Post by shawnlarson on Sept 7, 2008 21:33:32 GMT -5
Like many Charismatic / Pentecostal Christians when I heard of the Azusa Street revivals I always heard about the event as the “glory years” of the Pentecostal movement. In the same vein I would hear the polished televangelist spouting that their newest “revival” meeting was the next Azusa Street. Getting to know the history of the event gave me a better understanding and appreciation of our heritage. It also made me ashamed of it as well.
William J Seymour was born of two freed slaves on May 2, 1870, living in the time of the civil war. He lived in a time scarred by the civil war, with people of the south living under the anger and bitterness of having to adhere to a new set of laws that were contrary to the people’s devout feelings and and financial interest. These laws were the very thing they just got done fighting about causing even more resentment, hatred and bitterness, brining rise to groups like the KKK. Seymour lived in a time with intense segregation; churches, schools, restaurants and a variety of social type settings were racially separated.
William J Seymour began his spiritual journey as a Baptist. While involved in the Baptist church he was “given to dreams and visions”. (1) During that season of his live he worked doing a variety of jobs such as a Railroad porter and a waiter at a restaurant in Indianapolis. It was then that he got small pox and went blind in one eye. His next destination in his journey led him Cincinnati where he joined the Church of God, AKA “The Evening Light Saints." There he sat under the teaching of the holiness movement. One of the main tenants of their theology was the perfected sanctification through a second work of grace, believing that a saint could be made perfectly holy. They also taught that there would be an end time revival before the rapture, as they reference in the book of Joel.
From there he went on to Texas to find his family. It was there that he was introduced to Charles Fox Parham by Lucy Farrow. Lucy was a fellow holiness teacher, but also believed in speaking in tongues. Parham (some call the father of modern Pentecostalism) developed a school where he taught that speaking in tongues were the evidence of having the Holy Spirit and invited Seymour to attend. Because of the Jim Crow laws (Texas law forbidding people of Color to learn beside white people) Seymour was encouraged by Parham to sit outside the classroom with the door cracked open. “Here Seymour accepted Parham's premise of a "third blessing" baptism in the Holy Spirit evidenced by speaking in tongues.” (1)
Seymour was soon to be invited to help pastor at a Church in Los Angeles. After he preached a message on speaking in Tongues (which he had not yet received) he was literally locked out of the church. After this he stayed with Richard Asberry where he entered into intercession, fasting and prayer. While praying one night, he and others received the gift of tongues. Amazing and unusual things began to happen including people jerking, laughing uncontrollably and spontaneous worship. In addition to this, multi gender and multi ethnic groups where encouraged to work together and lead one another which broke a variety of church leadership, church membership and sociological barriers.
These practices made a lot of people upset including Charles Parham who upon coming to see what was happening proclaimed that Seymour’s revival meetings were disgusting and were “Southern darkey camp meetings." The sociological and clergy changes were so far reaching that they bounced back in the other direction causing various splits including a group of predominately white people that eventually became the Assemblies of God. William J Seymour died on September 28, 1922 of what some people call a broken heart.
Azusa Street and William J Seymour was incredibly important to church history and the Pentecostal movement. However upon review of the movement and life of William J Seymour you can see another example of a person who lacked a lot of glitz and glamour, and initial courage to answer the call to become something special that the Lord could use. It also highlights that as quickly as God can use a fallible man to birth new things and be a part of his greatness, the enemy and our own human failings can bring those amazing times to a huge crash and can pollute the process along the way. In this case, as with many cases it also speaks of a loving God that can create beauty from ashes.
1. www.christianitytoday.com/ch/2000/issue65/3.17.html
2. www.christianitytoday.com/ch/1998/issue58/58h019.html
3. www.wayoflife.org/fbns/strange1.htm
William J Seymour was born of two freed slaves on May 2, 1870, living in the time of the civil war. He lived in a time scarred by the civil war, with people of the south living under the anger and bitterness of having to adhere to a new set of laws that were contrary to the people’s devout feelings and and financial interest. These laws were the very thing they just got done fighting about causing even more resentment, hatred and bitterness, brining rise to groups like the KKK. Seymour lived in a time with intense segregation; churches, schools, restaurants and a variety of social type settings were racially separated.
William J Seymour began his spiritual journey as a Baptist. While involved in the Baptist church he was “given to dreams and visions”. (1) During that season of his live he worked doing a variety of jobs such as a Railroad porter and a waiter at a restaurant in Indianapolis. It was then that he got small pox and went blind in one eye. His next destination in his journey led him Cincinnati where he joined the Church of God, AKA “The Evening Light Saints." There he sat under the teaching of the holiness movement. One of the main tenants of their theology was the perfected sanctification through a second work of grace, believing that a saint could be made perfectly holy. They also taught that there would be an end time revival before the rapture, as they reference in the book of Joel.
From there he went on to Texas to find his family. It was there that he was introduced to Charles Fox Parham by Lucy Farrow. Lucy was a fellow holiness teacher, but also believed in speaking in tongues. Parham (some call the father of modern Pentecostalism) developed a school where he taught that speaking in tongues were the evidence of having the Holy Spirit and invited Seymour to attend. Because of the Jim Crow laws (Texas law forbidding people of Color to learn beside white people) Seymour was encouraged by Parham to sit outside the classroom with the door cracked open. “Here Seymour accepted Parham's premise of a "third blessing" baptism in the Holy Spirit evidenced by speaking in tongues.” (1)
Seymour was soon to be invited to help pastor at a Church in Los Angeles. After he preached a message on speaking in Tongues (which he had not yet received) he was literally locked out of the church. After this he stayed with Richard Asberry where he entered into intercession, fasting and prayer. While praying one night, he and others received the gift of tongues. Amazing and unusual things began to happen including people jerking, laughing uncontrollably and spontaneous worship. In addition to this, multi gender and multi ethnic groups where encouraged to work together and lead one another which broke a variety of church leadership, church membership and sociological barriers.
These practices made a lot of people upset including Charles Parham who upon coming to see what was happening proclaimed that Seymour’s revival meetings were disgusting and were “Southern darkey camp meetings." The sociological and clergy changes were so far reaching that they bounced back in the other direction causing various splits including a group of predominately white people that eventually became the Assemblies of God. William J Seymour died on September 28, 1922 of what some people call a broken heart.
Azusa Street and William J Seymour was incredibly important to church history and the Pentecostal movement. However upon review of the movement and life of William J Seymour you can see another example of a person who lacked a lot of glitz and glamour, and initial courage to answer the call to become something special that the Lord could use. It also highlights that as quickly as God can use a fallible man to birth new things and be a part of his greatness, the enemy and our own human failings can bring those amazing times to a huge crash and can pollute the process along the way. In this case, as with many cases it also speaks of a loving God that can create beauty from ashes.
1. www.christianitytoday.com/ch/2000/issue65/3.17.html
2. www.christianitytoday.com/ch/1998/issue58/58h019.html
3. www.wayoflife.org/fbns/strange1.htm