Seymour, William J.
1870-1922 · Contribution: 1906-1922
Pentecostal ministry; led the Azusa Street Revival (1906-1909) in Los Angeles and published 'The Apostolic Faith' newspaper, spreading the doctrine of Spirit baptism evidenced by speaking in tongues
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Impact on the world
The catalyst of the worldwide Pentecostal movement; his racially integrated Azusa Street Mission seeded all major American Pentecostal denominations (Assemblies of God, COGIC, and others). By 2000 his spiritual heirs numbered over 500 million, the second-largest family of Christians in the world.
Life & background
African-American minister born May 2, 1870 in Centerville, LA, to formerly enslaved parents; raised Baptist, later Holiness. A student of Charles Parham, he brought the Pentecostal message to Los Angeles in 1906. Pastored the Azusa Street Mission until his death Sept 28, 1922.
Sources
- Christian History Institute; Grace Communion International
More in Religious & Spiritual Leadership
Allen, Richard
1760-1831
Founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first independent Black religious denomination in the United States; became its first bishop
Bowman, Sister Thea (Bertha Elizabeth)
1937-1990
Singer, scholar, and evangelist who became a leading national voice for Black Catholic culture and intercultural understanding within the American Catholic Church
Bryan, Andrew
1737-1812
Founded and pastored First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Georgia, for 24 years, building it from an initial 67 members in 1788 into a congregation of nearly 2,800 by 1831 despite enduring imprisonment and public whipping for preaching to enslaved people
Cone, James H.
1938-2018
Systematic theology; founded Black liberation theology, arguing that the Christian gospel is centrally about God's identification with the oppressed; author of 'Black Theology and Black Power' (1969), 'A Black Theology of Liberation' (1970), and 'The Cross and the Lynching Tree' (2011)