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Pentecostalism and the Azusa Street Revival
Azusa Street, Los Angeles, 1906· Church or tradition· Church, doctrine & the world
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
A movement stressing the Holy Spirit's gifts, such as speaking in tongues and healing, that took off at a Los Angeles revival in 1906.
See it on the Bible & Christianity map →What it is
In 1901 Charles Parham's Bible school in Topeka, Kansas, taught that speaking in tongues proves 'baptism in the Holy Spirit.' His student William J. Seymour, a Black Holiness preacher and son of formerly enslaved parents, led meetings at 312 Azusa Street, Los Angeles, from April 1906. Black, white, Latino and Asian worshippers mixed, rare in that era. Visitors carried the message worldwide, and denominations such as the Assemblies of God (1914) followed. From the 1960s 'charismatic renewal' spread similar worship into older churches.
Why it matters
With roughly 580–650 million Pentecostals and charismatics by common estimates, about a quarter of all Christians, it is among the fastest-growing forms of Christianity, especially in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
Sources and history
Seymour's newspaper The Apostolic Faith (from 1906), a mocking Los Angeles Times story ('Weird Babel of Tongues,' April 18, 1906) and participants' memoirs document Azusa Street; counts come from surveys such as Pew's.
Questions and debates
Historians debate whether it had one origin or many, since similar revivals broke out in Wales (1904), India (1905) and Korea (1907), and whether Parham or Seymour deserves the founder's title.
Connections (4)
▸Pentecost: the Holy Spirit and the first church gave its name and model to Pentecostalism and the Azusa Street RevivalHistorical record
The connection
Acts 2:4 says the disciples were 'filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues' at Pentecost. Early Pentecostals believed God was repeating that event in the 'last days' (Acts 2:17), and took the feast's name. They taught that every believer should seek the same Spirit baptism, with tongues as its evidence.
When and where
Charles Parham's Bible school in Topeka, Kansas, January 1901; Azusa Street, Los Angeles, 1906, where Seymour's newspaper was titled The Apostolic Faith.
Historical evidence
Early Pentecostal sermons, hymns and newspapers quote Acts 2 constantly; doctrinal statements such as the Assemblies of God's (1916) rest on it.
Questions and debates
Acts describes known foreign languages, while linguists find most modern tongues are not identifiable languages. Many Protestants (cessationists) hold that such gifts ended with the apostles.
▸John Wesley and Methodism taught the holiness ideas behind Pentecostalism and the Azusa Street RevivalHistorical record
The connection
Wesley taught that after conversion believers could receive a second work of grace, 'Christian perfection' or entire sanctification. The 19th-century Holiness movement built on this 'second blessing.' Parham and Seymour came from Holiness churches and recast the second blessing as baptism in the Spirit, shown by speaking in tongues.
When and where
Wesley's A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1766); American Holiness camp meetings after 1867; Topeka, 1901; Azusa Street, 1906.
Historical evidence
Historians such as Donald Dayton (Theological Roots of Pentecostalism, 1987) and Vinson Synan traced the line from Methodism through Holiness churches to Pentecostalism.
Questions and debates
Wesley never taught speaking in tongues, and some Pentecostal streams, like the Assemblies of God, drew more on Reformed 'Keswick' teaching. How direct the Wesleyan line is remains debated.
▸Pentecostalism and the Azusa Street Revival drives much of Christianity's center shifts to the Global SouthHistorical record
The connection
Pentecostal and charismatic churches, with lively worship, healing prayer and lay leaders, fit cultures where spiritual power is taken for granted, and they spread through local preachers. They power much of Christianity's southern growth: in Brazil, evangelicals, mostly Pentecostal, reached about 27% in the 2022 census, and Pentecostal megachurches fill cities from Lagos to Seoul.
When and where
Missionaries from Azusa Street reached India, China, Africa and Latin America by about 1910; Brazil's Assemblies of God began in 1911; explosive growth since the 1960s.
Historical evidence
Censuses such as Brazil's and Pew Research Center surveys, including its 2006 ten-country study Spirit and Power, document the growth.
Questions and debates
Definitions vary (are charismatic Catholics counted?), so totals differ. The 'prosperity gospel' is debated, as is whether Pentecostal growth will last as societies urbanize.
▸Pentecostalism and the Azusa Street Revival gave rise to Yoido Full Gospel ChurchHistorical record
The connection
Yoido Full Gospel grew directly out of Pentecostal missions: David Yonggi Cho trained at the Assemblies of God's Full Gospel Bible school in Seoul, and the church kept Pentecostal hallmarks such as speaking in tongues, healing prayer and all-night prayer meetings, adding Korean touches like a fasting 'prayer mountain.'
When and where
Seoul: a Bible school run by American Assemblies of God missionaries in the 1950s; tent church, 1958; Yeouido from 1973; the Osanri prayer mountain from 1973.
Historical evidence
The church's membership in the Korea Assemblies of God and Cho's own books and sermons document its Pentecostal roots.
Questions and debates
Scholars debate how much its focus on blessing and healing reflects Pentecostalism versus older Korean shamanistic traditions; church leaders reject the shamanism comparison.