The Pentecostal/Charismatic Movement has emerged as a unique Christian tradition in the landscape of North American Christianity. These ‘Spiritfilled’ denominations, congregations and small groups within established churches have flourished over the past century due to their vibrant spirituality and emphasis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit – including prophecy, healing and speaking in tongues – through the empowering experience of baptism in the Holy Spirit. From humble beginnings among the poor and marginalised in North America, the various global Pentecostal/Charismatic bodies have seen exponential growth, and they now count over 644 million ‘Spirit-empowered’ believers worldwide. In North America, Pentecostal/Charismatic believers number more than 67 million and have distinguished themselves among the few Christian movements reporting growth in an ever more secularised society. While Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity is a global movement, North America features prominently in its development and expansion around the world.

The first wave of renewal began in North America in the late nineteenth century when frontier Holiness evangelists preached repentance, salvation and the ‘second blessing’ of sanctification through the baptism in the Holy Spirit. During the 1890s, periodic episodes of Charismatic manifestations, including speaking in tongues, were witnessed in B. H. Irwin's Fire Baptized Holiness Church in the Midwest, Richard G. Spurling's Christian Union in Tennessee and North Carolina, Frank Sandford's Bible school in Shiloh, Maine, and Charles Parham's Bible school in Topeka, Kansas. Spurred on by a restorationist ‘latter rain’ narrative, they believed they were witnessing the last days’ revival in which the gifts of the Spirit were being restored to the Church as first given to the apostles in the Book of Acts. Animated by this belief, Parham added the expectation that Spirit baptism should be accompanied by the ‘Bible evidence’ of speaking in tongues. As this ‘apostolic faith’ message made its way across the Midwestern United States, the normalisation of glossolalia as the sign of this empowerment helped to distinguish this new ‘Pentecostal’ movement from the Holiness movement.

However, those sparks of the nascent Pentecostal revival did not ignite a fire until an African American holiness preacher named William Seymour started an Apostolic Faith Mission in Los Angeles, California, in 1906. In a humble two-storey building on Azusa Street, a revival broke out that quickly became ground zero for the spread of Pentecostalism across North America and eventually around the world.