Welcome to five minutes in church history hosted by Dr Stephen Nichols, where we take a little

break from the present to go exploring the past. Travel back in time as we look at the people,

events, and even the places that have shaped the story of Christianity.

This is our story, our family history. Let's get started.

The Church Record at First Church of Northampton and Massachusetts has a simple but

very fascinating sentence dated June 22nd 1750. The church record declares

the Reverend Jonathan Edwards dismissed. Now that alone is worthy of a five minutes episode to explain what happened.

Here's Jonathan Edwards, likely the most popular minister in colonial America, and we consider

his reputation today, and yet he gets dismissed. We would say

kicked out of his church. What happened? Well it's a fascinating story and

maybe someday we can tell it but I'm interested in what happened next.

Ironically, Edwards continued to preach at Northampton.

Here he is, one Sunday kicked out, then the congregation realizes they have no one to preach and they need a preacher.

So they go knock on his door and they say, would you come and would you preach?

And he spends most of that summer preaching in the very church that kicked him out. Well I suppose that was an awkward situation but

eventually Edwards landed a new post. He could have gone anywhere he could have gone

to Scotland. There was a group of people in Northampton that wanted to just break from that church and form a new one and call him as pastor.

He was invited to churches in Boston.

He rejects all of those offers and he goes 40 miles to the west and these 40 miles might as well have been 400 miles.

This is way out on the frontier in the town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Stockbridge is a town nestled right in the middle of those beautiful Berkshire

Mountains. The Hussetonic River carves its path through those mountains and as it

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