“Pietism was a response to the dogmatism of the theologians and the rationalism of the philosophers,” (Gonzalez, 259) Although Pietism refers to only to the German movement led by Philip Jakob Spencer and August Hermann Francke, it had a great impact on many other Christian movements that happened around the same time. Pietism began when Spencer was a pastor in Frankfort. Unlike other pastors who thought their role was simply public preaching and performing sacraments, Spencer believed that he was obligated to help his parishioners foster a personal faith and devotional life. In Frankfort, he began Bible study groups called “colleges of piety”. Spencer believed less emphasis on the difference between laity and clergy and more emphasis on the “priesthood of all believers”. Therefore although believing the right doctrine is important, he believed simply believing the right thing was not sufficient to be a Christian. A Christian must a personal faith the being sanctified through holy living. The most significant impact that the Pietist had on the history of Christianity was the birth of Protestant missions. The previous reformers were so consumed with keeping Protestantism in tact that they devoted little time to the non-Christian world. In 1707 the first mission was established in India. In twenty years the Pietiest movement sent out more missionaries than by all the Protestant churches did since its inception two hundred years earlier.

Five years after experimenting with his “colleges of piety”, Spencer wrote his Pia desideria, which would become the the fundamental charter of Pietism. In the first section of this document, he outlines the importance of the Bible. He believes that it is not sufficient for people to meet together once a week and someone delivers a sermon. He believed that people needed to have their own personal devotional where they read the Bible by themselves. He also suggested that their service should look more like Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 14:26-40. In it, instead of one person preaching for an hour, one may get up and explain a passage. If someone else happens to disagree or have questions then they should then stand and pose their position. In this way, the service operates more like a discussion which will help the entire congregation have a deeper understanding of the Scriptures, which Spencer believes is the most important thing