The 'Azusa Street Revival' was a
Pentecostal revival meeting that took place in
Los Angeles,
California and was led by
William J. Seymour, an
African American preacher. It began with a meeting on
April 14,
1906 at the
African Methodist Episcopal Church and continued until roughly
1915. The revival was characterized by
speaking in tongues, dramatic worship services, and inter-racial mingling. The participants received criticism from secular media and
Christian theologians for behaviors considered to be outrageous and unorthodox, especially at the time. Today, the revival is considered by historians to be the primary catalyst for the spread of
Pentecostalism in the
20th century.
Background
Welsh Revival
In
1904, the
Welsh Revival took place, during which approximately 100,000 people in
Wales converted to
Christianity. Internationally,
Evangelical Christians took this event to be a sign that a fulfillment of the
prophecy in the
Bible's book of
Joel, chapter 2:23–29 was about to take place. Joseph Smale, pastor of the First Baptist Church in
Los Angeles, went to Wales personally in order to witness the
revival. Upon his return to Los Angeles, he attempted to ignite a similar event in his own congregation. His attempts were short-lived, and he eventually left First Baptist Church to found First New Testament Church, where he continued his efforts.
[1] During this time, other small-scale revivals were taking place in
Minnesota,
North Carolina, and
Texas. By
1905, reports of
speaking in tongues, supernatural healings, "physical demonstrations of emotion", and significant lifestyle changes accompanied these revivals. As news spread, evangelicals across the
United States began to pray for similar revivals in their own congregations.
[2]
Seymour visits Los Angeles
In 1905, 34 year old son of former slaves
William J. Seymour was a student of well-known pentecostal preacher
Charles Parham and an interim pastor for a small
holiness church in
Houston, Texas.
[3] Neely Terry, an
African American woman who attended a small holiness church pastored by Julia Hutchins in
Los Angeles, made a trip to visit family in Houston late in 1905.
While in Houston, she visited Seymour's church, where he preached that baptism in the Holy Spirit was accompanied with speaking in tongues, and though he had not experienced this personally, Terry was impressed with his character and message. Once home in California, Terry suggested that Seymour be invited to speak at the local church.
Seymour received and accepted the invitation in February of 1906, and received financial help and a blessing from Parham for his planned one-month visit.
Seymour arrived in Los Angeles on February 22, 1906,
and within two days was preaching at Julia Hutchins' church at the corner of Ninth Street and Santa Fe.
[5] During his first sermon, he preached that speaking in tongues was the first Biblical evidence of the inevitable accompaniment of
possession of, or baptism in the
Holy Spirit.
On the following Sunday, March 4, he returned to the church and found that Hutchins had
padlocked the door.
[6] Elders of the church rejected Seymour’s teaching, primarily because he had not yet experienced the blessing about which he was preaching.
Condemnation of his message also came from the Holiness Church Association of
Southern California with which the church had affiliation.
However, not all members of Hutchins' church rejected Seymour's preaching. He was invited to stay in the home of
congregation member Edward S. Lee, and he began to hold
Bible studies and
prayer meetings there.
North Bonnie Brae Street
Seymour and his wife, Jennie.
Seymour and his small group of new followers soon relocated to the home of Richard and Ruth Asberry, at 214 North Bonnie Brae Street.
[7] White families from local Holiness Churches began to attend as well. The group would get together regularly and pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. On April 9, 1906, after five weeks of Seymour's
preaching and
prayer, and three days into an intended 10-day
fast,
[6] Edward S. Lee spoke in tongues for the first time.
[9][10] At the next meeting, Seymour shared Lee's
testimony and preached a sermon on Acts 2:4 and soon six others began to speak in tongues as well,
including Jennie Moore, who would later become Seymour's wife.
[11] A few days later, on April 12, Seymour himself spoke in tongues for the first time, after praying all night long.
[12][13]
The Asberry home on 214 North Bonnie Brae Street.
News of the events at North Bonnie Brae St. quickly circulated among the African American,
Latino and
White residents of the city, and for several nights, various speakers would
preach to the crowds of curious and interested onlookers from the front porch of the Asberry home. Members of the audience included people from a broad spectrum of income levels and religious backgrounds. Hutchins eventually spoke in tongues herself as her whole congregation began to attend the meetings. Soon the crowds became very large, and were full of people speaking in tongues, shouting, singing and moaning. Finally, the front porch collapsed, forcing the group to begin looking for a new meeting place.
