History and origin of Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism as it is known today has its roots in the 19th century, a time of mounting indifference to traditional religion. The roots of Pentecostalism draw back to the holiness movements of the late 1800s1
Dr Kurt traced the beginning of the movement from the small movement in Armenia “In the Armenian city of Kara Kala a tongue speaking movement woke to life in the Russian Othodox church. The Orthodox Church was in the habit of suppressing all who thought differently, they persecuted the stundists and the Gospel Christians.
The speakers in tongues left Armenia, moved to USA in 1900, and settled in Los Angles. A few years latter, this group joined the fellowship at Azusa Street, Los Angles after which various charismatic groups became established mainly in America.
Most notable of the new charismatic was the one led by Rev Parham. In 1899 Reverand Charles Parham at a small bible school in Topeka, Kansas, formed the conviction that speaking in tongues is the evidence of Holy Spirit baptism. Parham is the father and founder of Pentecostalism.2
In 1900, his small group located to Los Angles a city whose reputation of spiritism and ecstasy religions gave the new movement a conducive atmosphere for rapid development. Most of the occult and satanic religions of the world have been born to the present day in the city of Los Angles.
Synan Wilson in the American Religious Biography and the Holiness movements gave broader insight about the events surrounding the beginning of the Pentecostal movement in this way;
“Parham led his students through a study of the major tenants of the holiness movement including sanctification and divine healing, Baptism by the holy spirit is spoken of in the New Testament and Parham wondered what was it’s evidence? He asked his students to examine the issue over a period of three days while he had to be away, and see what they thought upon his return, he found the students had unanimously agreed that speaking in other tongues was proof that the Holy Spirit had fallen on an individual.
The students of the Bible School and their mentor planned a New Years Eve “watch night†service to pray for the Holy Spirit. After mid night, on the first day of 1901, Agnes asked Parham to lay hands on her and pray specifically that she might be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak another tongue as evidence of the filling. According to the others, his prayer was heard. Agnes began speaking in Chinese. Soon afterwards, the remaining students also began to speak in un known languages and later Perham himself also did soâ€3
After Agnes Ozman began speaking in unknown languages, Parham and his students claimed that speaking in tongues is the “initial evidence†of having the Holy Spirit. They started to preach the end time message since they believed in the coming of Christ. However, there efforts were un successful and the movement nearly collapsed. Parham looked for a better way of attracting people than telling them of the second coming of Christ.
At this time, Parham remembered his roots- the holiness movements. In 1903 he borrowed from them the teaching of “faith healing†he particularly borrowed this teaching from the Christian and Missionary Alliance. It is important to note that though most of these movements were using the Bible, some had teachings which were occult like.
Parham was therefore the first in along line of Pentecostal evangelists (Mary B Woodworth, Charles Price, Aimme Semple McPherson, and most recently Oral Roberts, Kathryn Kuhlman, and Benny Hinn) who taught that Christ atonement provides deliverance from sickness, Due to its new teaching of healing, the movement according to Parham grew to 25,000 people by 1905.
However, the real turn of Pentecostalism, occurred in 1906 at the Apostolic Faith Gospel Mission at Azusa street Los Angles. William Seymour, a one eyed holiness church pastor and former member of the African Methodist Episcopal church, had been exposed to Parham’s teaching at the Bible school in Houston, Texas. It is always wrong to talk about Pentecostalism without talking about Seymour; he rekindled the fading movement and the present Pentecostal movement is a fruit of his efforts.
In 1906, William Fox Seymour, who had been ardent student of Parham, started a strong tongues movement at Azusa Street, Los Angels. This became the center area of dispersion for the new movement which rapidly spread to different parts of the world
During that time, men and women from different churches who were convinced that they had been spiritually energized and charismatically endowed began extolling the reality of speaking in tongues. It is important to note that these people at the Azusa mission where from different religions and they could only meet for ‘spiritual union’ and they had no intension of separating from their churches, they merely wanted to be agents of reform and revival, helping to rid their churches of formalism.
