Sources: Charles Parham, Voice of Healing; Seymour, The Apostolic Faith newsletter (1906–1908); Vinson Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition; Harvey Cox, Fire from Heaven.

Pentecostalism began on January 1, 1901 when Charles Parham’s student Agnes Ozman spoke in tongues at Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas — but the movement exploded globally through the Azusa Street Revival (1906–1909) in Los Angeles, led by William J. Seymour, a Black Holiness preacher and son of freed slaves. The Azusa Street revival was remarkable for its racial integration at the height of Jim Crow and its three-year intensity. Core Pentecostal theology: (1) Baptism in the Holy Spirit as a distinct second work of grace, subsequent to conversion, evidenced by speaking in tongues (glossolalia); (2) The continuity of spiritual gifts (charismata) — tongues, prophecy, healing, miracles as normal Christian experience; (3) Divine healing — physical healing in the atonement (Isaiah 53:5); (4) The imminent second coming — urgency of mission. Pentecostalism is now the fastest-growing segment of global Christianity (~700 million adherents), strongest in the Global South (sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, South Korea). The Charismatic Renewal brought Pentecostal spirituality into Catholic and mainline Protestant churches (~1960s). Pentecostalism’s democratic, lay-centered, emotionally expressive worship represents a radical populist break from both Catholic sacramentalism and Reformed intellectualism.