{{Short description|Travelling Christian evangelist who preaches the redemption message}} [[File:Circuit_rider_illustration_Eggleston.png|thumb|Illustration from ''The Circuit Rider: A Tale of the Heroic Age'' by [[Edward Eggleston]] depicting a [[Methodist]] [[Circuit rider (religious)|circuit rider]] on horseback]] An '''itinerant preacher''' (also known as an '''itinerant minister''') is a [[Christians|Christian]] [[Evangelism|evangelist]] who preaches the basic [[Christianity|Christian]] [[Redemption (theology)|redemption]] message while traveling around to different groups of people within a relatively short period of time.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2007/08/31/august-31-2007-circuit-preacher-david-brown/912/ |title=Circuit Preacher David Brown |work=Religion and Ethics News Weekly |publisher=PBS |date=August 31, 2007}}</ref> The usage of these travelling evangelists is known as '''itineracy''' or '''itinerancy'''.<ref>{{cite web |title=To be United Methodist: What is “itineracy”? |url=https://www.resourceumc.org/en/content/to-be-united-methodist-what-is-itineracy |publisher=[[The United Methodist Church]] |access-date=20 June 2021 |language=English |date=2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Glossary: itineracy, itinerancy |url=https://www.umc.org/en/content/glossary-itineracy-itinerancy |access-date=20 June 2021 |language=English |date=17 May 2015}}</ref>
==History== Early first century [[New Testament]] figures such as [[John the Baptist]],<ref>{{cite book|first=Jaroslav|last=Rindoš|title=He of Whom it is Written: John the Baptist and Elijah in Luke|year=2010|page=110|url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=3631605501}}</ref> [[Jesus Christ]] and [[Apostle Paul]] were known for extensively traveling and preaching to [[unreached people group]]s in the [[Middle East]] and Europe, although often staying for longer periods than modern itinerant evangelists. In the Middle Ages, preachers from the mendicant orders such as [[Franciscans]] and [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]], would likewise travel from town to town to preach repentance or to combat heresy.
Starting in the eighteenth century, the [[Methodists]] were known for their itinerant preachers, known as [[Circuit rider (religious)|circuit riders]], to share the message.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/theministerinthe00neeluoft |title=The minister in the itinerant system |first=Thomas Benjamin |last=Neely |publisher=Fleming H. Revell company |year=1914}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/anitinerantprea00haimgoog |title=An itinerant preacher; or, Sketches from the life of the rev. Charles Haime |first=Frederick Charles |last=Haime |publisher=Hamilton, Adams & Co |year=1865}}</ref> Among the most noted would be [[George Whitefield]] who drew huge crowds as he traveled about colonial America during the 18th century<ref>{{cite book|last=Galli|first=Mark|author-link=Mark Galli|year=2010|chapter=George Whitefield: Sensational Evangelist of Britain and America|chapter-url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/evangelistsandapologists/george-whitefield.html|title=131 Christians Everyone Should Know|location=Nashville, Tennessee|publisher=B&H Publishing Group|pages=63–66|isbn=978-0-8054-9040-4|access-date=1 July 2017}}</ref>. The 'Itinerancy' is denoted as one of the "chief peculiar usages" of classic Methodism, along with practices such as [[class meeting]]s and [[watchnight service]]s.<ref name="Garrison1908">{{cite book |first1=Stephen O. |last1=Garrison |author1-link=Stephen O. Garrison |title=[[Probationer's Handbook]]|date=1908 |publisher=Eaton and Mains |pages=31 |language=English}}</ref>
[[Mary Porteous]] was a Primitive Methodist itinereant preacher. She was given permission to ignore the rules that applied to women itinerant preachers. She wrote about her time on the [[North Shields]] circuit in 1836. She travelled 682 miles and over 200 of these she had walked, begging for food and lodging and carrying her own luggage.<ref name=phud>{{Cite thesis |last=Graham |first=E. Dorothy |date=2013 |title=Chosen by God: The Female Itinerants of Early Primitive Methodism |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/17346396.pdf |type=PhD thesis |publisher=University of Birmingham |via=University of Birmingham Research Archive}}</ref>
The [[Quakers]] referred to their itinerant preachers as "public friends".<ref>{{cite book| last = Moyer| first = Paul B.| title = The Public Universal Friend: Jemima Wilkinson and Religious Enthusiasm in Revolutionary America| publisher = Cornell University Press| year = 2015| isbn = 978-0-8014-5413-4| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/publicuniversalf00moye|access-date=26 September 2023|page=19}}</ref>
==See also== *[[Mendicant]]
==References== {{reflist}} {{Methodism footer}} [[Category:Christian clergy by type]] [[Category:Itinerant living]] [[Category:Evangelism]]