"The Haugeans" by Adolf Tiedemand, depicts a prayer meeting

Hauge was a key figure in the nineteenth-century Awakenings and Inner Mission in Europe. Deeply influenced by Pietism, he became a lay preacher despite laws which forbade such activity. He himself was a successful businessman and sought to improve the economic condition of his converts by helping them to establish trades and factories. For criticizing the established church and violating trade laws which favored large monopolies over small businesses, Hauge was imprisoned for ten years. Nevertheless he insisted that his converts stay within the official church of Norway. Many of Hauge's converts were part of nineteenth century immigration to North America; they established Lutheran congregations which practiced revivalism and social concern.