Pentecostalism in Australia grew significantly in the 1970 and 1980s to become one of the fastest growing religious groups in the country (and the fastest growing Christian movement). Where did the Pentecostalism in Australia come from? As the only major religious group not brought to Australia by immigrants, Australian Pentecostalism developed from groups that originated here as a result of the influence of Pentecostalism overseas in the first decade of the twentieth-century. [1]
The first Pentecostal church that began in Melbourne in 1909, just three years after the birth of Pentecostalism in 1906 at the Asuza Street Mission in Los Angeles, California, became a major way in which the teaching of Pentecostalism spread throughout Australia in the next few decades. In most states of Australia the formation of small Pentecostal groups was a direct result of the work of this church (the Good News Hall) under Janet Lancaster and Frederick Van Eyk (who later renamed the work 'the Apostolic Faith Mission').
Janet Lancaster was a methodist from Melbourne, Victoria. She was convinced by an English pamphlet, entitled "Back to Pentecost," to seek baptism in the Holy Spirit as her own experience similar to the first Pentecost, as described in Acts 2. She had also become convinced that the Bible promised healing through faith while studying the topic of divine healing.
Then in 1908 after an experience that included tongues-speaking she began to share her new beliefs with others. Those who joined her began meeting together and in 1909 the group bought a building they named the "Good News Hall."
Describing their activity as the "Pentecostal Mission," meetings regularly included tongues-speaking, prophecy, "tarrying" for the gift of the Holy Spirit, laying on hands and anointing the sick, and "dancing in the Spirit." Many miracles were claimed to have occurred. Members also made attempts at casting out demons and claimed to having seen visions.
Janet Lancaster led the work until her death twenty-five years later. Her own teaching led the church to develop a number of unique beliefs: Lancaster and the Good News Hall denied the trinity, teaching that Jesus was inferior to the godhead which consisted only of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. It also taught that only death awaited the wicked who had no soul that could be sent to hell or heaven.
In 1910 Janet Lancaster began a periodical, entitled "Good News," which became a free monthly magazine that was circulated around Australia to as many as 3000 readers per month. It contained sermon material from the Good News Hall and also many re-printed articles from overseas Pentecostal newspapers and magazines. The Good News Hall also printed and circulated many thousands of tracts containing their teaching. In this way Janet Lancaster and the Good News Hall became a major way in which Pentecostal teaching spread thoughout Australia.
Material from overseas Pentecostal churches, in the form of newspaper and magazine articles, was used considerably in the Good News Hall. Eventually Pentecostal teachers from overseas were also invited to visit to Australia. Among them was Smith Wigglesworth, who visited Autralia from England in 1921-22. He stressed healing and had a significant influence in many States, most of all South Australia, where he left behind the first Pentecostal group in that State. In this way the influence of overseas Pentecostal movements had a large effect on the formation of Pentecostalism in Australia.
In 1926 Janet Lancaster also brought out Frederick Van Eyk, a Pentecostal evangelist from South Africa, who helped the Good News Hall to become an Australian wide movement. He changed its name to the 'Apostolic Faith Mission' and appointed himself as the evangelist of the new movement. He travelled widely, holding meetings in various parts around Australia and planting churches. He experienced particular success in Queensland, but also helped spread the movement to most other Australian states.
In Queensland Van Eyk planted a whole group of churches. In South Australia Lancaster herself visisted the first Pentecostal group formed in Adelaide in 1921 to encourage its growth. In New South Wales William Jeffrey, who had been influenced by the Good News Hall and corresponded with Lancaster, built in 1919 the first Pentecostal building in Parkes for a group he pastored. In Western Australia in 1926 Van Eyk organised a small group and left behind a church that later divided into a group that became the Apostolic Church in Perth, a second that named themselves the Elim Foursquare Church and another that became the beginnings of the Assemblies of God in Perth. In this way the Good News Hall under Janet Lancaster and the Apostolic Faith Mission under Frederick Van Eyk became the pioneering origin of the Pentecostal movement in Queensland, South Australia, New South Wales and Western Australia.
