World Religions › Modern
Pentecostalism (Azusa Street Revival)
Los Angeles, 1906· Religion or tradition· Judaism, Christianity & Islam
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
A fast-growing Christian movement stressing direct experience of the Holy Spirit, launched largely by the 1906 Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles.
See it on the World Religions map →What it is
Pentecostals believe the Holy Spirit gives believers the gifts described in Acts and Paul's letters, especially speaking in tongues, healing and prophecy. William J. Seymour, a Black Holiness preacher taught by Charles Parham, led meetings from 1906 in a former church on Azusa Street that ran daily for about three years and mixed races unusually for the era. Visitors carried the movement worldwide. With the related charismatic movement it counts an estimated 600 million people, about a quarter of all Christians.
Why it matters
It is a main reason Christianity's center shifted to Africa, Latin America and Asia; Seoul's Yoido Full Gospel Church grew into one of the world's largest congregations.
Sources and history
The revival's own newspaper, The Apostolic Faith (1906–08), Los Angeles Times reports, missionaries' letters, and global estimates by Pew and the World Christian Database.
Questions and debates
Historians debate whether Azusa was the single origin or one of several near-simultaneous revivals, in Wales, India and Korea; counting charismatics inside other churches is also uncertain.
Inside this (2)
Connections (5)
▸Pentecostalism (Azusa Street Revival) grew out of Evangelicalism and the Great AwakeningsHistorical record
The connection
Pentecostalism grew from the Holiness movement, a Methodist-rooted strand of evangelicalism that taught a 'second blessing' after conversion. Charles Parham and William Seymour taught a further experience, baptism in the Holy Spirit, marked by speaking in tongues. Pentecostals kept evangelical basics: the Bible's authority, personal conversion and fervent revival preaching.
When and where
Topeka, Kansas, in 1901 under Parham; Houston, where Seymour sat in on his classes in 1905; and Los Angeles's Azusa Street from 1906.
Historical evidence
Early Pentecostal papers, Holiness publications and the founders' sermons trace the line clearly; most Pentecostal churches describe themselves as evangelical.
Questions and debates
Some historians stress Black church worship traditions as roots alongside white Holiness theology; whether Parham or Seymour deserves the title of founder is debated.
▸Great Pyongyang Revival paralleled Pentecostalism (Azusa Street Revival)Mostly agreed by scholars
The connection
The Pyongyang Revival broke out a year after Azusa Street, with similar features: emotional public confession, intense group prayer and a strong sense of the Holy Spirit's presence. Both drew inspiration from news of the 1904–05 Welsh Revival. But Pyongyang's revival stayed inside Presbyterian and Methodist churches, without the speaking in tongues central to Pentecostalism.
When and where
Los Angeles in 1906 and Pyongyang in 1907, part of a wave of revivals that included Wales (1904–05) and India's Khasi Hills and Mukti Mission (1905–07).
How do we know?
Missionary reports from both revivals cite the Welsh Revival; no direct Azusa link to Pyongyang is documented, so the connection is a parallel.
Questions and debates
Pentecostal historians often claim Pyongyang as part of one worldwide outpouring of the Spirit; others see separate revivals that shared news and hopes, not doctrine.
▸Yoido Full Gospel Church, Seoul is often called the largest congregation of Pentecostalism (Azusa Street Revival)Mostly agreed by scholars
The connection
Cho trained at an Assemblies of God Bible school in Seoul, and the church belongs to the Korean Assemblies of God, part of the denomination that grew from Azusa Street's tradition. It practices speaking in tongues, divine healing and Spirit baptism, and Cho led the World Assemblies of God Fellowship from 1992 to 2000.
When and where
Seoul, from 1958; Cho's training at Full Gospel Bible College in the 1950s; the Assemblies of God's world fellowship.
How do we know?
Denominational records, Cho's books, and studies by Pentecostal scholars such as Allan Anderson.
Questions and debates
Membership counts are self-reported and once included satellite churches, many made independent since about 2010, so whether it is truly the largest congregation depends on how one counts.
▸Christianity's shift to the Global South is driven largely by Pentecostalism (Azusa Street Revival)Mostly agreed by scholars
The connection
Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity, centered on direct experience of the Holy Spirit, healing and prophecy, fits local beliefs in spiritual power and needs no seminary-trained clergy. It spreads through small, independent churches. Most of its estimated 600 million adherents live in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
When and where
Booming from the 1970s in Brazil, Guatemala, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Korea and the Philippines.
How do we know?
The World Christian Database, Pew's 2006 ten-country survey of Pentecostals, and Brazil's censuses showing Catholics falling from about 90% in 1970 to under 60% in 2022.
Questions and debates
Counts vary widely because 'charismatic' is loosely defined; scholars debate the prosperity gospel's role and whether the growth will last.
▸Pentecostalism (Azusa Street Revival) is named for the Pentecost story in New TestamentHistorical record
The connection
Acts 2 tells how, at the Jewish festival of Pentecost after Jesus' ascension, the Holy Spirit came on the disciples like tongues of fire and they spoke in other languages. Pentecostals believe this 'baptism in the Spirit', with speaking in tongues, healing and prophecy, is for believers today, not only the apostles' era.
When and where
Topeka, Kansas, in 1901 under Charles Parham, then the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, 1906, led by William Seymour, a Black preacher.
Historical evidence
Early Pentecostal papers such as The Apostolic Faith (1906) cite Acts 2 constantly; the movement's name and core doctrines come straight from it.
Questions and debates
Whether 'tongues' are real foreign languages, as early Pentecostals expected, or a form of prayer speech, and whether such gifts ceased after the apostles, are debated among Christians.