Church History · 1901 and 1906

Topeka and the Azusa Street Revival: Pentecostals Are Born

On January 1, 1901, Agnes Ozman spoke in tongues at Charles Parham's Bible school in Topeka, Kansas. In 1906 William J. Seymour led the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, where people of every race worshiped together. From there the Pentecostal movement spread around the world.

Read it in the Bible: Acts 2:1-4 Acts 2:17-18 Joel 2:28-29 1 Corinthians 12:7-13 1 Corinthians 14:1

The Pentecostal movement began with two events. On January 1, 1901, a student named Agnes Ozman spoke in tongues at Charles Fox Parham's Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas. Then in April 1906, a Black preacher named William J. Seymour led a revival on Azusa Street in Los Angeles that drew people from all over the world, and from every race, to worship together. Pentecostals believe that the baptism in the Holy Spirit, with speaking in tongues, is for believers today, just as on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. Groups like the Assemblies of God, formed in 1914, carried the message worldwide. Today researchers estimate that Pentecostal and charismatic Christians together number more than half a billion people.

What Happened at Topeka in 1901?

Charles Parham was a holiness preacher who opened a small Bible school in Topeka in 1900. He asked his students to study the book of Acts and find the Bible evidence that someone had been baptized in the Holy Spirit. They noticed that in several places in Acts, people spoke in tongues when the Spirit came.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Acts 2:4

At a prayer meeting on the evening of January 1, 1901, Agnes Ozman asked Parham to lay hands on her and pray. She began speaking in what witnesses believed was Chinese, and over the next days other students had similar experiences. Parham then taught that speaking in tongues is the initial evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. That idea became the defining mark of classic Pentecostalism.

Who Was William J. Seymour?

William Joseph Seymour was born in Louisiana in 1870 to parents who had been enslaved. He was raised Baptist and later joined the holiness movement. In 1905 he studied under Parham in Houston, but because of segregation laws he had to sit apart from the white students.

In early 1906 Seymour was invited to preach at a small holiness church in Los Angeles. When he taught that tongues were the evidence of Spirit baptism, the pastor locked him out. So he kept holding prayer meetings in homes, including a house on Bonnie Brae Street. There, on April 9, 1906, people began speaking in tongues. Crowds filled the yard, and the front porch reportedly collapsed under the weight.

What Was the Azusa Street Revival?

The group soon rented an old church building at 312 Azusa Street that had been used as a stable and a warehouse. It had sawdust floors and planks laid across boxes for pews. For about three years, meetings ran nearly every day, often from morning to midnight. People came from across America and from other countries, then went home to start churches.

What amazed people most was who sat together. Black, white, Latino and Asian believers, rich and poor, men and women, worshiped and preached side by side at a time when much of America was strictly segregated. Frank Bartleman, a white eyewitness, wrote that the color line was washed away in the blood. Newspapers mocked the meetings, and one Los Angeles Times headline called it a weird babel of tongues. The revival kept going anyway.

In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Acts 2:17

How Did Pentecostalism Spread?

Seymour's newspaper, The Apostolic Faith, was mailed around the world. Leaders like Charles Harrison Mason brought the experience to the Church of God in Christ, now one of the largest Black denominations in America. In April 1914 about 300 Pentecostal leaders met in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and formed the Assemblies of God. Other groups followed, including the Church of God in Cleveland, Tennessee, and the Foursquare Church of Aimee Semple McPherson.

Sadly, the unity of Azusa did not last. Parham himself was offended by the racial mixing and broke with Seymour. Many Pentecostal groups later split along racial lines. Seymour died in 1922, mostly forgotten by the movement he helped launch. Historians have since given him the credit he deserves.

The biggest growth came later and far from America, in Latin America, Africa and Asia. In the 1960s the experience also spread into older churches, which became the charismatic movement.

How Are Pentecostals Different From Baptists?

Pentecostals and Baptists agree on a lot: salvation by grace through faith in Jesus, the authority of the Bible and believer's baptism. The main difference is about the Holy Spirit's gifts.

Pentecostals teach that after salvation, believers should seek a second experience called the baptism in the Holy Spirit, usually shown by speaking in tongues. They expect gifts like prophecy, healing and tongues in church today. Their best case comes from Acts, where the Spirit's coming was often marked by tongues, and from verses like 1 Corinthians 14:1, which tells believers to eagerly desire spiritual gifts.
Most Baptists teach that every believer receives the Holy Spirit at conversion, and that there is no required second experience. Some believe the miraculous gifts ended with the apostles. Others are open to them but cautious. Their best case comes from 1 Corinthians 12:13, which says all believers were baptized by one Spirit into one body, and from Paul's teaching that not everyone speaks in tongues.

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink. 1 Corinthians 12:13

Both sides love Jesus and want to honor the Holy Spirit. Many Christians today land somewhere in between.

Why It Matters for You Today

Azusa Street is a picture of what the church can be. The Spirit fell on ordinary people in a run down building, and for a while the walls between races came down. Whatever you believe about tongues, that is something every church should want.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

Get Nate's Highlighting Guide Free

Free. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

Questions People Ask

When did the Pentecostal movement start?

Most historians date it to January 1, 1901, when Agnes Ozman spoke in tongues at Charles Parham's Bible school in Topeka, Kansas. It became a worldwide movement after the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, which began in April 1906.

What was the Azusa Street Revival?

It was a revival led by William J. Seymour at 312 Azusa Street in Los Angeles, starting in 1906. Meetings ran almost daily for about three years. People of many races worshiped together, and visitors carried Pentecostalism around the world.

What is the difference between Pentecostals and Baptists?

Pentecostals teach a baptism in the Holy Spirit after salvation, usually shown by speaking in tongues, and they practice spiritual gifts today. Most Baptists teach that believers receive the Spirit fully at conversion. Some Baptists believe the miraculous gifts ended, while others are open but cautious.

When were the Assemblies of God founded?

The Assemblies of God was formed at a meeting in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in April 1914. About 300 Pentecostal leaders attended. It is now part of the largest Pentecostal fellowship in the world.

Sources

← The American Standard Version The Churches of Christ →

See the whole Church History