The Good News Hall dwindled rapidly after the death of Janet Lancaster in 1934. The Apostolic Faith Mission had been discredited by a number of problems, not least the questional behaviour of Frederick Van Eyk with a woman in Toowoomba after his wife and children had returned to South Africa. The teaching of Lancaster on the Trinity and the judgement of the wicked was also recognised by many to be heretical. The church eventually disappeared. Other Pentecostal groups, that had developed independently from the Good News Hall as early as 1911, became movements that eventually bypassed the Apostolic Faith Mission. They too also dwindled in time and were replaced by new groups. But each group had an impact upon the others with the continual influence of Pentecostalism abroad, right up to the present day.
Pentecostalism in Australia has evolved from these original Australian Pentecostal groups that developed here as a direct result of the influence of the worldwide movement of Pentecostalism that began in Asuza Street, Los Angeles, in 1906.
More on this topic
Baptism in the Spirit: What Pentecostals believe
How Pentecostalism developed over time
Baptism in the Spirit: The basis of Pentecostalism
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[1] Hughes, Philip J. The Pentecostals in Australia. Religious Community Profiles: Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
talkingpentecostalism.blogspot.com | joe towns: christian discussion on pentecost, charisma, pentecostal and charismatic beliefs, the Bible and Jesus; including the origin and history of pentecostalism, baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, gifts and miracles, divine healing and word of faith, prosperity and wealth, praise and worship, guidance and hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.
How Pentecostalism developed
Pentecostalism was shaped to a significant degree by the events surrounding the years of its development. When and how did the development of Pentecostalism take place? What changes occurred after the beginning of Pentecostalism in 1906-9 that transformed this movement? What influenced the way that Pentecostalism took shape in the course of time?
Major controversies faced Pentecostalism during its first few decades in particular. Controveries created divisions, which in turn created new movements within the movement as a whole. But they also had the added effect of cementing the overall shape that this movement developed through to the present time.
The first issue to divide Pentecostals centred around the nature of tongues. During the late part of 1906 controvery arose over the accounts of tongues-speaking found in the book of Acts as compared to that found in Paul's second letter to the Corinthians. Some believed that the tongues spoken of in the narrative literature of Acts had a different function to the tongues described in 1 Corinthians 14 – the former providing evidence of Spirit baptism, the latter functioning for the individual's prayer life and for the congregations edification (if interpreted.) Others however believed that the tongues-speaking in the book of Acts and the gift of tongues in the book of Corinthians were the same in nature. Among these was Charles Parham who continued to believe in the preaching function of tongues.
Before the revival of tongues-speaking that occurred at the turn of the nineteenth-century in conjunction with the beginning of Pentecostalism, Christians who later joined the Pentecostal movement had been expecting the gift of languages to be given to equip the Church to evangelise the unreached millions in their mother-tongues, before the End. However after 1906 an increasing number of Pentecostals recognised that in most of the occurances they had witnessed, tongues-speaking was not actually identifiable in its nature. Christians seemed to be speaking as if praying with unknown utterances (as opposed to preaching in identifiable though foreign languages.) More and more Pentecostals from this time on concluded that the function of tongues was to enable an individual to “pray in the Spirit.”
The second issue to divide Pentecostals was the number (and nature) of subsequent works of the Spirit to conversion. Were there three works of grace (being conversion, sanctification and Spirit-baptism) or only two (being only conversion and Spirit baptism.) And what were the functions of each work of the Spirit? Did conversion also involve the Spirit's work of sanctification as well as regeneration? Was Spirit-baptism a separate experience involving empowerment and the gifts of the Spirit only? Or did Spirit-baptism also involve sanctification? The resolution of this issue caused the rapid proliferation of Pentecostal denominations within the years that followed as divisions brought new groups, new groups created new movements and new movements developed into separate denominations.
