{{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 on horseback]] An '''itinerant preacher''' (also known as an '''itinerant minister''') is a Christian evangelist who preaches the basic Christian 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 groups 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 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 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 meetings and watchnight services.<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