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Let the Walls Come Down:
William J. Seymour
William J. Seymour's impact on Christianity has been grossly underestimated. His ministry gave birth
to the Pentecostal movement, which has grown to 410 mil ion members today, enjoying the fastest
growth rate of any major religious grouping at 20 mil ion new members a year.1 Disturbingly, though
influential white Christian leaders have been recognized by the American Evangelical community,
Seymour, an African-American, has been largely overlooked, even though his emphasis on racial
reconciliation, holy living and the power of the Holy Spirit are lessons desperately needed to be
learned in our modern day.
In preparation for revival
On May 2, 1870, Wil iam J. Seymour was born in Centervil e, Louisiana, the son of two freed slaves.
Though he received little or no early formal education, he taught himself to read and write. In his
early years, he set himself to studying the Bible, and he soaked in the spirituality of Black Christians
from the deep South.
When he was twenty-five, he boarded a train for Indianapolis. While there, he did not attend
the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church that enjoyed the strongest black congregation in
Indianapolis. Instead, Seymour chose a church located seven blocks further from his home, which
1 Cox, xv; Patrick Johnstone,
Operation World: The Day-by-Day Guide To Praying For the World. Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan Publishing House, 1993, p. 23.
1993 by James Choung. Please do not reproduce without permission.
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was affiliated with the more interracial Methodist Episcopal denomination. This decision is claimed
to be the "first clear indication he gave of seeking interracial reconciliation."2
In 1900, Seymour moved to Cincinnati, where he eventual y ended up with a local
movement cal ed the Evening Light Saints, which was later known as the Church of God
Reformation Movement. The movement's emphasis, as given by the founder's successor, E. E.
Byrum, was "Christian holiness in preparation for the rapidly approaching end of history, divine
healing, and the need to forsake denominationalism in favor of the one true `church of God.' "3 His
emphasis on holiness would later cause a person to remark:
[Seymour] real y lived what we had been preaching for years, a sanctified life. It was the wonderful
character of this man whom God has chosen that attracted the people to keep coming to this humble
meeting [Azusa Street Mission]."4
In 1903, he left for Houston as an evangelist. He later accepted an interim pastorate position
in the place of Rev. Mrs. Lucy F. Farrow, an African-American pastor, who was in Kansas as a
governess for evangelist Charles F. Parham. When Rev. Farrow returned, she explained how she had
spoken in "unknown tongues" in the Parham home, and that this should be experienced by every
Christian. Seymour learned more about this phenomenon by sitting outside of Parham's classroom,
listening through a door left careful y ajar because Jim Crow laws kept him from learning with white
students. Here, Seymour learned about
glossolalia, though he himself did not receive it at that time.
While Seymour was the interim pastor, Mrs. Neely Terry had visited Houston and was
impressed with his pastoral and godly demeanor. Therefore, when her black holiness church needed
a pastor in 1906, she convinced her church to invite Seymour, sending train fare along as wel .
Seymour, sensing this as a cal from God, left for Los Angeles in January 1906.
2 Nelson, 161.
3
Ibid., 164.
4
Ibid., 200.
1993 by James Choung. Please do not reproduce without permission.
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God's instrument of revival
When he arrived in Los Angeles, he began preaching immediately to his eager congregation at
nightly meetings. However, his preaching that
glossolalia could be a part of every believer's experience
had him locked him out the church on his fifth night. Seymour, without shelter or income, moved
into the home of Edward Lee and his wife, and began a solitary fasting and praying vigil.
A month later, in response to popular demand, a meeting was held between Seymour and
other holiness leaders to settle this issue, where President Roberts of the Southern California
Holiness Association was surprisingly persuaded to Seymour's viewpoint. After these meetings,
Richard and Ruth Asbery invited Seymour to stay at their home, and they began regular prayer
meetings during February and March.
On Monday, April 9, Lee asked Seymour to come over and pray for a recovery from his
il ness so that he could attend the evening meeting. After prayer, Lee felt better immediately, and
with further prayer, Lee started uttering in tongues. Both Lee and Seymour were ecstatic.
That night, they went to their prayer meeting, where Seymour opened with the text from
Acts 2:4, "And they were al fil ed with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as
the Spirit gave them utterance." After he gave a testimony of Lee's experience,
glossolalia started to
pour out from Lee's mouth, electrifying everyone. Al of them were swept to their feet, and at least
seven started to speak in strange tongues.5 This was the beginning of the Pentecostal movement.