The third controversy that shaped Pentecostalism arose over the practice of water baptism. A preacher by the name of R. E. McAlister believed that he had discovered a new pattern in the book of Acts that shed light on the restoration of the full gospel to the Church. He noticed that the Apostles baptised individuals in the name of the Lord Jesus only and did not use the Trinitarian formula found in Matthew 28:19. Those who followed his strong Christological emphasis were rebaptised with him into the name of Jesus only and a new movement within the movement began. They began emphasising the “Oneness” of the Godhead in contrast to the Trinitarian teaching on three Persons. This movement is today known as Oneness Pentecostalism (or is referred to as Oneness theology.)
Each of these three controversies accelerated the formation of different Pentecostal denominations. The Assemblies of God is an example: The General Council of the Assemblies of God came into being in April 1914 in an effort to preserve a doctrinal consensus of opinion that existed among its participants on matters such as the Trinity, “Diving Healing” and “Baptism in the Spirit.” Although the Oneness issue threatened to split the General Council, the theological boundaries that were formulated created a doctrinal unity within their churches that ensured the stability of the denomination.
By way of summary then, the early decades of the twentieth-century were defining years for Pentecostalism. Dividing controversies arose over the nature of tongues, the nature and number of subsequent works of the Spirit, and the practice of water baptism. The resolution of these issues accelerated the formation of different Pentecostal denominations, each of which took different doctrinal stances.
More on this topic
Where Australian Pentecostalism came from
Why Pentecostalism was successful
Baptism in the Spirit: What Pentecostals believe
- -
[1] Gary B. McGee (Ph.D., Professor of Church History, Chair, Bible and Theology Department at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary), Systematic Theology, Chapter 1 “Historical Background”, Logion Press, 1995, p. 20.
talkingpentecostalism.blogspot.com | joe towns: christian discussion on pentecost, charisma, pentecostal and charismatic beliefs, the Bible and Jesus; including the origin and history of pentecostalism, baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, gifts and miracles, divine healing and word of faith, prosperity and wealth, praise and worship, guidance and hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Major controversies faced Pentecostalism during its first few decades in particular. Controveries created divisions, which in turn created new movements within the movement as a whole. But they also had the added effect of cementing the overall shape that this movement developed through to the present time.
The first issue to divide Pentecostals centred around the nature of tongues. During the late part of 1906 controvery arose over the accounts of tongues-speaking found in the book of Acts as compared to that found in Paul's second letter to the Corinthians. Some believed that the tongues spoken of in the narrative literature of Acts had a different function to the tongues described in 1 Corinthians 14 – the former providing evidence of Spirit baptism, the latter functioning for the individual's prayer life and for the congregations edification (if interpreted.) Others however believed that the tongues-speaking in the book of Acts and the gift of tongues in the book of Corinthians were the same in nature. Among these was Charles Parham who continued to believe in the preaching function of tongues.
Before the revival of tongues-speaking that occurred at the turn of the nineteenth-century in conjunction with the beginning of Pentecostalism, Christians who later joined the Pentecostal movement had been expecting the gift of languages to be given to equip the Church to evangelise the unreached millions in their mother-tongues, before the End. However after 1906 an increasing number of Pentecostals recognised that in most of the occurances they had witnessed, tongues-speaking was not actually identifiable in its nature. Christians seemed to be speaking as if praying with unknown utterances (as opposed to preaching in identifiable though foreign languages.) More and more Pentecostals from this time on concluded that the function of tongues was to enable an individual to “pray in the Spirit.”
