A Brief History of the Body of Christ In the Twentieth Century
Pentecostal Origins
Religious historians trace the beginning of the Pentecostal movement to 1901. Pentecostals, themselves, trace the experience back to the inauguration of the early church. Acts 2:4. One Pentecostal historian claims:
In fact, from the time of the Apostles until today there have been occasions when believers, caught up in the Spirit spoke in tongues. The Huguenots in France and Irvingites in England both shared the experience. The great revivals of Wesley, Finney and Moody were sometimes accompanied by manifestations of spiritual gifts.
By the later Nineteenth Century there had been numerous occurrences of speaking in tongues. Confirmed reports came in from Minnesota, North Carolina, Texas and Tennessee. . . .(Larry E. Martin, The Topeka Outpouring of 1901, (Joplin, Mo.: Christian Life Books, 1997), 16.)
While there has been a 2000-year continuation of the Holy Spirit experience, the historical record of Pentecostalism disappears at the close of the New Testament and reappears on January 1, 1901. For eighteen centuries, the history of these people is lost in the mists of hatred, persecution, and unrelenting rejection by formal, apostate Christianity. Only a few anecdotal accounts still exist, such as Margaret McDonald, in Scotland in the early 1800s. She and a few others were said to speak in tongues. In the 1870s William Doughty ministered in New England, with tongues-speaking, shaking, and dancing. Perhaps more evidence will be unearthed sometime. But for now, the movement cannot be traced back much before that date.
But the rise of modern Pentecostalism can easily be traced to an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Topeka, Kansas, on January 1, 1901, and to the emphasis it later received at the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles, California. The occasional references to tongues-speaking in the historical record before 1901 were thought to be a manifestation of one of the gifts of the Spirit, (See I Corinthians 12:10) rather than the evidence of Holy Spirit baptism. In the Twentieth Century, Pentecostalism has proclaimed glossalia as the only evidence of baptism in the Holy Spirit.
The man recognized as the founder of the modern Pentecostal movement is Charles Fox Parham. Parham was a former Methodist minister who had left the Methodist church to begin an independent ministry in 1895. While working among the holiness people, Parham was impressed that there would be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the last days. In September, 1900, Parham secured quarters for a Bible school in Topeka, Kansas, to train missionaries for the expected revival.
On the first day of the Twentieth Century, a Pentecostal revival began. Accounts of what happened at Bethel Bible College on January 1, 1901, vary somewhat - but all agree that a young woman, Agnes Ozman, began speaking in other tongues at a prayer meeting on that date. Most accounts record this occurring sometime during a watch-night service, December 31, 1900. Sometime after midnight, as a new century had began, Sis. Ozman began speaking in tongues. Within a few days, Parham and about half of the student body had received the experience, author Larry Martin published Charles Parham's own account of this occurrence:
No sooner was this miraculous restoration of Pentecostal power noised abroad, than we were besieged with reporters from Topeka papers, Kansas City, St. Louis and many other cities sent reporters who brought with them professors of languages, foreigners, government interpreters, and they gave the work the most crucial tests. One government interpreter claimed to have heard twenty Chinese dialects distinctly spoken in one night. All agreed that the students of the college were speaking in the languages of the world, and that with proper accent and intonation. There was no chattering, jabbering, or stuttering. Each one spoke clearly and distinctly in a foreign tongue, with earnestness, intensity and God-given unction.(Martin, Topeka Outpouring, 38-39.)
In addition to teaching that the Bible supports tongues-speaking as evidence of the receipt of the Holy Spirit, Parham also taught against denominational organization. In the two decades after the initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Topeka, various Pentecostal associations organized into denominations. Parham rejected denominationalism.
One of Parham's students and disciples, William J. Seymour, became the pastor of a Los Angeles mission. After holding house meetings on North Bonnie Brae Street, the swelling crowd leased the former Stevens African Methodist Church at 312 Azusa Street. The Azusa Street revival, which began in 1906, brought Pentecostalism into notoriety and prominence. In fact, Parham is hardly mentioned in Pentecostal history after 1906.
The words "Azusa Street" have become synonymous with the origin of the Twentieth Century Pentecostal Revival. From the Apostolic Faith Gospel Mission at 312 Azusa Street, Los Angles, California, the fire of Pentecost swept the world; yet the flame did not begin at Azusa Street. Like an Olympic runner with a torch, William Joseph Seymour brought the flame to Los Angeles from Houston, Texas. The same fire had been carried to Houston by Charles Fox Parham, the founder of the Apostolic Faith.(Larry S. Martin, The Life and Ministry of William J. Seymour, (Joplin, Mo.: Christian Life Books, 1999), 21.)
On April 18, 1906, the Los Angeles Times reported "a weird babble of tongues" amid "wild scenes." Notoriety attracted crowds. In a matter of weeks, services at the Azusa Street mission were held three times daily, for several hours each, seven days per week. Nearly every major Pentecostal association traces its roots back, directly or indirectly, to the Azusa Street revival.
An unusual feature of the Azusa Street work was its interracial character. America in 1906 was a segregated nation. But Seymour and his congregation followed the biblical pattern of accepting all of God's people. This was quite notable in its time:
One striking feature of the early meetings: they were interracial. Although Los Angeles was not segregated by law, it was unusual in the growing city of 230,000 to see blacks, whites, Hispanics, Asians, and newly arrived European immigrants worshipping under the same roof. A 1906 Azusa staff photo shows blacks and whites, men and women - all in leadership. An unsigned article in the November 1906 issue of [an Azusa publication] said, "No instrument that God can use is rejected on account of color or dress or lack of education." (Ted Olsen, "American Pentecost," Christian History, Issue 58, Vol. XVII, No. 2, 16.)
Two women, "mother" Leanore O. Barnes, and "mother" Mary Gill Moise, brought the Azusa message of Pentecostalism to St. Louis, Missouri, and the Midwest. These two sisters conducted a revival near Vienna, Illinois, in 1909, where a young Bob Shelton received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. After receiving this exhilarating experience, Brother Bob, still pulsating with joy, drove up in front of the house of his brother and sister-in-law, Bye and Clara Shelton, in Olmstead, Illinois. Brother Bob ran up to the front porch and explained with holy fervor, "I've just received the same experience they received on the day of Pentecost, according to Acts 2:4, with the same evidence of speaking in other tongues."
Soon Bye and Clara received the same experience. Frank Knight and his wife and George and Agnes Aubrey, then joined these brothers, and their wives. George Aubrey owned a boat that they christened the "Gospel Boat." That small vessel, along with the Shelton house in Olmstead, became the regular meeting places for a little church.
Living in Olmstead was a young man by the name of William Sowders. Sowders was later recognized as the founder of the Gospel Assembly Churches.