· racial segregation, and
· implications on the Pentecostal movement.
Azusa Street Revival and Interracial Meetings
William
Joseph Seymour (1870-1922), the African American pastor of the Azusa Street
Mission, was the son of former slaves.[1] Seymour came in contact
with Charles F. Parham and enrolled in
his Bible school in Houston, Texas. Segregation law did not allow Seymour to
take a seat inside the classroom, but Parham allowed him to attend from the hallway. Parham was teaching about a “baptism
in the Holy Spirit,” with accompanying empowerment for service and ministry
along with speaking in other tongues. Seymour got an invitation to serve as the
pastor of a congregation in Los Angeles and accepted it. After being asked to leave his congregation due to a doctrinal dispute, Seymour started speaking at
a small group and on April 9, 1906, there was a visitation of the Holy Spirit and
a revival started, featuring frequent speaking in tongues.
Though
the revival originated in an African-American prayer meeting in a still
segregated Los Angeles, the congregation was soon interracial, with blacks and
whites praying and singing together.[2] Douglas Nelson[3] and Frank Bartleman[4] wrote that “the ‘color
line’ was washed away by the blood” referring
to the integrated gatherings at the mission that defied segregation. Although led by a black man, white people were coming to the meetings and the leadership
included men and women. The participants came from a number of nationalities
resident in the city, giving it an international character even prior to the
influx of visitors from outside.[5] This period was dominated
by Jim Crow segregation, the Ku Klux Klan, Nativism, Social Darwinism and
racial purity. Seymour’s message was radically egalitarian, transformative, about
racial equality and transnational multicultural global Christianity which ran against the grain of U.S. society.[6]
Parham and Durham controversies and Segregation in Azusa Street Mission
In
1906, Charles Parham charged Azusa Street Mission with ‘fanaticism’, yet his
later writings demonstrate that his real issue was the interracial mingling which
was going on in the revival. He reported on Los Angeles:
“1 have seen meetings
where all crowded together around the altar,
and laying across one another like hogs, blacks, and whites mingling; this should be
enough to bring a blush of shame to devils, let alone angels, and yet all this
was charged to the Holy spirit”.[7]
He
also stated that white women, perhaps of
wealth and culture could be seen thrown back
into the arms of a big ‘buck nigger,’ and
held tightly.[8]
Parham set up a rival mission siphoning
off white followers from Azusa Street and tried to split the fledgling movement along racial lines but failed.
In
1911, William Durham became the interim pastor while Seymour was traveling and
led a devastating schism. Durham’s dynamic
preaching abilities attracted a large crowd. He was preaching on the “finished
work of Calvary” and Seymour had to lock him out of the mission, which led to
the formation of a rival mission with
two-thirds of participants from Azusa mission. After Durham’s death in 1912,
the participants joined white missions or formed their own independent
churches. This led many to lament that Pentecostal mission was hopelessly
divided but it is precisely this built-in
tendency to fragment that has kept the
Pentecostal Movement one of the fastest-growing
religious movement in the world.[9]
For
Seymour, unity was manifested in the interracial
and trans-cultural experience of worship
in the Spirit.[10]
In 1915, after several attempts by white leaders to take over Apostolic Faith Mission,
Seymour reluctantly revised the constitution
and Articles of Incorporation to exclude whites from the governing board and serving as bishops while allowing them to remain on the Board of
Trustees.[11]
He stated that it was not done to discriminate but for peace, to keep down the
race war and friction in the church. Seymour’s opposition mostly came
from whites and he continued to encounter racism throughout his ministry.[12]
Implications of Racial Integration and Segregation on the Pentecostal Movement
The
racial integration in the Azusa Street meetings was unique at that time, ethnic
minorities discovered a sense of dignity that the community denied them in the
larger culture. Seymour's leadership team was fully integrated with women and
men being responsible for various aspects of the work.[13] The interracial and intercultural nature of the Mission was one of
the reasons for its success as well as the remarkable expansion of Pentecostalism
across the globe.