The second issue to divide Pentecostals was the number (and nature) of subsequent works of the Spirit to conversion. Were there three works of grace (being conversion, sanctification and Spirit-baptism) or only two (being only conversion and Spirit baptism.) And what were the functions of each work of the Spirit? Did conversion also involve the Spirit's work of sanctification as well as regeneration? Was Spirit-baptism a separate experience involving empowerment and the gifts of the Spirit only? Or did Spirit-baptism also involve sanctification? The resolution of this issue caused the rapid proliferation of Pentecostal denominations within the years that followed as divisions brought new groups, new groups created new movements and new movements developed into separate denominations.
The third controversy that shaped Pentecostalism arose over the practice of water baptism. A preacher by the name of R. E. McAlister believed that he had discovered a new pattern in the book of Acts that shed light on the restoration of the full gospel to the Church. He noticed that the Apostles baptised individuals in the name of the Lord Jesus only and did not use the Trinitarian formula found in Matthew 28:19. Those who followed his strong Christological emphasis were rebaptised with him into the name of Jesus only and a new movement within the movement began. They began emphasising the “Oneness” of the Godhead in contrast to the Trinitarian teaching on three Persons. This movement is today known as Oneness Pentecostalism (or is referred to as Oneness theology.)
Each of these three controversies accelerated the formation of different Pentecostal denominations. The Assemblies of God is an example: The General Council of the Assemblies of God came into being in April 1914 in an effort to preserve a doctrinal consensus of opinion that existed among its participants on matters such as the Trinity, “Diving Healing” and “Baptism in the Spirit.” Although the Oneness issue threatened to split the General Council, the theological boundaries that were formulated created a doctrinal unity within their churches that ensured the stability of the denomination.
“With the condemnation of the Oneness issue, the fathers and mothers of the Assemblies of God assumed that the restoration of the apostolic faith had been protected from error.” [1]From this time onward the official teaching of the Assemblies of God denomination was that Spirit baptism is the second (not the third) and only subsequent work of the Spirit after conversion, that it functions for the empowerment of believers, and that sanctification is an outworking of the Spirit's reception in salvation from the moment of conversion onwards.
By way of summary then, the early decades of the twentieth-century were defining years for Pentecostalism. Dividing controversies arose over the nature of tongues, the nature and number of subsequent works of the Spirit, and the practice of water baptism. The resolution of these issues accelerated the formation of different Pentecostal denominations, each of which took different doctrinal stances.
Where Australian Pentecostalism came from
Why Pentecostalism was successful
Baptism in the Spirit: What Pentecostals believe
- -
[1] Gary B. McGee (Ph.D., Professor of Church History, Chair, Bible and Theology Department at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary), Systematic Theology, Chapter 1 “Historical Background”, Logion Press, 1995, p. 20.
talkingpentecostalism.blogspot.com | joe towns: christian discussion on pentecost, charisma, pentecostal and charismatic beliefs, the Bible and Jesus; including the origin and history of pentecostalism, baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, gifts and miracles, divine healing and word of faith, prosperity and wealth, praise and worship, guidance and hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Why Pentecostalism was successful
Only three years after the revival of tongues-speaking that began in 1906 at Azusa Street, Pentecostalism had become a world-wide movement. Why did Pentecostalism grow so rapidly?
The origin of Pentecostalism must be understood against the backdrop of a revival of tongues-speaking that occured in 1901 in Topeka, after which Charles Parham formulated a new doctrine of Spirit-baptism. He taught that baptism in the Spirit is a third work of grace, separate to conversion and sanctification, with the initial evidence of tongues-speaking.
The Topeka Revival sowed the seed of Pentecostalism. [1] Charles Parham had grown up in Methodist and Holiness circles. Following the lead of many others in this movement he strongly emphasised the gifts of the Spirit, including healing.
Parham had been influenced significantly by Benjamin Irwin and Frank Sandford. Following Stanford, Parham understood tongues to have a preaching function. Consequently he and his followers were among those hoping to receive the power of the Spirit to rapidly evangelise the world at the turn of the nineteenth century by speaking in other languages.
