The first "Pentecostals" in the modern sense appeared on the scene in 1901 in the city of Topeka, Kansas, with a handful of students conducted by Charles Fox Parham, a holiness teacher and former Methodist Pastor, with emphasis in the Pentecost's Baptism with the Spirit and glossolalia (speaking in tongues) of Acts 2. The first student who spoke in tongues was Agnes Ozman, on January 1, 1901, the first day of the twentieth century. Parham founded a church movement which he called the "Apostolic Faith", and begun a whirlwind revival tour of the America middle west to promote his exiting new experience.
It was not until 1906, however, that pentecostalism achieved worldwide attention through the "Azusa Street Revival" in Los Angeles, California, by the African-American preacher William Joseph Seymour. He learned about the tongues-attested baptism from Parham, and opened the historic meeting in April 1906 in a Black Holiness Church, a former African Methodist Episcopal church building at 312 Azusa Street in downtown Los Angeles.
What happened at Azusa Street has fascinated church historians: For over three years, the Azusa Street "Apostolic Faith Mission" conducted three services a day, seven days a week, where thousands of seekers received the tongues baptism. At that time of color segregation in the United States, the phenomenon of Blacks and Whites worshiping together under a Black pastor seemed incredible to many observers. Indeed, the color line was washed away in the Blood of Christ, in Los Angeles, "the American Jerusalem", as it called by Frank Bartleman, where the people from all ethnic minorities were represented at Azusa Street.
http://www.religion-cults.com/spirit/pentecostal.htmSouthern Baptist roots go all the way back to the Reformation in England in the sixteenth century. Various dissenters called for purification of the church and a return to the New Testament Christian example. These dissenters also called for strict accountability in their covenant with God. One of the prominent dissenters who arose in the seventeenth century was John Smyth. Smyth was a strong proponent of adult baptism and 1609 went as far as to rebaptize himself and others. Smyth's action was a sign of the first English Baptist church. Smyth also introduced the Arminian view that God's grace is for everyone and not just predestined individuals. 6 .
By 1644, due to the efforts of Thomas Helwys and Smyth, there were 50 Baptist churches. Some Baptists were General Baptists because they believed people choose to be saved and they saw atonement, as general not just limited. Others were referred to as Particular Baptists because they thought redemption was limited to a chosen few. Both groups strengthened the Baptist movement in England. 7 .
As the English Baptists struggled with recognition, some began to come to America. They came to America, like other counterparts, to escape religious persecution in England. Roger Williams was one of the Baptists to come over and in 1639 he established the First Baptist Church in America in Providence, Rhode Island. Baptists were even persecuted in the New World because of their idea of baptism. By the early eighteenth century Baptists had a strong standing in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 8 .
By the mid eighteenth century Baptist numbers grew even more due to the Great Awakening pioneered by Jonathan Edwards. In 1755, a man named Shubael Stearns headed to North Carolina to spread Baptist belief and this led to the establishment of 42 churches in the North Carolina area. Stearns' people believed in emotional conversion, membership in a community where one was accountable, and adult baptism by immersion. They were referred to as Separate Baptists. The Regular Baptists who resided primarily in the north were more urbane and valued education more. The Separates had great success in less civilized frontier regions of the south in recruiting members. 9 .
By 1790, liberty for Baptists had been won and they now began to organize and expand. At this time Baptists organized missionary societies to spread the Christian lifestyle to others. It was these mission societies that led to other organizational structures that would eventually define and make a denomination of Southern Baptists. In 1814, a convention for organizing the first national Baptist missionary society was held in Philadelphia. 10 .
http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/sbaptists.htmlWhat I hope to do first in this essay is to describe in a nutshell, from one Old Order Amish minister's point of view, what it means to be Amish, both in spirit and in substance. I then hope, secondly, to trace, within the tides of history, the sources of the Amish faith and life. And thirdly, I would like to hint at some of the developments, from the 1690s or so, up to around 1720, where I attempt to weigh the significance of some of the major leaders who helped determine the outcomes of the great Swiss Brethren Division of the 1690s. (And indeed, it was the great Swiss Brethren -- and not only an Amish -- Division!)
Here is a quick overview of my findings: Certain Low Country Mennonite doctrines from the era of Menno Simons and Dirk Philips were picked up by certain Swiss Brethren Anabaptist groups, probably via the ongoing series of Anabaptist conferences held in the Strasbourg area. Certain of these doctrines slowly found acceptance especially among some Alsatian Swiss Brethren. These very doctrines were then formally promoted through the publication of Menno Simons' Fundamentbuch Foundation Book) in 1575, and of the Dordrecht Confession in 1664 (both publications issued in German translation). Some Swiss Brethren accepted these new doctrines; other Swiss Brethren rejected these new doctrines, believing them to clash with traditional Swiss Brethren views on the nature of the church, on the nature of congregational discipline, and on the nature of leadership and authority within the church.
I also would like to suggest that the original Amish impulse, as precipitated by Jakob Ammann himself, and others, before 1693, evolved and gelled by 1698, was set in its classical literary form in 1698 and 1720 by Uli Ammann, and resulted in continuity of the Amish idea and substance within Amish history from then on.
The Essence of the Amish Faith. I would like to begin with an interpretation of what it means to be Amish, brought together by the Old Order Amish minister, Eli E. Gingerich of Middlebury, Indiana. Several times in the year 1986 Gingerich and I had reflected on these questions, and by October 7 of that year he was ready with a four-point synthesis of what he believed lay at the center of the Amish idea. Here is his summary:
(1) First and foremost, is the inner renewal. At the heart of the Christian life is seeking and having peace with God through the atonement of Jesus Christ for our sins. It is the (spiritual) new birth (John 3:3), the most important of all: the renewing and change of the mind and spirit, in Christ, as the means of grasping and fulfilling the will of God (Rom. 12:1-2).
(2) Not only peace with God, but also peace with fellow believers. First of all, we find ourselves as humans at the crux of living as individuals under God, as well as blending together in relation to Christ and his church. Our way of life must be keyed to strengthening both of these relationships, the divine and the human (1 John 5:1).
(3) Simplicity, and mutual service. Thirdly, to fulfill this set of relationships, we need to uphold a simple life-style where we more or less depend on each other. And the more of this we can maintain, the better the community. And here, modern gadgetry and the so-called progress within general society can so often get in the way of both simplicity, and the art of relating, one to another. Furthermore, in this regard, we need to guard against being a stumbling block to anyone -- on the outside, as well as in the congregation -- but rather are to be an example of one who cares for and considers others (Phil. 2:1-18; Rom. 14:1-15:7).
(4) Separation from the world. Fourthly, the sum result of the above points brings with it, by definition, a separation from the world. But the spirit of inner renewal must of necessity precede the outer elements of separation, otherwise separation becomes merely an empty ritual.
Although in Eli Gingerich's view the above four points were the primary points, he then went on to add other elements .....
http://www.goshen.edu/facultypubs/GROSS.html