A resident of the neighborhood described the happenings at 214 North Bonnie Brae with the following words:
Revival at Azusa Street
Conditions
The group from Bonnie Brae Street eventually discovered an available building at 312 Azusa Street, which had originally been constructed as an African Methodist Episcopal Church in what was then a
black ghetto part of town.
The rent was only $8.00 a month.
[14] A newspaper referred to the downtown
Los Angeles building as a “tumble down shack.”
Since the church had moved out, the building had served as a wholesale house, a warehouse, a lumberyard, stockyards, a tombstone shop, and had most recently been used as a stable with rooms for rent upstairs. it was a small, rectangular, flat-roofed building, approx. 60 feet (18.28m) long and 40 feet wide (12.19m), totaling 2,400 feet
2 (222.96 m
2), sided with weathered whitewashed clapboards. The only sign that it had once been a house of God was a single gothic-style window over the main entrance.
Discarded lumber and plaster littered the large, barn-like room on the ground floor.
[15][16] Nonetheless, it was secured and cleaned in preparation for services. They held their first meeting on April 14, 1906.
Church services were held on the first floor where the benches were placed in a rectangular pattern. Some of the benches were simply planks put on top of empty nail kegs.
There was no elevated platform, as the ceiling was only eight feet high.
Initially there was no pulpit. Frank Bartleman, an early participant in the revival, recalled that “Brother Seymour generally sat behind two empty shoe boxes, one on top of the other. He usually kept his head inside the top one during the meeting, in prayer. There was no pride there…. In that old building, with its low rafters and bare floors..."
The second floor at the now-named "Apostolic Faith Mission"
housed an office and rooms for several residents including Seymour and his new wife, Jennie. It also had a large prayer room to handle the overflow from the altar services below. The prayer room was furnished with chairs and benches made from
California Redwood planks, laid end to end on backless chairs.
The Apostolic Faith Mission on Azusa Street, now considered to be the birthplace of
Pentecostalism.
By mid-May of 1906,
anywhere from 300
to 1500 people would attempt to fit into the building. Since horses had very recently been the residents of the building, flies constantly bothered the attendees.
People from a great diversity of backgrounds came together to worship: men, women, children,
black, white,
Hispanic,
Asian,
rich,
poor,
illiterate, and
educated.
People of all ages flocked to Los Angeles with both skepticism and a desire to participate.
The intermingling of races and the groups encouragement of women in leadership was remarkable, as 1906 was the height of the "
Jim Crow" era of racial segregation,
and fourteen years prior to women receiving
suffrage in the
United States.
Services and worship
Worship at 312 Azusa Street was frequent, spontaneous, and ecstatic, with services going almost around the clock. Among those attracted to the revival were not only members of the
Holiness Movement, but
Baptists,
Mennonites,
Quakers, and
Presbyterians.
An observer at one of the services wrote these words:
The
Los Angeles Times was not so kind in its description:
Charles Parham was also sharp in his criticism:
The first edition of the Apostolic Faith Publication reported a common reaction to the revival from visitors:
Among first-hand accounts were reports of the
blind having their sight restored, diseases cured instantly, and
immigrants speaking in
German,
Yiddish, and
Spanish all being spoken to in their native language by uneducated
black members, who translated the languages into English by "supernatural ability"
Singing was sporadic and in
acappella or occasionally in
tongues. There were periods of extended silence. Attenders were occasionally
slain in the Spirit. Visitors gave their
testimony and members read aloud testimonies that were sent to the mission by mail. There was prayer for the gift of tongues. There was prayer in tongues for the sick, for missionaries, and whatever requests were given by attenders or mailed in. There was spontaneous preaching and
altar calls for
salvation,
sanctification and
baptism of the Holy Spirit. Many people would continually shout throughout the meetings. The members of the mission never took an
offering, but there was a receptacle near the door for anyone that wanted to support the revival.
The core membership of the Azusa Street Mission was never much more than 50-60 individuals, with hundreds and thousands of people visiting or staying temporarily over the years.
