William Joseph Seymour:

The father of Pentecostalism

Azusa Street: The Impact

            The success and fervor of Azusa Street spread into a wide-sweeping movement throughout the United States and to the entire world.  Seymour received correspondence from pastors and church members from all over the states asking for instruction about the doctrine of tongues and the practices at Azusa Street. In response William Seymour began publishing a free of charge publication, the Apostolic Faith magazine, which at its height boasted a circulation on fifty thousand worldwide. This publication brought yet more attention to the happenings at Azusa Street and the fledgling movement that was emerging from the revival. From Seymour’s large congregation missionaries journeyed to the rest of the U.S. and the world to aide others in receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit and experience the great spiritual fervor that was being experienced in Los Angeles. These missionaries had carried the Pentecostal doctrine to most of the United States, Norway, South America, Italy, Russia, and parts of Africa. [1]

            As the denomination asserted itself as a religious stronghold in the early years, the leaders also asserted the interracial, inter-gender leadership that they had experienced and learned at Azusa Street under William Seymour.  By the 1910s the denomination had distinct branches being formed by Charles Mason and G.B. Cashwell in the southern United States, William Durham in Chicago, Juan L. Lugo in Puerto Rico, and Romanita Carbajal in Los Angeles.[2] These distinct branches all traced roots to Azusa Street and were initially united and stood poised to change the face of American religion and society, not only through their observance of the Holy Spirit and tongues but through their stand on the insignificance of race and gender differences in worship.  The early Pentecostal church had the unique opportunity to take a worldwide, United States centered revival to a increasingly cynically minded society as well as shatter the lines and boundaries of race and gender in a world dominated by white men. Unfortunately, this was not to be the role that the early Pentecostal church played in the early twentieth-century. Before the Azusa Street Revival was even complete William Seymour’s vision of harmony through God’s blessing of the Holy Spirit began to self-destruct.

 

               Ü  Azusa St.: The Message          The Downfall of Seymour’s Vision  Þ

                                   

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                             This page was created by Ashley Sample.          E-mail: smaple333@hotmail.com

 

This page was last updated April 17, 2001

 

 

 


14 Synan, 6-7

15 Synan, 3;  Alvarez, Caramelo Hispanic Pentecostals: Azusa Street and Beyond. Cyber Journal for Pentecostal-Charasmatic Research (accessed 28 March 2001) available at http://ourworld.cs.com/_ht_a/xenoako/alvarez.html Internet p8-12