25th June, 2006

TONY TOWNSEND

 
Los Angeles’ Azusa Street Revival, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in April 2006, is recognised as one of the key events which gave rise to the Pentecostal Movement at the beginning of the twentieth century. The revival would go on to have global ramifications for the Christian church. The outstanding figure of this revival was William J. Seymour, seen as one of the most influential and respected early Pentecostal leaders.
 

BIRTH OF A PREACHER: Driven by an "intense spiritual hunger", William J. Seymour would rise to become one of the father-figures of Pentecostal Movement in the early twentieth century. IMAGE: 'Pastie' (iStockphoto.com) "Seymour later moved to Ohio and became further influenced by the Holiness Movement. There he also received what has been described as a “deeper spiritual experience”. It was during this time that he became exposed to the teachings about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, racial reconciliation, holiness and Christian unity."

Early Life
Raised in an environment of poverty, Seymour was an African American born to former slaves in Louisiana, United States, in 1870. Dr Larry Martin, of River of Revival Ministries, describes the abject poverty of the Seymour family, noting that in 1896 "the family’s possessions were listed as one old bedstead, one old chair and one old mattress”, and going on to say that his mother’s personal possessions were worth no more than about fifty cents.

Seymour’s spiritual upbringing involved various denominational influences. The official website celebrating the Azusa Street Centennial reports that he was affiliated with the Baptist Church and the Roman Catholic Church during childhood and was christened in the Catholic tradition on 4th September, 1870, at the Church of the Assumption in Franklin, Louisiana.

New Beginnings
It was on leaving Louisiana and arriving in Indianapolis in 1895 that Seymour experienced a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ at a Methodist Episcopal Church. He went on, however, to join a conservative Holiness Movement group, known as Evening Lights Saints.

While in Indianapolis, Seymour contracted smallpox, which left him visually impaired in one eye and resulted in scarring around his face which led Seymour to sport a beard in order to mask it. It was during his illness, according to Pentecostal scholar Dr. H.V. Synan, that Seymour “accepted a call to preach and, in a short time, was licensed and ordained as a minister of the Evening Lights Saints movement”.

Seymour later moved to Ohio and became further influenced by the Holiness Movement. There he also received what has been described as a “deeper spiritual experience”. It was during this time that he became exposed to the teachings about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, racial reconciliation, holiness and Christian unity.

The Houston Experience
In 1903, motivated by a desire to seek out his family, Seymour moved to Houston, Texas, and connected with a Holiness Movement church there, serving as an interim pastor. While in Houston, he came under the influence of Charles Parham, founder of the Apostolic Faith Movement and acknowledged as a father of the Pentecostal movement. Parham had relocated his Bible School to Houston and taught the outpouring of the God’s Spirit with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues.

Driven by an intense spiritual hunger, Seymour enrolled in Parham’s school, in an environment where strict southern racial segregation laws were enforced. H.V. Synan notes that "to satisfy southern law and mores, Seymour was permitted to sit in a hall where he could hear the classes through the doorway".

The draconian nature of these racial laws was not enough to hinder Seymour however. He embraced Parham’s teaching that being that speaking in tongues was the evidence of being baptised with the Holy Spirit, to the point where he was able to recite it word for word. He did not, however, receive the baptism of the Spirit at the time. Parham and Seymour would go on to hold joint meetings together.

On a visit to Houston, a lady by the name of Neely Terry from a Holiness Church in Los Angeles spoke to Seymour about the possibility of becoming a pastor in her church. Accepting her invitation, Seymour arrived in Los Angeles in 1906. This next phase of Seymour’s spiritual journey would prove the most fruitful and influential. God was setting the scene for one of the most significant movements in 20th century church history.

30th July, 2006

In part two, TONY TOWNSEND takes a look at the Azusa Street Revival...

Fertile Ground for Revival
The spiritual soil was already being prepared prior to William J. Seymour’s arrival in Los Angeles on 22nd February, 1906, with a thirst and hunger for a spiritual awakening very evident at the turn of the 20th century. The Azusa Street Centennial website quotes Frank Bartleman, a man who had sought after this spiritual awakening.

Bartleman writes: “It would be a great mistake to attempt to attribute the Pentecostal beginning in Los Angeles to any one man, either in prayer or in preaching...‘Pentecost’ did not drop suddenly out of heaven. God was with us in large measure for a long time before the final outpouring.”