The news about this event spread, and crowds began to gather. As more and more were
being touched by the power of the Holy Spirit, Seymour and others had truly believed that the
outpouring of Pentecost was being restored to the church as God's sign for the end of the age.6
5
Ibid., 161.
6
Ibid., 191.
1993 by James Choung. Please do not reproduce without permission.
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Seymour himself uttered in tongues three days later, while praying fervently side-by-side with a
European-American man.
As their meetings grew, they needed a larger place to meet, and leased an old church at 312
Azusa Street. It was here, at the Azusa Street Mission, that people from many races, nationalities,
and classes gathered. In a time of tumultuous racial prejudice, Seymour desired more than anything
that people of al races would be welcomed and enjoined together as one church before God,
writing, "No instrument that God can use is rejected on account of color or dress of lack of
education. This is why God has built up the work [at Azusa]."7 Even the wal s of gender were being
broken down, where women were included with ful equality in worship, releasing their talents and
leadership.8
Great fruit was being wrought for Christ from 1906-1908 at Azusa. Services began three
times a day, every day, and the crowds were piled up with 750-800 inside and 400-500 more outside,
with visitors coming throughout the day.9 By January 1908, 25 missionaries had been to Liberia,
South and North China, and Japan. People came from al over the world came to attend the Azusa
meetings. It was a glorious time for Seymour and the church.
Not everyone accepted the work at Azusa as an awesome work of God. Many were appal ed
by the signs and wonders, others were appal ed by the interracial fel owship. But, the movement had
began, and would later change the lives of mil ions and mil ions.
The decay of a dream
But, these good times would not last for Seymour. Three major events wrenched the Pentecostal
movement from his influence. In October 1906, Parham, seeking to claim his "rightful" leadership
7
Ibid., 200.
8
Ibid., 197.
9
Ibid., 196.
1993 by James Choung. Please do not reproduce without permission.
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in this burgeoning movement, came to Azusa and was repulsed by the display of interracial
fel owship. Parham took the pulpit, and started his rebuke with "God is sick at his stomach!"10
Parham's decision to separate from Azusa undermined Seymour's position and seriously weakened
the movement.11
In 1911, a second trauma would definitively end Seymour's influence in this movement.
While Seymour was away on a cross-country preaching mission, Wil iam Durham secured
permission to preach at Azusa, stirring controversy. He decried against Seymour's Wesleyan view
and upheld a "finished work" model.12 Though a legitimate concern, his polemic style caused much
strife, polarization, and division. He also believed that glossolalia is the only sign or evidence of
Spirit baptism, against Seymour's belief that tongues was not the only sign.13
Seymour returned from his preaching mission to deal with the issue, and eventual y he was
forced to lock Durham out of the mission. Durham then proceeded to begin a rival ministry,
attracting 600 members away from Azusa. He essentially formed a white-dominated movement with
a heavy emphasis on glossolalia, which wrenched the movement from Seymour's primary concern of
the unity of the body of Christ, regardless of race. The Pentecostal movement, which had
numerical y more whites, had itself "separated along racial lines and forgot Seymour."14
He continued to pastor at the Azusa Street Mission until his death, which remained
interracial until the end. He died of a heart attack on September 28, 1922. His fol owers say that he
died of a broken heart.
10
Ibid., 209.
11
Ibid., 211.
12 In Seymour's Wesleyan model, sanctification was a second experience of grace after conversion. In the "finished
work" model, both sanctification and conversion occurred at the same time.
13
Ibid., 250.
14
Ibid., 271.
1993 by James Choung. Please do not reproduce without permission.
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He had a dream, that people of al colors would worship together, under the power of the Holy
Spirit, during a time period where racial hatred and strife was at peaking. He spent his life seeking
this dream, and he would not relinquish this dream, even unto the end. Unfortunately, many of the
inheritors of his legacy have steered the course of the Pentecostal movement away from his original
dream, but Seymour himself should be remembered as the pioneer of this powerful movement.
1993 by James Choung. Please do not reproduce without permission.
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Bibliography
Connel y, James T. "Wil iam J. Seymour."
Twentieth-Century Shapers of American Popular Religion. Edited
by Charles H. Lippy. New York: Greenwood Press, 1989. Pp. 381-387. A short, encyclopedia-
like treatment of Seymour's life, with a brief and somewhat unfair appraisal of his work. The
work includes a brief critical analysis of biographies to date.