Like Irwin he understood baptism in the Spirit to be a third work of grace empowering the believer and gifting them for evangelism. He taught that those who had been converted and had gone forward to entire sanctification (Wesley's Christian perfection) should expect a baptism of “the Holy Spirit and fire.”
Parham was part of a Bible study group which was made up of some of his students and several Baptist ministers. After studying of the Book of Acts, Parham came to his conclusion that tongues was the “initial evidence” of Spirit baptism based on the narrative literature of Acts and the longer ending of Mark. Tongues in Acts seem to have the function of providing evidence of Spirit baptism. Following the pattern of other “restorationists,” he elevated this factor in the history of the Church to doctrinal standing.
Convinced by their study, and after much prayer, Parham and his students and fellow ministers reported their own practice of tongues-speaking, although only sporadic instances had occurred. After their experience with tongues, Parham formulated the doctrine of “initial evidence” (that tongues-speaking is the initial evidence of Spirit baptism). He is the one who pioneered this doctrine of tongues as a special sign of Spirit baptism. Because he was the first to insist on tongues as the necessary evidence of this subsequent work of Spirit baptism he is the origin of this basic distinctive in Pentecostalism today.
Following Benjamin Irwin however, Parham still taught that Spirit baptism was a third work of grace (conversion and sanctification being the first and second respectively).
Although under Charles Parham only sporadic instances of tongues-speaking occurred, what had begun in Topeka was the seed that directly resulted in the amazing growth of Pentecostalism out of the Azusa Street meetings under William Seymour. [2]
The Azusa Street Revival of 1906-1909 was the beginning of Pentecostalism. Before William Seymour went to Los Angeles he had been influenced by Parham in Topeka. He was a former student of Parham at his Bible school and as a result Seymour inherited Parham's unique doctrine of Spirit baptism with tongues speaking at the “initial evidence,” and used the platform at Azusa Street to teach this. Seymour also borrowed heavily from John Wesley’s Doctrines and Discipline. [5]
Parham's legacy and the events surrounding him in Topeka also contributed to the Azusa Street revival by fueling the escatological expectancy of a “latter rain” outpouring of the Spirit. The widespread burden for evangelism, coupled with this theological backbone, inspired a global outreach that has accompanied the Pentecostal movement since its beginning.
When tongues-speaking re-occurred at the Azusa Street meetings Seymour announced in excitement in his newspaper (the Apostolic Faith) that the “latter rain” of Joel 2:23 had come. News quickly spread overseas through the newspaper and by secular media like the Los Angeles Times and then even more so by visitors from around America and overseas who travelled back from the Azusa Street meetings.
While the majority of Holiness leaders rejected this revival and the doctrine of Parham and Seymour, the young leaders from more radical Holiness groups came to investigate the phenomenon on display there. [3] The Azusa Street meetings were characterised by spontaneous prayer and preaching and the active participation of women. In addition, an unparalleled inter-racial makeup of the services also highlighted the revival, accompanied by a message of reconciliation. In particular, however, visitors witnessed what they saw to be evidence of a special post-conversion baptismal experience of the Holy Spirit. Those that were convinced carried home with them this new teaching, and Pentecostalism began as a wold-wide movement.
To summarise, the rapid beginning of Pentecostalism can be understood against the backdrop of a revival of tongues-speaking in Topeka, 1901, after which Charles Parham formulated the doctrine of “initial evidence:” that tongues-speaking is the initial evidence of Spirit baptism, which he understood to be a separate work of the Spirit to conversion and sanctification. Then when the re-occurrence of tongues speaking at the Azusa Street meetings from 1906-1909 gained a worldwide audience, William Seymour, a former student of Parham, used the revival as a platform to teach this new doctrine of Spirit baptism. Visitors witnessed this first-hand and then carried the new teaching abroad.
But what of the early decades of the twentieth-century after the birth of Pentecostalism? What controvercies arose in the infancy of this movement? And what place did they have in defining the Pentecostalism of today? In the next article we'll be talking about how Pentecostalism was shaped in its early years.