The
interracial period could not continue forever. In 1914, the white ministers
belonging to Charles H. Mason’s Church of God in
Christ called for a convention of Pentecostal leaders to meet in Hot Spring,
Arkansas which resulted in the formation of Assemblies of God.[14] Joe Newman chronicles the influence of racism in early Pentecostalism and in the Assemblies
of God.[15] He contends that the
evidence indicates that some key leaders deliberately attempted to exclude
African Americans from full participation in the denomination because they were
racist and did not want to desegregate the ministerial ranks or the local churches.
In 1923, a group of Hispanic ministers
formed their own organization because they felt that they were restricted by
their affiliation with a primarily Anglo group due to the discrimination that
they received from the Anglo missionaries and executive officers and the
refusal of the Assemblies of God to grant the Mexican pastors autonomy and
financial support commensurate with that of the Anglos.[16]
William
Seymour was called by God to become the leader of a racially inclusive
congregation with a massive revival in the midst of a segregated society. His message of racial and ethnic equality
could be affirmed by South African blacks
and colored people during the height of apartheid era.[17] The fastest growing
churches in India, Indonesia, China, South Korea, and the Philippines are
Pentecostal.[18]
Lee Grady, editor of Charisma magazine notes that the Pentecostal and
charismatic churches succeeded most in being interracial.[19]
Other Segregation related Developments in the Pentecostal Movement
As
Pentecostal Movement spread, many of the secessions which occurred earlier in
western Pentecostal mission efforts in Africa and Asia were partly the result
of cultural and social insensitivities on the part of missionaries, and in some
cases, there was racism, ethnocentrism,
and ethical failure.[20]
The
Pentecostal Mission (TPM), is a Pentecostal denomination which originated in
Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. It was founded by Pastor Paul, a Hindu converted under
the ministry of Assemblies of God missionary Walter E. Clifford. Later Pastor
Paul and others broke away from Clifford with the desire to create an
indigenous church that would reflect the values of the Ceylonese culture rather
than those of an American culture.[21]
On
October 17-19, 1994, the all-white Pentecostal Fellowship of North America
(PFNA) met in Memphis to admit its racist past and to meet with
African-American Pentecostals concerning the establishment of an integrated
association. The result was the dissolution of the PFNA and the establishment
of the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA), with the
governing board of six whites and six African Americans.[22]
Conclusions
Some
scholars argue for the prominence of Charles Parham, a white man, while others for
William Seymour, an African-America for the
beginning of the Pentecostal Movement. The position that appeals to
God's sovereignty or to a theory of spontaneous origins seeks to mitigate the
substantial contribution of both men. Some
Pentecostals contend that they are entirely independent of any contribution
from North America, thereby seeking to limit the effects of colonialism.[23]
Seymour’s
social consciousness and theology of
racial reconciliation and multicultural,
transformative and egalitarian Christianity created an alternative vision and a message that challenged the church to live up to its professed ideals of unity
in Christ and liberty and justice for all.[24] We can say from an objective point of view that God has overcome
racial and social segregation through Azusa Street revival.[25] The fact that major
secessions within Pentecostal movements were results of segregation highlights
the importance of racial issues and how it divides people. We will see a true revival when we embrace the truth that there
will be diversity in practices, but we are created in God’s image and called to
be united.
[1]
Cecil M. Robeck, The Azusa Street Mission
and Revival: The Birth of the Global Pentecostal Movement (Nashville:
Nelson Reference & Electronic, 2006), 4.
[2]
Thomas P Rausch, "Catholics and Pentecostals: troubled history, new
initiatives." Theological Studies
71, no. 4 (2010): 928, accessed July 6, 2016. ATLA Religion Database with
ATLASerials, EBSCOhost.
[3]
Amos Yong, "Doctrines and the discipline of the Azusa Street Apostolic
Faith Mission of Los Angeles, California, by William J Seymour." Pneuma 26, no. 2 (2004): 403, accessed
July 6, 2016, ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost.
