The Azusa Street Revival in 1906-9, regarded by historians of religions as marking the beginning of twentieth-century Pentecostalism, has exercised a profound influence in the United States and beyond.
William Joseph Seymour (1870-1922), the central figure of the Revival was born to a family of emancipated slaves and grew up in the midst of violent racism. Seymour served as a pastor of a black Holiness Church in Jackson, Mississippi. He enrolled in a Bible College run by Charles Parham in Houston, Texas, around the time when glossolalia was being experienced as a sign of the power of the Holy Spirit at the College, which essentially became a major emphasis in Parham’s teachings. In February 1906, Seymour became the pastor of the Church of Nazarene, which was a small black church in Los Angeles. He emphasized glossolalia as evidence of Spirit baptism during his Sunday sermons. Furthermore, conversion, sanctification, divine healing and the imminent return of Christ were themes that featured prominently during his evening teaching sessions. The emphases of Seymour’s sermons incurred the displeasure of some which subsequently led to his being locked out of the mission. As a result he had to live with two black families while leading them in Bible study and prayer. Seymour is believed to have prayed for one Edward Lee who received healing and later was baptized in the Holy Spirit. This experience was later shared by others as well as Seymour himself. The next few days saw crowds of different races gathering to hear Seymour preach and to experience glossolalia, trances and healing.
The stupendous growth of adherents led them to arrange to have an abandoned Methodist Episcopal church at 312 Azusa Street leased to them for their meeting. They held three services each Sunday with attendances rising to over 800 with about 500 standing outside. The services of which Seymour was clearly in charge, were characterized by spontaneity. Sermons were generally not prepared in advance and extempore songs were mainly unaccompanied, there were testimonies, prayer, altar calls for salvation or sanctification or for baptism in the Holy Spirit. During prayer adherents claimed they fell under the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Azusa Street revival is significant for several reasons. First, it was at the heart of the emergence of the twentieth-century Pentecostal movement. Second, it was the first time that the press noticed the Pentecostal movement and thus gave it wide coverage thus attracting to it worldwide attention. The tremendous extent of its spread led to the emergence of several centers of Pentecostalism in cities throughout the United States. It also produced many Pentecostal denominations including white-oriented United Pentecostal Church and the Assemblies of God Church. Within five months of its birth, the revival had produced over thirty-eight missionaries who spread the Pentecostal message and experience in over fifty nations world-wide within two years.
Thirdly, the Azusa Street revival points to the black experiential origins of Pentecostalism thus, providing values and themes of the Pentecostal movement which distinctively belong to the black culture. Finally, the Azusa Street revival transcended geographical, racial and denominational barriers. There was a high sense of togetherness, irrespective of race and color and Christian profession. For instance, Germans and Jews, blacks and whites ate together in the little cottage at the rear of the church. The impact of the revival was thus felt initially among mainly Protestants. Roman Catholics were also to discover around the middle of the twentieth-century resources of renewal in Pentecostalism.