More on this topic
How Pentecostalism developed over time
Why Pentecostalism was successful
Where Australian Pentecostalism came from
- -
[1] Vinson Synan (Ph. D., University of Georgia), “Pentecostalism,” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd Ed., Paternoster Press, 2001, p. 900.
[2] Grant. R. Osborne (Ph.D., University of Aberdeen), “Tongues, Speaking in,” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd Ed., Paternoster Press, 2001, p. 1208.
[3] Mark A. Noll (Ph.D., Vanderbilt University), “Azusa Street Revival,” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd Ed., Paternoster Press, 2001, p. 125.
[4] Richard. V. Pierard (Ph.D., University of Iowa), “Holiness Movement, American”, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd Ed., Paternoster Press, 2001, p. 565. [5] The Oxford companion to Christian thought / edited by Adrian Hastings ... [et al.], Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2000, Pentecostalism.
talkingpentecostalism.blogspot.com | joe towns: christian discussion on pentecost, charisma, pentecostal and charismatic beliefs, the Bible and Jesus; including the origin and history of pentecostalism, baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, gifts and miracles, divine healing and word of faith, prosperity and wealth, praise and worship, guidance and hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.
The origin of Pentecostalism must be understood against the backdrop of a revival of tongues-speaking that occured in 1901 in Topeka, after which Charles Parham formulated a new doctrine of Spirit-baptism. He taught that baptism in the Spirit is a third work of grace, separate to conversion and sanctification, with the initial evidence of tongues-speaking.
The Topeka Revival sowed the seed of Pentecostalism. [1] Charles Parham had grown up in Methodist and Holiness circles. Following the lead of many others in this movement he strongly emphasised the gifts of the Spirit, including healing.
Parham had been influenced significantly by Benjamin Irwin and Frank Sandford. Following Stanford, Parham understood tongues to have a preaching function. Consequently he and his followers were among those hoping to receive the power of the Spirit to rapidly evangelise the world at the turn of the nineteenth century by speaking in other languages.
Like Irwin he understood baptism in the Spirit to be a third work of grace empowering the believer and gifting them for evangelism. He taught that those who had been converted and had gone forward to entire sanctification (Wesley's Christian perfection) should expect a baptism of “the Holy Spirit and fire.”
Parham was part of a Bible study group which was made up of some of his students and several Baptist ministers. After studying of the Book of Acts, Parham came to his conclusion that tongues was the “initial evidence” of Spirit baptism based on the narrative literature of Acts and the longer ending of Mark. Tongues in Acts seem to have the function of providing evidence of Spirit baptism. Following the pattern of other “restorationists,” he elevated this factor in the history of the Church to doctrinal standing.
Convinced by their study, and after much prayer, Parham and his students and fellow ministers reported their own practice of tongues-speaking, although only sporadic instances had occurred. After their experience with tongues, Parham formulated the doctrine of “initial evidence” (that tongues-speaking is the initial evidence of Spirit baptism). He is the one who pioneered this doctrine of tongues as a special sign of Spirit baptism. Because he was the first to insist on tongues as the necessary evidence of this subsequent work of Spirit baptism he is the origin of this basic distinctive in Pentecostalism today.
Following Benjamin Irwin however, Parham still taught that Spirit baptism was a third work of grace (conversion and sanctification being the first and second respectively).
