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Bethel Bible College or Bethel Gospel School was a Bible college founded in 1900 by Charles Parham in Topeka, Kansas, United States. The school is credited with starting the Pentecostal movement due to a series of fasting days that ended in what was interpreted as speaking in tongues on January 1, 1901. Although the school would close later in 1901 after less than two years of operation, the movement itself grew substantially to tens of millions of people around the world.
Pentecostalism begins
Forty students including Agnes Ozman had gathered to learn the major tenets of theHoliness Movement
The Holiness movement is a Christian movement that emerged chiefly within 19th-century Methodism, and to a lesser extent other traditions such as Quakerism, Anabaptism, and Restorationism. The movement is historically distinguished by its emph ...
from Parham. Parham wondered about the New Testament evidence for baptism in the Holy Spirit. He went on a three-day trip and asked his students to ponder this question while he was gone. They concluded that glossolalia or speaking in tongues was proof that the Holy Spirit
In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...
had fallen on an individual. Ozman was the first student to speak in tongues. Parham would take this message and hold special meetings in Joplin, MO and Houston, TX. In Houston, a black man named William Seymour heard the message and would take this teaching to Los Angeles where he would start the Azusa Street Revival. Today many Pentecostal denominations trace their beginnings to Bethel and Azusa Street.
Bethel Bible College also played a major role in the formation of the Assemblies of God
The Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 144 autonomous self-governing national groupings of churches that together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination."Assemblies of God". ...
, the world's largest Pentecostal denomination.
See also
* List of defunct colleges and universities in KansasReferences
Education in Topeka, Kansas Pentecostalism in the United States Defunct private universities and colleges in Kansas Bible colleges Educational institutions established in 1900 Educational institutions disestablished in 1901 Universities and colleges affiliated with the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) 1900 establishments in Kansas 1901 disestablishments in Kansas {{Christianity-stub