In 1907 Parham was arrested for homosexuality against young boys in Texas but was released since no one would come to testify and subsequently lost much of his credibility with the neo-Pentecostal movement he had started.By the end of 1913 there were growing factions within the fledgling movement and in the end several independent Pentecostal organizations were formed due to not being able to resolve their leadership, racial and doctrinal differences. Four of these organizations exist today:
Dr Kurt traced the beginning of the movement from the small movement in Armenia “In the Armenian city of Kara Kala a tongue speaking movement woke to life in the Russian Othodox church. The Orthodox Church was in the habit of suppressing all who thought differently, they persecuted the stundists and the Gospel Christians.
The speakers in tongues left Armenia, moved to USA in 1900, and settled in Los Angles. A few years latter, this group joined the fellowship at Azusa Street, Los Angles after which various charismatic groups became established mainly in America.
Most notable of the new charismatic was the one led by Rev Parham. In 1899 Reverand Charles Parham at a small bible school in Topeka, Kansas, formed the conviction that speaking in tongues is the evidence of Holy Spirit baptism. Parham is the father and founder of Pentecostalism.2
In 1900, his small group located to Los Angles a city whose reputation of spiritism and ecstasy religions gave the new movement a conducive atmosphere for rapid development. Most of the occult and satanic religions of the world have been born to the present day in the city of Los Angles.
Synan Wilson in the American Religious Biography and the Holiness movements gave broader insight about the events surrounding the beginning of the Pentecostal movement in this way;
“Parham led his students through a study of the major tenants of the holiness movement including sanctification and divine healing, Baptism by the holy spirit is spoken of in the New Testament and Parham wondered what was it’s evidence? He asked his students to examine the issue over a period of three days while he had to be away, and see what they thought upon his return, he found the students had unanimously agreed that speaking in other tongues was proof that the Holy Spirit had fallen on an individual.
The students of the Bible School and their mentor planned a New Years Eve “watch night†service to pray for the Holy Spirit. After mid night, on the first day of 1901, Agnes asked Parham to lay hands on her and pray specifically that she might be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak another tongue as evidence of the filling. According to the others, his prayer was heard. Agnes began speaking in Chinese. Soon afterwards, the remaining students also began to speak in un known languages and later Perham himself also did soâ€3
After Agnes Ozman began speaking in unknown languages, Parham and his students claimed that speaking in tongues is the “initial evidence†of having the Holy Spirit. They started to preach the end time message since they believed in the coming of Christ. However, there efforts were un successful and the movement nearly collapsed. Parham looked for a better way of attracting people than telling them of the second coming of Christ.
At this time, Parham remembered his roots- the holiness movements. In 1903 he borrowed from them the teaching of “faith healing†he particularly borrowed this teaching from the Christian and Missionary Alliance. It is important to note that though most of these movements were using the Bible, some had teachings which were occult like.
Parham was therefore the first in along line of Pentecostal evangelists (Mary B Woodworth, Charles Price, Aimme Semple McPherson, and most recently Oral Roberts, Kathryn Kuhlman, and Benny Hinn) who taught that Christ atonement provides deliverance from sickness, Due to its new teaching of healing, the movement according to Parham grew to 25,000 people by 1905.
However, the real turn of Pentecostalism, occurred in 1906 at the Apostolic Faith Gospel Mission at Azusa street Los Angles. William Seymour, a one eyed holiness church pastor and former member of the African Methodist Episcopal church, had been exposed to Parham’s teaching at the Bible school in Houston, Texas. It is always wrong to talk about Pentecostalism without talking about Seymour; he rekindled the fading movement and the present Pentecostal movement is a fruit of his efforts.
In 1906, William Fox Seymour, who had been ardent student of Parham, started a strong tongues movement at Azusa Street, Los Angels. This became the center area of dispersion for the new movement which rapidly spread to different parts of the world
During that time, men and women from different churches who were convinced that they had been spiritually energized and charismatically endowed began extolling the reality of speaking in tongues. It is important to note that these people at the Azusa mission where from different religions and they could only meet for ‘spiritual union’ and they had no intension of separating from their churches, they merely wanted to be agents of reform and revival, helping to rid their churches of formalism.
In 1907 Parham was arrested for homosexuality against young boys in Texas but was released since no one would come to testify and subsequently lost much of his credibility with the neo-Pentecostal movement he had started.By the end of 1913 there were growing factions within the fledgling movement and in the end several independent Pentecostal organizations were formed due to not being able to resolve their leadership, racial and doctrinal differences. Four of these organizations exist today:
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