Although under Charles Parham only sporadic instances of tongues-speaking occurred, what had begun in Topeka was the seed that directly resulted in the amazing growth of Pentecostalism out of the Azusa Street meetings under William Seymour. [2]
The Azusa Street Revival of 1906-1909 was the beginning of Pentecostalism. Before William Seymour went to Los Angeles he had been influenced by Parham in Topeka. He was a former student of Parham at his Bible school and as a result Seymour inherited Parham's unique doctrine of Spirit baptism with tongues speaking at the “initial evidence,” and used the platform at Azusa Street to teach this. Seymour also borrowed heavily from John Wesley’s Doctrines and Discipline. [5]
Parham's legacy and the events surrounding him in Topeka also contributed to the Azusa Street revival by fueling the escatological expectancy of a “latter rain” outpouring of the Spirit. The widespread burden for evangelism, coupled with this theological backbone, inspired a global outreach that has accompanied the Pentecostal movement since its beginning.
When tongues-speaking re-occurred at the Azusa Street meetings Seymour announced in excitement in his newspaper (the Apostolic Faith) that the “latter rain” of Joel 2:23 had come. News quickly spread overseas through the newspaper and by secular media like the Los Angeles Times and then even more so by visitors from around America and overseas who travelled back from the Azusa Street meetings.
While the majority of Holiness leaders rejected this revival and the doctrine of Parham and Seymour, the young leaders from more radical Holiness groups came to investigate the phenomenon on display there. [3] The Azusa Street meetings were characterised by spontaneous prayer and preaching and the active participation of women. In addition, an unparalleled inter-racial makeup of the services also highlighted the revival, accompanied by a message of reconciliation. In particular, however, visitors witnessed what they saw to be evidence of a special post-conversion baptismal experience of the Holy Spirit. Those that were convinced carried home with them this new teaching, and Pentecostalism began as a wold-wide movement.
“Pentecostalism made its greatest inroads where Holiness movements were already prospering, and it attracted far more non-Methodists than had the earlier forms of perfectionism. Besides the emphasis on the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Pentecostalism recognized divine healing and demanded highly puritanical standards of personal conduct. Like the Holiness groups the Pentecostals were theological conservatives, and they comprised an important addition to the Arminian wing of Protestant conservatism in the period when the fundamentalist movement was gathering steam.” [4]
To summarise, the rapid beginning of Pentecostalism can be understood against the backdrop of a revival of tongues-speaking in Topeka, 1901, after which Charles Parham formulated the doctrine of “initial evidence:” that tongues-speaking is the initial evidence of Spirit baptism, which he understood to be a separate work of the Spirit to conversion and sanctification. Then when the re-occurrence of tongues speaking at the Azusa Street meetings from 1906-1909 gained a worldwide audience, William Seymour, a former student of Parham, used the revival as a platform to teach this new doctrine of Spirit baptism. Visitors witnessed this first-hand and then carried the new teaching abroad.
But what of the early decades of the twentieth-century after the birth of Pentecostalism? What controvercies arose in the infancy of this movement? And what place did they have in defining the Pentecostalism of today? In the next article we'll be talking about how Pentecostalism was shaped in its early years.
How Pentecostalism developed over time
Why Pentecostalism was successful
Where Australian Pentecostalism came from
- -
[1] Vinson Synan (Ph. D., University of Georgia), “Pentecostalism,” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd Ed., Paternoster Press, 2001, p. 900.
[2] Grant. R. Osborne (Ph.D., University of Aberdeen), “Tongues, Speaking in,” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd Ed., Paternoster Press, 2001, p. 1208.
[3] Mark A. Noll (Ph.D., Vanderbilt University), “Azusa Street Revival,” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd Ed., Paternoster Press, 2001, p. 125.
[4] Richard. V. Pierard (Ph.D., University of Iowa), “Holiness Movement, American”, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd Ed., Paternoster Press, 2001, p. 565. [5] The Oxford companion to Christian thought / edited by Adrian Hastings ... [et al.], Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2000, Pentecostalism.
talkingpentecostalism.blogspot.com | joe towns: christian discussion on pentecost, charisma, pentecostal and charismatic beliefs, the Bible and Jesus; including the origin and history of pentecostalism, baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, gifts and miracles, divine healing and word of faith, prosperity and wealth, praise and worship, guidance and hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.
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