would be considered "official" for tax purposes. It is estimated in New England that in the churches there were about one-third each of New Lights, Old Lights, and those who saw both sides as valid.{{Sfn|Kee|Frost|Albu|Lindberg|1998|pp=415–416}} The Awakening aroused a wave of [[Ecclesiastical separatism|separatist]] feeling within the Congregational churches of New England. Around 100 Separatist congregations were organized throughout the region by [[Strict Congregationalists]]. Objecting to the [[Halfway Covenant]], Strict Congregationalists required evidence of conversion for church membership and also objected to the semi-presbyterian [[Saybrook Platform]], which they felt infringed on congregational autonomy. Because they threatened Congregationalist uniformity, the Separatists were persecuted, and in Connecticut they were denied the same legal toleration enjoyed by Baptists, Quakers, and Anglicans.{{Sfn|Ahlstrom|2004|pp=290–291}}

The Baptists benefited the most from the Great Awakening. Although numerically small before the outbreak of revival, Baptist churches experienced growth during the last half of the 18th century. By 1804, there were over 300 Baptist churches in New England. This growth was primarily due to an influx of former New Light Congregationalists who became convinced of Baptist doctrines, such as [[believer's baptism]]. In some cases, entire Separatist congregations accepted Baptist beliefs.{{Sfn|Ahlstrom|2004|pp=292–293}}

As revivalism spread through the Presbyterian churches, the [[Old Side–New Side Controversy]] broke out between the anti-revival "Old Side" and the pro-revival "New Side". At issue was the place of revivalism in American Presbyterianism, specifically the "relation between doctrinal orthodoxy and experimental knowledge of Christ."{{Sfn|Ahlstrom|2004|p=271}} The New Side, led by Gilbert Tennent and Jonathan Dickinson, believed that strict adherence to orthodoxy was meaningless if one lacked a personal religious experience, a sentiment expressed in Tennent's 1739 sermon "The Danger of an Unconverted Ministry". Whitefield's tour had helped the revival party grow but only worsened the controversy. When the Presbyterian [[Synod of Philadelphia]] met in May 1741, the Old Side expelled the New Side, which then reorganized itself into the [[Synod of New York]].{{Sfn|Ahlstrom|2004|p=272}}