William Seymour and the Pentecostal Movement Pentecostalism is considered one of the greatest universal movements that have enormously transformed the history of Christianity. It emphasized personal interaction with God facilitated by the baptism of the individual by the Holy Spirit (Alexander, 43). One of the proponents of Pentecostalism is William Seymour. He is considered the originator of the Pentecostal movement because of his fundamental teachings on the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian (Heaton 35). Therefore, this research article aims to describe the contributions of William Seymour to the evolution of Pentecostalism. The guiding thesis is that Seymour orchestrated the Pentecostal movement that swept the nation all over the world, which then contributed to the creation of new religious denominations sharing common beliefs, practices and customs.Brief History of William SeymourWilliam Joseph Seymour was born in 1870 in Louisiana. He was the first African-American preacher to launch the Pentecostal religious movement (Alexander 9). Seymour was a scholar of the Novel Bible School, established in 1905 by Charles Parham in Texas (Espinosa 12). It was there that Seymour learned and adopted the major doctrines and teachings propagated by the holiness movement, the common belief of speaking in tongues (Glossolalia) (Heaton 13). According to belief, speaking in tongues was considered a true confirmation and assurance of the gift of the Holy Spirit in a Christian. Seymour then emigrated to Los Angeles. He became a preacher in one of the traditional churches. However, due to the radical nature of his newly acquired Pentecostal teaching, he was expelled from the parish (Alexander 33). He then sought a new place to...... middle of paper ......g tumultuous times of intense racial discrimination and gender inequality make him more relevant in the history of Christianity. Currently, the Pentecostal faith continues to grow rapidly as the number of its followers increases. Works Cited Alexander, Estrelda. Black Fire: One Hundred Years of African American Pentecostalism. Canada: InterVarsity Press, 2011. Print. Bergunder, Michael, Anderson, Allan, Droogers, Andre and Van Der Laan, Cornelis. Studying Global Pentecostalism: Theories and Methods. California: University of California Press, 2010. Print. Espinosa, Gaston. William J. Seymour and the Origins of World Pentecostalism: A Biography and Documentary History. New York: Duke University Press, 2014. Print. Heaton, Allan. An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2013. Print.