[4]
Jack W. Hayford and S. David Moore, The
Charismatic Century: The Enduring Impact of the Azusa Street Revival (New
York: Warner Faith, 2006), 80.
[5]
Dale T. Irvin, “'Drawing All Together in One Bond of Love': The Ecumenical
Vision of William J Seymour and the Azusa Street Revival." Journal of Pentecostal Theology 3, no. 6
(1995): 26, accessed July 6, 2016. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials,
EBSCOhost.
[6]
Gaston Espinosa, The Azusa Street Revival
and Its Legacy, ed. Harold D. Hunter, and Cecil M. Robeck (Eugene, OR: Wipf
& Stock, 2009), 47.
[7]
Irvin, “'Drawing All Together in One Bond of Love',” 29.
[8]
Espinosa, 49.
[9]
Espinosa, 54.
[10]
Irvin, “'Drawing All Together in One Bond of Love',” 32.
[11]
Espinosa, 51.
[12]
Benjamin Pugh, "'Under the blood' at Azusa Street: exodus typology at the
heart of Pentecostal origins." The
Journal of Religious History 39, no. 1 (2015): 13, accessed June 24, 2016.
ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost.
[13]
Allan H. Anderson, "The Azusa Street revival and the emergence of
Pentecostal missions in the early twentieth century." Transformation 23, no. 2 (2006): 4, accessed July 6, 2016. ATLA
Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost.
[14]
Vinson Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal
Tradition: Charismatic Movements in the Twentieth Century (Grand Rapids, MI:
W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co, 1997), 171-174.
[15]
Lewis Brogdon, "Race and the Assemblies of God church: the journey from
Azusa Street to the miracle of Memphis." Pneuma 32, no. 3 (2010): 1, accessed July 6, 2016. ATLA Religion
Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost.
[16]
Everett A. Wilson and Ruth Marshall Wilson, Portraits
of a Generation: Early Pentecostal Leaders, ed. James R. Goff, and Grant
Wacker (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2002), 169.
[18]
Thomas P. Rausch, "Catholics and Pentecostals: troubled history, new
initiatives." Theological Studies
71, no. 4 (2010): 930, accessed June 24, 2016. ATLA Religion Database with
ATLASerials, EBSCOhost.
[19]
David Neff, "Pentecostals: the sequel. What will it take for this world
phenomenon to stay vibrant for another 100 years?" Christianity Today 50, no. 4 (2006): 10, accessed July 6, 2016.
ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost.
[20]
Allan H. Anderson, “The Emergence of a Multidimensional Global Missionary Movement:
Trends, Patterns, and Expressions.” in
Spirit and Power: The Growth and Global Impact of Pentecostalism, ed.
Donald E. Miller, Kimon H. Sargeant, and Richard Flory (New York: Oxford
University Press,2013), 37.
[21]
David Mowers and Timothy Senapatiratne, “The ‘Pentecostalization’ of the
World”: Race, Theology, and the Classical Pentecostal Tradition”, The Princeton Theological Review 41,
no. 2 (Fall 2009): ,61-62, accessed July 7 2016, http://sga.ptsem.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/fall_2009.pdf.
[22]
Frank D Macchia, "From Azusa to Memphis: Where Do We Go From Here?
Roundtable Discussions on the Memphis Colloquy." Pneuma 18, no. 1(1996): 113-140, accessed July 6, 2016. ATLA
Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost.
[23]
Cecil M. Robeck Jr, "Pentecostalism and mission: from Azusa street to the
ends of the earth." Missiology
35, no. 1 (2007): 2, accessed June 24, 2016. ATLA Religion Database with
ATLASerials, EBSCOhost.
[24]
Hunter and Robeck, The Azusa Street
Revival and Its Legacy, 58.
[25]
Jean-Daniel Plüss, "Azusa and Other Myths: The Long and Winding Road from
Experience to Stated Belief and Back Again." Pneuma 15, no. 2 (1993): 189-201, accessed July 6, 2016. ATLA
Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost.
