Quizzes
The Modern Pentecostal Movement
The Moving Factors
If Pentecost continued from Acts 2 until now, why do we talk about the Pentecostal Movement of the 20th century?
Even though we have now seen the outpouring of the Holy Spirit throughout history since the Apostles, we still note that there was something about the 20th century that makes it stand out as the “Century of the Holy Spirit.” In the 20th century, there were numerous events and movements known as Pentecostal and/or Charismatic, which have continued into the 21st century.Â
What made the 20th century different than those that preceded it? And how did these events and movements come about?
Where do you see God at work in all these factors?
There were many factors that gave rise to the Modern Pentecostal Movement. Some of these were historical and cultural — the movements towards racial unity and gender equality around the turn of the century. Some of these were theological — renewed interest in the biblical evidence of the Baptism of the Spirit. Some people even claimed there were natural factors — like the San Fransisco earthquake of 1906. Many of the factors appear to be directly linked, like dominoes — such as Charles Parham’s assignment about speaking in Tongues, which influenced William Seymour’s sermon at Azusa Street. Some factors — like Pope Leo’s prayer “Come, Holy Spirit,” — appear indirectly linked.Â
Whatever way one accounts for these factors, something significant was happening in the decades around the turn of the 20th century, paving the way for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.Â
Test Yourself
Answer
Talk it Through
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1.4 Factors That Gave Rise to the Modern Pentecostal Movement
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In the quote by William Seymour, I think what he was trying to say is that Jesus and salvation is the base of the gospel – not tongues. Tongues is a subsequent act that happens after salvation, but without Jesus, there is no tongues. I agree with this statement, and think often as people who live in the Spirit we can emphasize the Spirit over the gospel because it is what sticks out for us, but it is important to speak about the gospel first. The time to tell people about tongues and have that deeper conversation in my opinion is after they are saved.
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- William Seymour – "Don't tell people about tongues, tell them about Jesus." Why do you think Seymour said this? Do you agree or disagree? Is there ever a time to tell people about tongues?
I think Seymour was trying to guard against the human tendency to focus on the external things. It can be easy in church cultures to define our Christianity with the visible things, such as the gifts of the Holy Spirit, or even our knowledge of the Bible, but ultimately the focus needs to be on our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I agree completely; I have seen first-hand people who appear to be so enraptured with prophecy or speaking in tongues, and yet don’t seem to have the depth in their personal relationship with Jesus that would result in their being transformed into what the Bible teaches us is Christlikeness.
There is always a time to talk about anything the Bible teaches, so this includes tongues, but again, it can never be our primary focus.
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I think William said that because tongues was meant for an already believing individual. Once you commit yourself to Jesus, you can recieve the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the ability to speak in tongues. So in that sense going around preaching such a thing to unbelievers would be 1. impractical because they would not understand such a foreign concept, and 2. aside from the most important thing which is salvation through Jesus.
It seems William knew that people getting to know Jesus was undoubtedly the most important thing in the mission. Whether or not they were baptized in the Spirit after that was secondary in value, and something that would probably get discovered by each individuals in their own times. -
I totally agree, we should talk about Jesus.
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