History of Pentecostalism

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Hi,

Interesting topic! Let's take a closer look at some of the research on Pentecostalism. I also attached three highly information articles, some of which this response is drawn.

RESPONSE:

1. I need some help with research into the history of Pentecostalism and the 20th century development. Along with the Azusa Street Revival, since this is a key event for Pentecostalism.

"Pentecostalism, a worldwide Protestant movement that originated in the 19th century United States, takes its name from the Christian feast of Pentecost, which celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples. Pentecostalism emphasizes a post-conversion experience of spiritual purification and empowering for Christian witness, entry into which is signaled by utterance in unknown tongues (Glossolalia / Speaking In Tongues). Pentecostalism grew from occurrences of glossolalia in the southern Appalachians (1896), Topeka, Kans. (1901), and Los Angeles (Azusa revival) (1906 through 1909). For example, working independently, preachers W R Spurling and A J Tomlinson in the South, Charles Fox Parham in Topeka, and William Seymour in Los Angeles, each convinced of general apostasy in American Christianity, preached and prayed for religious revival" (http://www.mb-soft.com/believe/txc/pentecos.htm) (also see attached article: Pentecostalism.doc)

William J. Seymour was one of the most respected early Pentecostal leaders, and played an important role in the Azusa Street revival (1906 through 1909). Though Pentecostals recognize such sporadic instances of tongue - speaking and other charismatic phenomena throughout the Christian era, they stress the special importance of the Azusa Street revival, which occurred in an abandoned African Methodist Episcopal church in downtown Los Angeles from 1906 to 1909 and which launched Pentecostalism as a worldwide movement. William J Seymour, a black Holiness preacher from Houston, Texas, and a student of Parham, led the Azusa Street services. Seymour modeled a genuine humility and desired to foster unity among the seekers of the Holy Spirit at Azusa and encouraged them to be sensitive to the Spirit's direction of the services there. Indeed, photographs depict him as a warm, friendly, and smiling person of average physical stature. Seymour's bout with smallpox had left him blind in his left eye ((http://www.ag.org/enrichmentjournal/199904/026_azusa_3.cfm, attached for convenience: William J. Seymour....doc).

While comparable in many ways to other Pentecostal revivals at the time, however, several dynamics at the Apostolic Faith Mission on Azusa Street set it apart. According to the Los Angeles Times (1906), for example, a bizarre new religious sect had started with people "breathing strange utterances and mouthing a creed which it would seem no sane mortal could understand." It also reported that the devotees of the weird ...