A circuit preacher is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

minister who, in response to a shortage of ministers, officiates at multiple churches in an area, thus covering a "circuit". Circuit preaching became common during and between the

Second Great Awakening The Second Great Awakening was a Protestantism, Protestant religious Christian revival, revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The Second Great Awakening, which spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching, sparke ...

and

Third Great Awakening The Third Great Awakening refers to a historical period proposed by William G. McLoughlin that was marked by religious activism in American history and spans the late 1850s to the early 20th century. It influenced pietistic Protestant denomin ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. The style was most common west of the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. The ...

, where American settlement pushed westward throughout the 19th century. In the early years of the U.S., many new churches did not yet have a permanent pastor or structure, and in response, the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...

, which had a polity allowing it to assign clergy without regard to what the individual minister might desire, assigned ministers to rural and frontier "circuits." They became known as circuit riders. With the increase in U.S. population and the rise of urban areas, most church members joined congregations that were large enough that they were not part of a circuit, but many small rural areas kept circuit preachers because it is more economical for churches to share a minister, and because one very small congregation does not provide enough "work" for a full-time minister. Circuit preaching is a way to provide "trained" (as opposed to "lay") clergy for small congregations. Even in the 21st Century it is still common for small congregations of all denominations to share clergy, especially in rural areas of the U.S. Katarina Schuth has published a sociological study of

Catholic priests The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned (" ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers onl ...

who serve multiple parishes, and some of what she says applies to any "circuit preacher" clergy.Schuth, Katarina. ''Priestly Ministry in Multiple Parishes''. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2006.

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See also