Beliefs
Seymour and the other revivalists at the Apostolic Faith Mission on Azusa Street held to five core beliefs:
#
Salvation by
faith alone.
#
Sanctification (or
Holiness) of the believer.
#
Tongues as evidence of
Spirit Baptism.
#
Faith healing as part of God's
redemption.
#The "very soon" return of
Christ.
Charles Parham
Main articles: Charles Parham
By October of 1906,
Charles Parham was invited to speak for a series of meetings at Azusa Street, but was quickly un-invited. Several reasons can be given for Azusa Street's disassociation from him. Firstly, Parham had personality conflicts with Seymour, and wanted to be the chief authority figure of the movement that was taking place, but the presiding leaders of the Apostolic Faith Mission were slow to make any changes to their methods or leadership. Secondly, rumors were surfacing that Parham has been committing
sodomy ("an unnatural offense") with young males.
[18] In
1907, he was formally charged with sodomy, but the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence. Thirdly, Parham was offended by the mixing of races that was common to the Azusa Street Revival, and wished to establish
segregation in their meetings. By
1910, Parham was a member of the
Ku Klux Klan. Parham also had cause for concern due to the increasing attendance of
magicians, self-styled
prophets and folk religionists at the meetings.
Criticism
In a skeptical front-page story titled "Weird Babel of Tongues",
a
Los Angeles Times reporter attempted to describe what would soon be known as the Azusa Street Revival. "Breathing strange utterances and mouthing a creed which it would seem no sane mortal could understand," the story began, "the newest religious sect has started in Los Angeles."
[19] Another local paper reporter in September, 1906 described the happenings with the following words:
The attenders of the meetings were often described as "Holy Rollers," "Holy Jumpers," "Tangled Tonguers" and "Holy Ghosters." Reports were published throughout the US and the world of the strange happenings in
Los Angeles.
LA Times article criticizing the behavior of the revivalists at Azusa Street.
Christians from many traditions were critical, saying the movement was hyper-emotional, misused Scripture and lost focus on Christ by overemphasizing the Holy Spirit.
Within a short time ministers were warning their congregations to stay away from the Azusa Street Mission. Some called the police and tried to get the building shut down.
Scholarly preachers spoke harshly of the revival meetings; such as
R. A. Torrey who declared that this new Pentecostal movement was "emphatically not of God, and founded by a Sodomite." G. Campbell Morgan called it, "the last vomit of Satan."
Harry Ironside said it was "disgusting ... delusions and insanities." Clarence Larkin and many others were also openly critical. By the time the revival ended, it was thought by some that it was the result of
spiritualism. This was thought due to the fact that many occultists and spiritists attended the meetings and were comfortable in their midst.
Apostolic Faith publication
Headline of the first ever publication of the ''Apostolic Faith'', from
September,
1906.
Also starting in September, 1906, was the publication of the revival's own newsletter, the ''Apostolic Faith''.
[20] Issues were published occasionally up until May of
1908, mostly through the work of Seymour and a
white woman named Clara Lum,
a member of the Apostolic Faith Mission. The ''Apostolic Faith'' was distributed without charge and thousands of laypersons and ministers received copies worldwide. 5000 copies of the first edition were printed, and by
1907 the press run reached over 40,000.
The ''Apostolic Faith'' publication reported the happenings at the Azusa Street Mission to the world. Its first issue's lead story was titled "Pentecost has Come". It contained a letter from
Charles Parham, an article on
Pentecost from
Acts, and a series of anecdotes of people's experience within the revival.
[22] One edition in 1907 wrote, "One token of the Lord’s coming is that He is melting all races and nations together, and they are filled with the power and glory of God. He is baptizing by one spirit into one body and making up a people that will be ready to meet Him when He comes."
The ''Apostolic Faith'' brought increasing attention to the happenings at Azusa Street and the fledgling movement that was emerging from the revival.
Legacy
By
1913, the revival at Azusa Street had lost momentum, and by 1915 most of the media attention and crowds had left. Seymour remained there with his wife, Jennie, for the rest of their lives as pastors of the small
African American congregation,
though he often made short trips to help establish other smaller revivals later in life. After Seymour died of a
heart attack on September 28,
1922, Jennie led the church until
1931, when the congregation lost the building.