Reports coming back from the Welsh Revival (1904-06) had proved a major inspiration for prayer meetings to be birthed within Los Angeles with the view of seeing a similar move of God. Church history professor Cecil Robeck cites the response of one Baptist pastor, Joseph Smale, who returned from Wales. According to Robeck, Smale said that “upon returning from Los Angeles he began to preach a message that encouraged people to be open to the work of the Holy Spirit", adding that Seymour "organised his church into smaller home prayer groups and began a series of meetings for fifteen weeks".

Early Opposition
Ironically, when Seymour first began to speak at the Holiness Church in Los Angeles to which he had been invited, the response of the congregation - despite high expectations - was hardly receptive. Seymour’s sermons about the work of the Holy Spirit were quickly rejected by the church leadership to the point where the church door was padlocked to prevent him from preaching there. They justified their stance on the basis that Seymour himself had not experienced the very thing he taught.

Unmoved by this initial reaction, however, Seymour did gain some support by those in the congregation who sought a deeper spiritual experience.

This group, says the Azusa Street Centennial website, “continued to meet for prayer and worship ultimately conducting services in the home of Richard and Ruth Asbery".

"Others learned of the meetings and began to attend, including some white families of nearby holiness churches," reads a website article. "Then, on April 9(th), 1906, a breakthrough occurred as Edward Lee was baptised with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues after Seymour had prayed with him...A few days later, on April 12(th), William Seymour finally received his baptism at about four o’clock in the morning, after having prayed all night long.”

With its rapid growth creating lack of space, Seymour’s group relocated to an African Methodist Episcopal Church in Azusa Street, Los Angeles. Work was done to prepare for the services as the building was in state of disrepair.

Characteristics of the Revival
One of the outstanding features of the revival was its ability to cross denominational, racial, social and gender lines. Gary McGee, professor of church history at the Assembly of God Theological Seminary in Missouri, writes that "Azusa carried a unique interracial dimension in a largely segregated America...African Americans, Anglos, Hispanics, Armenians and Christians of other nationalities studied the Bible, spoke in tongues, sang, prayed and shared the charismatic gifts of the Spirit".

Services were conducted three times daily, seven days a week, with between 300 to 350 people attending each service. Sermons were spontaneous and Seymour would use two wooden boxes placed on top of each other as his pulpit. The Christian History Institute website says that Seymour told those who gathered  "Don't go out of here talking about tongues; talk about Jesus".

The power of God was evident with prayer for the sick and calls for salvation made.

The Los Angeles Times on April 18th, 1906 reported on some of the unusual manifestations present. It reports of one lady who "...jumped to the floor and began wild gesticulation, which ended in a gurgle of wordless prayers which were nonetheless shocking”.

The Azusa Street site became known as the Apostolic Faith Mission. The church produced its own publication known as The Apostolic Faith, giving reports on the activities at Azusa Street. The publication had a worldwide circulation.

Impact
Attendance at Azusa Street peaked between 1906-09 but beyond this, growth was very modest. However, as Robeck notes, it is important to look at the impact of what took place outside the walls of the mission to grasp the full impact of the revival sparked there.

Azusa Street had a rippling effect locally, nationally and internationally. Local churches were planted as a result of the revival and missionaries took the message of Azusa Street abroad to places such as China, Japan, Philippines and South Africa.

McGee writes that Azusa Street left a "deep imprint on the collective memory of the Pentecostal movement, crafting a heritage that later would inspire majority world Pentecostals because of its egalitarian character and the dispensing of supernatural gifts for the building of Christ’s church".

Beyond his ministry at Azusa Street, Seymour preached throughout the United States, carrying the message of the Gospel and specifically speaking out against racism. He passed away in 1922. His wife, Jennie, carried on the work until her death in 1931. The Azusa Street church building was demolished in 1931 and sadly the land was lost in foreclosure in 1938.

SOURCES:
McGee, Gary B. 'From Azusa Street to the ends of the earth' in Christian History and Biography. Issue 90. (United States. Christianity Today International. 2006. page 46-47)

History of the Azusa Street Revival - http://www.azusastreet100.net

Robeck, Cecil “Azusa Street Revival” in Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements Ed. S.M. Burgess and G.B. McGee (Michigan, Zondervan Publishing House. 1995)

Martin, Dr. Larry - www.azusastreet.org

What Happened this Day in Church History - http://chi.gospelcom.net

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