William Joseph Seymour:
The father of Pentecostalism
Azusa Street: The Message
At
Azusa Street throngs of people experienced and witnessed the outpouring of what
many was convinced was the latter rain. Perhaps even more shocking than that
was what the people heard and practiced there. At Azusa Street, Seymour
preached God’s love, a love that paid no heed to color or gender. Seymour
wanted people to embrace the baptism of the Holy Spirit but even more so he
wanted people to know God’s love. A love that he truly believed could erase
boundaries brought about by segregation and discrimination. Seymour often wrote and told others, when
discussing the Pentecostals position, “We are not fighting men or churches, but
seeking to displace dead forms and creeds and world fanaticisms while living
practical Christianity ‘Love, Faith, Unity’ are our watchwords and ‘Victory
through the atoning blood’ our battle cry.” [10]
and admonished people to not only focus on the tongues message but to, “Talk
about Jesus!”[11] This
message was put into practice at Azusa Street. In worship services blacks,
whites, and Hispanics worshipped together and laid hands on each other in
prayer. There were no lines to divide people based on race. Frank Bartlemen, an
eyewitness of the Azusa Street revival was so impressed by the racial harmony
he proclaimed that, “At Azusa Street, the color line was washed away in the
Blood.”[12]
Also at the meetings women and men were in leadership positions preaching to
and exhorting the congregation. To William Seymour this was the vision that he,
the son of slaves and victim of racism, had longed to see for all of his life,
a vision that he believed illustrated God’s vision for His people. This vision and message of Seymour’s caught
on quickly and became the model for what many believed should be the keystone
of Pentecostalism.[13] Many new
Pentecostals, especially blacks, were determined that reconciling the “cleavage
of the races” should be a main tenant of Pentecostalism.[14]
Throughout the
Azusa Street revival and the early years of the movement the denomination was
grounded in this message of love and harmony which was evidenced by joint movements
such as the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World and The Church of God in
Christ, both of these divisions of Pentecostalism concentrated on interracial
membership and leadership. It is also evident in documentation of leadership of
the early Pentecostal movement that gender and race were not important early
on. Women and men of all races were welcomed to participate, lead, teach, and
preach. In fact, women pastured many early Pentecostal and Holiness churches;
in addition, many early evangelists were women, again evidence of the focus on
equality and the tenant that God was not a respecter of persons. This message
of love and equality was equally as important to Seymour and some of the early
leaders such as Charles Mason, William Durham, Florence Crawford, and Clara
Lun, as the message of tongues and the spiritual gifts, the backbone and
emphasis of the Pentecostal doctrine.
Ü Azusa St.: Beginnings Azusa St.: Impact Þ
William Joseph Seymour Homepage HIS 338 Student Websites Page
This page was created by Ashley Sample. E-mail: smaple333@hotmail.com
This page was last updated April 17, 2001