Holiness preacher William J. Seymour arrived in Los Angeles to lead a mission church. After his teaching on Spirit baptism and speaking in tongues was rejected, he began holding prayer meetings in private homes instead. This set the stage for the Azusa Street Revival.
At a prayer meeting at the Asberry home on Bonnie Brae Street, participants reported speaking in tongues (glossolalia—speech believed to be inspired by the Holy Spirit). Word spread quickly in Los Angeles, drawing growing crowds and creating pressure to find a larger meeting place.
The meetings moved into a rented building at 312 Azusa Street, a former church building that had been used as a stable/warehouse. The group organized it as the Apostolic Faith Mission and began frequent services that attracted visitors from many racial and social backgrounds. The new location became a hub for people seeking similar experiences of Spirit baptism.
The Azusa Street Mission began publishing The Apostolic Faith newspaper to share testimonies, teaching, and reports of the revival. It became a major tool for spreading Pentecostal ideas beyond Los Angeles, reaching readers across the U.S. and internationally. The paper’s existence also shows the movement’s early focus on communication and outreach.
Methodist minister Thomas Ball Barratt reported a Spirit-baptism experience in New York and returned to Norway in December 1906. His meetings in Oslo helped spark early Pentecostal revival in Scandinavia and influenced later Pentecostal developments in Europe. This illustrates how Azusa’s influence traveled through networks of traveling ministers, not only formal mission boards.
After visiting the Azusa Street meetings in late 1906, Gaston B. Cashwell returned to Dunn, North Carolina and preached the Pentecostal experience. Large crowds gathered, and the message spread through southern Holiness networks, influencing multiple churches and leaders. The result was rapid regional growth without a single central organization.
Alfred G. Garr and his wife, Lillian, traveled from the Azusa Street Mission to Calcutta and began preaching there in early 1907. Their trip became a model for early Pentecostal missions: small teams, independent funding, and strong expectations of Spirit-led guidance. The Garrs’ work also connected Azusa-linked Pentecostalism to already-active Indian Christian communities.
The Los Angeles Apostolic Faith newspaper ran from September 1906 through May 1908, as documented in preserved issues. After the original Los Angeles publishing effort ended, a related Apostolic Faith publication continued from Portland, reflecting both the movement’s spread and internal tensions about leadership and communication networks. Losing control of print distribution reduced Azusa’s ability to coordinate its far-flung contacts.
John G. Lake and coworkers arrived in South Africa in 1908 and began meetings that grew into the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa. The movement drew a mixed group of attendees and developed organizational structures later that year. This became one of the most influential early Pentecostal mission efforts in southern Africa.
During 1906–1909, Azusa Street became known for attracting pastors, evangelists, and missionaries who then carried Pentecostal practices elsewhere. Reports from the period describe rapid spread to many countries within a few years, driven by travel, correspondence, and the movement’s newspaper. This phase marks the shift from a local revival to an international missionary movement.
Swedish missionaries Daniel Berg and Gunnar Vingren arrived in Belém, Pará, after leaving New York in 1910. Their work helped establish what became Brazil’s Assemblies of God movement, one of the largest Pentecostal expressions in the world. This shows how early Pentecostal missions increasingly took root outside North America and Europe.
Pentecostal leaders met in Hot Springs, Arkansas in April 1914 and formed the General Council of the Assemblies of God. The organization aimed to create shared doctrine, recognize ministers, and improve accountability and support for missionaries. This was a key turning point from mostly informal Azusa-era networks to more durable institutions.
William J. Seymour died in Los Angeles in 1922, removing the revival’s central early leader. After his death, his wife, Jennie Moore Seymour, continued leading the congregation associated with the Azusa Street Mission. The transition highlights how the original revival community persisted even as Pentecostalism’s main growth shifted to new churches and denominations.
By 1931, the congregation associated with Azusa Street no longer held the building at 312 Azusa Street. This marked a clear end point for the original physical center of the revival, even though Pentecostal missions and churches continued expanding worldwide. The story closes with Azusa shifting from an active hub to a historical symbol referenced by later Pentecostal movements.
Azusa Street Revival and early Pentecostal missions (1906–1930)