THE UNITED PENTECOSTAL CHURCH INTERNATIONAL (3)

The Beginning (2)

Victor M. Eskew

 

          In our last article, we began a discussion of the beginning of the United Pentecostal Church International.  In that article, we noted the mindset that brought Pentecostalism into existence.  Let’s now examine some of the characters and events associated with the development of this denomination.

          As early as 1831, we read of a man named Edward Irving who attempted a spiritual renewal in the Regents Square Presbyterian Church in London. Four things were prevalent in his efforts:  speaking in tongues as a manifestation of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, prophecies, spiritual gifts, and an attempt to restore the fivefold ministries of Ephesians 4:11.  In Ephesians 4:11, Paul writes:  “And he gave some, apostles; some, prophets, and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.”

          Another movement transpired in Keswick, England beginning in 1875.  The movement is known as the Higher Life Movement.  The name comes from a book entitled, The Higher Christian Life, authored by William Broadman and published in 1858.  The movement began with a tent revival in 1875 at the St. John’s Church in Keswick.  The basic concept of the Higher Life Movement is that a convert to Christianity was to move from his initial conversion to a second work of God in his life.  This second work was referred to by different names:  entire sanctification, a second blessing, or a second touch.  It involved one’s being filled with the Holy Spirit.  When a person received this blessing, he was able to live a life freer from sin.  In fact, it was thought some could live a life completely free of sin.

          In the United States, the Higher Life Movement was precipitated by the Wesleyan-Holiness movement.  Their teachings also involved Christian perfection or entire sanctification.  Other religious leaders developed healing ministries.  Charles Cullis, John Alexander Downie, and Albert B. Simpson were three men who established healing ministries across the states.

          The Pentecostals, however, trace their beginning in 1901 in Topeka, Kansas.  A man named Charles F. Parham had left the pulpit of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1895 because he disagreed with the hierarchy of the church.  He began to conduct a Bible School.  One of the challenges he made to his students was to find the scriptural evidence for the reception of the Holy Spirit.  Their investigations led to the conclusion that speaking in tongues was the confirmation.  On January 1, 1901, one of Parham’s students, Agnez Ozman, was said to have spoken in tongues.  “According to Roswell Flower, the founding Secretary of the Assemblies of God, Ozman’s experience was ‘the touch felt round the world, an event which made the Pentecostal Movement of the Twentieth Century” (www.cai.org, “History of the Pentecostal Movement”).

          Four years later, another person who attended the Bible school of Charles Parham learned about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  His name was William J. Seymour.  He took the teaching back to Los Angeles to a black holiness group.  On April 6, 1906, a revival started in LA that lasted three years.  There were three sermons a day, every day, for this three-year period.  On April 9, 1906, Edward S. Lee spoke in tongues.  Over the never several nights, others began to speak in tongues.  The crowds grew too large for the house in which they were meeting.  A building for the meeting was acquired at 312 Azusa Street in downtown Los Angeles.  Reports of this meeting caused the Los Angeles Daily paper to send a reporter to an evening service on April 17^th.  His reports were highly critical of the meeting.  “The introductory headlines to the article were ‘weird babel of tongues,’ ‘new sect of fanatics breaking loose,’ ‘wild scene last night at Azusa Street,’ and “gurgle of wordless talk by a sister,’ all carefully calculated to give the appearance of religious mania or madness…Nevertheless, Bartleman reported that this brought the crowds!” (Azusa Street Revival, izee.me.uk). 

          News about this meeting was also spread through a paper produced by William Seymour entitled, “The Apostolic Faith.”  It went to 50,000 subscribers free of charge.  Holiness leaders from The Church of God in Christ (Memphis, TN), The Church of God (Cleveland, TN), and the Pentecostal Holiness Church (Georgia and the Carolinas) made the trip to Los Angeles and carried the messages back to their churches.

          Once the basic teachings of the Holiness churches were set forth, various groups began to organize and merge with one another until the United Pentecostal Church International was created.  The following is a brief timeline of how this denomination emerged on the scene of the religious world.

 

1916:  “…a large a group of Pentecostal ministers within the Assemblies of God USA began to unite around the teaching of the oneness of God and water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ.  Several Oneness ministers met in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and on January 2, 1917, formed a Oneness Pentecostal organization called the General Assemblies of the Apostolic Assemblies” (Wikipedia.com, “United Pentecostal Church International”).

 

1918:  The General Assemblies merged with the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World.  They remained together until 1924.  They separated due to racial issues.

 

1925:  Three groups formed:  Apostolic Churches of Jesus Christ...Pentecostal Ministerial Alliance…Emmanuel’s Church in Jesus Christ.

 

1927:  The Apostolic Churches of Jesus Christ merged with Emmanuel’s Church in Jesus Christ.  They changed their name to Pentecostal Assemblies of the World.

 

1931:  The Pentecostal Assemblies of the World merged with the Apostolic Churches of Jesus Christ.  They maintained the name Pentecostal Assemblies of the World.

 

1932:  Pentecostal Ministerial Alliance changed its name to Pentecostal Church, Inc.

 

1945:  Pentecostal Church, Inc. merged with Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ to form the Pentecostal Church International.