Essay On Christianity And Pentecostalism

Christianity is transforming from the inside out. The charismatic movement, with its global numerical growth, is the most rapidly growing element within Christianity today. With its growth in Asia, Africa, and South America, what started as a fringe movement in Kansas and California at the turn of the 20th century has turned into a global movement that has had a profound impact on mainstream Protestantism. As Robert Owens writes, “What began at this Azusa Apostolic Faith Mission in April of 1906, can be described either as the greatest Christian revival in American history or as the most influential religious event since Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany.” The influences of this revival are still being felt in mainstream Christianity as the renewed interest in the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit has been rekindled by the undeniable force of the Pentecostal movement. The following will outline how Pentecostalism has spread from a marginalized movement to a global force within Christianity over the last century to the end of showing its profound influence on mainstream Christianity through its theology and practices. The origins of the Pentecostal movement are traditionally attributed to events in the United States. The Pentecostal movement finds its theological roots in the holiness tradition, but took on a distinctive form in at the turn of the 20th century. In Topeka, Kansas the doctrine of speaking in tongues was first formulated as evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It was here that Charles Fox Parham had founded a bible school and began teaching the baptism in the Spirit. Parham moved his school to Huston, Texas in 1905, where he would serendipitously share his experiences with the African American preacher, William J. Seymour. Seymour began preaching and teaching the baptism in the Spirit taking his ministry to California. It is in California that traditionally the roots Pentecostalism have been traced back to the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angles in 1906. On April 14th, 1906, a revival began when Seymour started preaching at the Azusa Street Mission. That revival lasted three year serving as the foundation for the Pentecostal movement in the United States. As Steven J. Land writes, “The revival began on April 14, 1906, just four days before the great San Francisco earthquake, and it continued through 1901 – three years, three times a day, seven days a week. Thousands of persons came to Azusa Street seeking their baptism in the Spirit and then went for to all parts of the country and around the world.” Despite some conflict reports as to how the revival started the results were undeniable and what started as a fringe news story days after the revival began soon became a movement attracting people from across the nation and leading to a global movement. As Robert R. Owens states, writing of that revival and its subsequent effect: In the final analysis, whether the revival began immediately upon the start of services at the Azusa Street Mission, or if revival began within the next several months is of secondary importance. Because the revival which did start there has continued to this day to have an ever widening impact on Christianity in particular and upon the world as a …show more content…
This does not mean that there are not some similarities, but that within the similarities are differences that distinguish Pentecostalism creating tension with main stream Protestantism and creating a distinct stream within the Christian tradition. Pentecostalism has undergone three distinctive waves that each have increased the influence of the charismatic movement on Protestantism. Each movement further legitimized Pentecostalism and forced mainstream Protestantism and Christianity to take …show more content…
The Azusa Street revival had firmly established the centrality of baptism in the Holy Spirit as evidenced by speaking in tongues, but that was not the only distinguishing factor that would set Pentecostalism apart creating tension with and influencing the rest of Christianity. Freedom in the Spirit meant drastically different worship from mainstream Christianity. As Grant Wacker writes, “Any service – indeed any part of any service – that looked like it had been planned seemed a sure sign of nominal Christianity.” Later he