Cox, Harvey.
Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-
First Century. New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1995. Pp. 45-65. An excel ent,
compel ing narrative, in describing the events in Seymour's life at Azusa.
Goff, James R. Jr.
Fields White Unto Harvest: Charles F. Parham and the Missionary Origins of Pentecostalism.
Fayettevil e, AR: University of Arkansas Press, 1988. Pp. 9-10, 107-109, 111-120, 128-131. This
work is understandably spare in its treatment of Seymour. He rejects Seymour as the founder of
the Pentecostal movements in favor of Parham, claiming that glossolalia should be the definitive
aspect of Pentecostalism.
McRobert, Iain.
The Black Roots and White Racism of Early Pentecostalism in the USA. New York: St.
Martin's Press, 1988. Pp. 48-59. A succinct biography, though heavily dependent on Nelson's
work when describing Seymour's life.
. "The Black Roots of Pentecostalism."
Pentecost, Mission and Ecumenism: Essays on Intercultural
Theology. Edited by Jan A. B. Jongeneel. New York: Peter Lang, 1992. Pp. 73-84. McRobert
lambasts the lack of recognition for Seymour's role in the Pentecostal movement, arguing that
the African culture has influenced the movement. Again, the author borrows heavily from
Nelson's account.
Nelson, Douglas J. "For Such a Time as This: The Story of Bishop Wil iam J. Seymour and the
Azusa Street Revival: A Search for Pentecostal/Charismatic Roots." Ph. D. dissertation,
University of Birmingham, England, 1981. The best, most careful y researched biography of
Seymour. It includes critical analyses of past primary and secondary biographies, and the author
thoughtful y weaves in historical and social issues contemporaneous with Seymour's life.
Robeck, Cecil M. Jr. "Pentecostal Origins From a Global Perspective."
All Together in One Place:
Theological Papers from the Brighton Conference on World Evangelization. Edited by Harold D. Hunter
and Peter D. Hocken. Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press Ltd., 1993. Pp. 166-180.
Delivers a wel -written argument for Seymour's more prominent role in the origins of the
Pentecostal movement.
Tinney, James S. "Wil iam J. Seymour: Father of Modern-Day Pentecostalism."
Black Apostles: Afro-
American Clergy Confront the Twentieth Century. Edited by Randal K. Burkett and Richard
Newman.
Boston: G. K. Hal and Co., 1978. Pp. 213- 225. A cumbersome, outdated account
arguing for greater recognition of Seymour's accomplishments.
Note: Was unable to locate Seymour's one major work,
The Doctrines and Disciplines of the Azusa Street
Apostolic Faith Mission of Los Angeles, Cal., with Scripture Readings by W. J. Seymour, Its Founder and General
Overseer.
1993 by James Choung. Please do not reproduce without permission.
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James Choung, 8
William J. Seymour's life and ministry
Implications for today's ministry
What is most striking is his desire to break down wal s of race, gender, and socio-economic class.
Though recent movement such as the Promise Keepers have begun anew to break down these wal s,
it has been said that Sunday morning at 11 o'clock is stil the most segregated time in America. I am
personal y chal enged, as I serve both at an ethnic-specific col ege ministry and a multi-ethnic
church, and am forced to examine my involvement with the ethnic-specific ministry in light of
Seymour's work.
Secondly, he was a man of prayer. Al of what had happened at Azusa almost a century ago
was grounded in prayer. It was his time of solitary praying and fasting that brought about the
beginnings of the prayer meetings. It was other times of prayer and fasting that al owed the power of
the Holy Spirit to come. Through his heart of praying, he al owed the movement of God to pour
itself out at Azusa.
Lastly, his character was impeccable. He was seen as a pastor to al , without fault or
reproach, no doubt in part due to his background with the holiness movement. Even when betrayed
by his own col eagues, he showed a great deal of humility, dignity, and pursued to be like Christ in
what he did. And, in his humility, he did not limit the work of God. He al owed the movement of
the Holy Spirit to lead, and did not presume to know more about God than God himself. It was this
humility that al owed the Spirit of God to fal on Azusa and to touch the lives of many, eventual y to
peoples al throughout the world.
1993 by James Choung. Please do not reproduce without permission.
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