A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

The Pentecostal Movement
Pentecost had not yet come to that city; no one there had
preached on tongues as the initial evidence. The group
conducted their revival by preaching the baptism of the
Holy Ghost but never mentioning tongues or any other
“evidence.” Goss reported the outcome: “No seeker was
expecting any unusual manifestation. But, it made no difference.
They all likewise spoke in tongues as the Spirit
gave utterance when they received the Holy Ghost. This
satisfied even the most skeptical among us.” 2
In 1906 Parham brought the Pentecostal message to
Zion City, Illinois. This town was a religious community
near Chicago founded by John Alexander Dowie, a prominent
healing evangelist and the organizer of a Holiness
group he called the Christian Catholic Church. Dowie had
recently been discredited because of gross financial mismanagement,
authoritarianism, and increasingly eccentric
behavior, and he had lost control of his movement.
Parham converted many of his followers to the
Pentecostal message, including many ministers. The new
leaders, however, resisted him vigorously.
From Parham’s revivals in Kansas and Texas, the
Apostolic Faith movement grew to about 13,000 people
in 1906. 3 By 1908, there were about 25,000 adherents
under Parham’s leadership. 4
Parham’s Doctrine
Charles Parham upheld most of the doctrines of conservative
Protestantism, including the inspiration and
infallibility of Scripture, the trinity, the existence of angels
and demons, the creation and fall of humanity, the
Incarnation and Atonement, salvation by grace through
faith in Jesus Christ, and the Second Coming. He took the
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