The building was torn down and replaced by what became the Japanese-American Cultural and Community Center in Los Angeles after it lost its foreclosure in
1938.
Seymour is now considered by modern Pentecostals to be of marginal importance to their movement, with more credit being given to
Charles Parham and other
white leaders of his time.
Historians, however, attribute the beginning of the movement to Seymour.
Sending of missionaries
As ''The Apostolic Faith'' and many
secular publications advertised the events of the Azusa Street Revival internationally, thousands of individuals visited the Mission in order to wittness it firsthand. At the same time, thousands of people were leaving Azusa Street with the intentions of
evangelizing abroad.
Reverend K. E. M. Spooner visited the revival on Azusa Street in
1909 and became one of the Pentecostal Holiness Church’s most effective missionaries in Africa, working among the
Tswana people of
Botswana.
A. G. Garr and his wife were sent from Azusa Street as missionaries to
Calcutta, India, where they managed to start a small revival. Speaking in tongues in India did not enable them to speak the native language,
Bengali. Garr significantly contributed to early
Pentecostalism through his later work in redefining the "biblical evidence" doctrine and changing the doctrine from a belief that speaking in tongues was explicitly for evangelism to a belief that speaking in tongues was a gift for "spiritual empowerment".
Missionary Bernt Bernsten traveled all the way from
North China to investigate the happenings after hearing that the Biblical prophecy of Acts 2:4 was being fulfilled. Other visitors left the revival to become
missionaries in remote areas all over the world.
So many missionaries went out from Azusa (some thirty-eight left in October 1906) that within two years the movement had spread to over fifty nations, including
Britain,
Scandinavia,
Germany,
Holland,
Egypt,
Syria,
Palestine,
South Africa,
Hong Kong,
China,
Ceylon and
India. Christian leaders visited from all over the world.
Birth of Pentecostal movement
By the end of 1906, most leaders from Azusa Street had spun off to form other congregations, such as the 51st Street Apostolic Faith Mission, the Spanish AFM, and the Italian Pentecostal Mission. These missions were largely composed of immigrant or ethnic groups. The Southeast
United States was a particularly prolific area of growth for the movement, since Seymour's approach gave a useful explanation for charismatic spiritual climate that had already been taking root in those areas. Other new missions were based on preachers who had charisma and energy. Nearly all of these new churches were founded among
immigrants and the
poor.
Doctrinal differences abounded, and many separate organizations and denominations sprung from the initial revivals. The
Church of God in Christ was formed in 1907, the
Assemblies of God and
United Pentecostal Church were formed in
1914, the
Pentecostal Church of God was formed in
1919 at the Sharon Bible School (which later became a starting point of
William Branham's ministry in the late
1940s).
Today there are more than 500 million Pentecostal and Charismatic believers across the globe.
The
Pentecostal denomination is currently the second in size only to the
Roman Catholic Church,
and is the fastest-growing form of
Christianity today.
[24] The Azusa Street Revival is commonly regarded as the beginning of the Pentecostal Movement.
References
1. William J. Seymour and the Azusa Street Revival
2. Azusa History
3. AZUSA STREET MISSION
4. This Date in History: Azusa Street Revival
5.
6.
7. IPHC Azusa Street Links – 1901 to Present
8.
9. Pentecostal Movement Celebrates Humble Roots
10.
11. Azusa Street Timeline
12. Billy Wilson: The Miracle on Azusa Street
13. Azusa Street Revival
14. Azusa Street, , Frank, Bartleman, Bridge-Logos Publishers, 1980, ISBN 0-88270-439-7
15. Azusa St. and modern Pentecostalism - The 100 year celebration of what?
16. Azusa Street Revival (1906 - 1909)
17. The Lasting Impact of the Azusa Street Revival
18.
19. American Pentecost
20. Azusa Street Mission
21. William Joseph Seymour: The father of Pentecostalism
22.
23. REVEREND JOHN W. BROOKS
24. Black Apostles: Afro-American Clergy Confront the Twentieth Century, , Richard, Newmann, G. K. Hall & Co., ,
25. Azusa Street revival (Pentecostal movement)
26.
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