Azusa Street Revival

As Azusa Street Revival (English for Azusa Street Revival ) refers to the Pentecostal revival movement starting from the Azusa Street Mission, which had its origin in the Azusa Street 312 in Los Angeles and is considered one of the most important historical events of the emerging Pentecostal movement.

History

The Azusa Street Revival had its beginning in 1906, when the African-American preacher William J. Seymour began to hold Christian meetings with a few followers in private houses. Seymour should be the pastor of a small church in Los Angeles, where, however, his sermons about his experience with the Pentecostal movement were rejected so that he first held its meetings in the house of a trailer in the Bonnie Brae Avenue. There, made ​​on April 9, 1906, the first of its proponents experiences with the Spirit baptism and speaking in tongues.

Due to the growing inflow, the Assembly had in a week in a larger building, a former African-American Methodist Church, move in the Azusa Street 312. " It was an old building that had been hired there, nestled in the middle of Downtown. Earlier, it had served as a Methodist church, but had been for a long time no longer used for worship but become a storage room for old lumber, wood, mortar and other things. The dirt and debris had been cleared to the side as far as now, that place was enough arisen for some banks, which consisted of empty nail kegs with boards about it. It could, if I remember correctly, about 30 people can be accommodated. These primitive seats were arranged in a square, so that the Assembly visitors could look at each other. " ( Frank Bartleman: Fire falls in Los Angeles ). There meetings were held daily. The Assembly adopted the name Apostolic Faith Mission.

April 18, 1906 a newspaper published in Los Angeles a critical article about Seymour and his community. On the same day the earthquake of San Francisco, which the itinerant preacher Frank Bartleman prompting to put the newspaper article with the earthquake and the end of the world by means of a leaflet in conjunction occurred. The leaflet spread to almost the entire west coast and led to thousands attended the meetings at Azusa Street.

Due to the large interest began with the publication of its own journal, which was given the name The Apostolic Faith and was soon sold in an edition of tens of thousands. The meeting attracted more to those interested, and visitors from the northern U.S., which finally returned with new experiences in their home communities or even founded new, embossed Pentecostal churches. The meetings were initially mostly of African-American believers, but later mainly of Latinos and Christians of European descent visited.

Influence

According to the American religious scholar John Gordon Melton 's need apply for harmony between ethnic groups as a major reason for the growth of the movement, although the movement was increasingly characterized by segregation in the decades after the founding. Influence gained the Azusa Street Revival in the widespread, dominated by African Americans Church of God in Christ and the two major Pentecostal Assemblies of God and Church of God ( Cleveland).