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April 15, 2006
Faith : Azusa
As I have commented before, the history of the Christian Church is a topic I have a great interest in. It is easy to be led stray by the latest doctrinal fad unless you understand the long road that has led where we are now. As a side note, it is sad how many people are influenced by things like "The Da Vinci Code" because they don't know enough church history to realize how preposterous it is; but that's perhaps a topic for some future blog.
Today's topic is the Azusa Street Revival, which (depending on exactly what event you use to mark its beginning) started 100 years ago today. This is worth noting because it would be hard to identify any other single event in the 20th century which had a greater effect on the church world-wide. The Roman/Catholic church's 2nd Vatican council and the start of the Billy Graham Crusades are the only event which I can think of which are even in contention. Hundreds of millions of Christians world wide attend churches which are either a direct consequence of Azusa Street, or whose mode of worship has been influenced by what occurred there.
So what was Azusa Street?
William Seymour, the half-blind, African-American son of freed slaves, attended Charles Fox Parham's church in Kansas City (and later Huston) where Parham was teaching the doctrines which would become the foundation of the Pentecostal movement. I don't want to dwell on the specifics of the doctrines as only some groups still maintain adherence to the pure form of what Parham taught (and I personally do not). The core principle was that if a Christian was willing to yield their life to God's Spirit within them, then God can and would work through them in power – manifesting "gifts of the Spirit".
Parham's church was segregated, and so Seymour was forced to attend classes there by sitting in hallway outside of meetings; but eventually the church "consecrated him for ministry" (their version of ordination). I'll note that Parham's racism (which grew more vocal in later years) as well as several personal scandals are why his role is omitted from many accounts – he is viewed as a rather embarrassing figure by the church today.
Seymour was then invited to a church in Los Angeles by some people who had heard him teach in Topeka. He spoke at that church once, but the pastor rejected his teachings and he was not invited back. However several members of that congregation were interested in hearing more, so they started a series of meetings at one of their homes. That small meeting quickly grew and it became necessary to find a larger, more permanent location. What they found was an old church building which had suffered a fire many years back and had been rebuilt as a stable. The pews were planks laid across apple crates, and the pulpit was 2 boxes stacked end to end. The address was 312 Azusa Street.
Within weeks, Azusa Street Mission was holding services nearly 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Within months, Azusa Street was the largest congregation of any kind in the city of Los Angeles. On a typical weekday, there was a "morning service", which typically lasted 6 hours, followed (after a short break) by an "evening service", which lasted 8-10 hours. In between (even in the wee hours of the morning) the church was full of people praying. The church attracted people of all races and all economic backgrounds. It promoted women and people of all races into positions of ministry (a fact which drew the ire of many other "Christians" as well as local politicians and the press). Many of those diverse leader eventually left Azusa Street to start ministries in other cities, some founding new denominations in the process (Seymour was never interested in creating an organization).
Now I am enough of a skeptic that I recognize at least some of the stories which have grown up around Azusa Street are likely to be exaggerations; but enough are documented by disinterested parties (or better yet, antagonistic parties) that it is hard to discount them all. It is interesting to read coverage of Azusa in the press. The local papers were generally hostile to the mission (the paper's owners opposed the "disgraceful intermingling of the races"); but as the movement grew papers from around the world began to send people to cover the emerging story. Many of these reporters were skeptical; but came to the conclusion that the miracles reported there were for real.
But the real legacy of what happened at Azusa Street in 1906 is not the revival itself; but the people it sent out to the world with the belief that Christianity was not just a moral philosophy, or an eventual defense against going to hell; but something which was active, dynamic, powerful, and current. People who believed that God still worked today the way He is described as working in the New Testament. The growth of "Pentecostal" churches of various forms eventually drew the interest of people in more traditional denominations who wanted to see the power of God without having to change churches. Thus the Charismatic Renewal was born. Pentecostals and Charismatics have since given birth to yet more movements and denominations, all of which owe a debt to those who began meeting on Azusa Street 100 years ago.
Posted by Steven at April 15, 2006 07:51 PM
