# Bethel Bible College

Part of a series on :
Pentecostalism :
Tongues as of fire representing the Holy Spirit on Pentecost :
Background
Christianity
The Reformation
Protestantism
Methodist revivals
Weslyean-Holiness movement
Restorationism :
Early history
Bethel Bible College
1904–1905 Welsh Revival
Azusa Street Revival
Charles Fox Parham
William J. Seymour :
Theology
Bible
Old Testament
New Testament
Infallibility
Fundamentalism
God
Trinity
Father
Son
Holy Ghost
Systematic theology
Eschatology
Premillennialism
Sanctification
Christian perfection
Full Gospel
Finished Work
Latter Rain
Five solae
Priesthood of all believers
Conversion
Born again
Believers' Church
Believer's baptism
Private doctrines
Baptism with the Holy Spirit
Third work of grace
Speaking in tongues
Worship
Spiritual gifts
Pentecostal creeds
Fundamental Truths (AOG)
12 Articles from Niagara Falls (CC) :
Key people
Asa A. Allen
Yiye Ávila
Thomas Ball Barratt
Joseph Ayo Babalola
David K. Bernard
Nicholas Bhengu
Reinhard Bonnke
William M. Branham
David Yonggi Cho
Jack Coe
Margaret Court
Lucy F. Farrow
Mae Eleanor Frey
Donald Gee
Benny Hinn
Rex Humbard
George Jeffreys
Kathryn Kuhlman
Gerald Archie Mangun
Charles Harrison Mason
Aimee Semple McPherson
Erik Andersen Nordquelle
T. L. Osborn
Agnes Ozman
Charles Fox Parham
Lewi Pethrus
David du Plessis
Oral Roberts
Pat Robertson
Bishop Ida Robinson
William J. Seymour
Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson
Andrew David Urshan
Smith Wigglesworth
Maria Woodworth-Etter
Niilo Yli-Vainio
Category:Pentecostals :
Major denominations
Holiness Pentecostalism
Apostolic Faith Church
Church of God in Christ
Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)
International Pentecostal Holiness Church
Finished Work Pentecostalism
Apostolic Church
Assemblies of God
Indian Pentecostal Church of God
The Foursquare Church
Oneness Pentecostalism
United Pentecostal Church International
Pentecostal Assemblies of the World
Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ :
Related movements
Charismatic Movement
Evangelicalism :
Christianity • Protestantism
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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. It was located at what is now the Southeast corner of 17th and Gage Blvd. The school is credited with starting the Pentecostal movement, particularly its earliest form—Holiness Pentecostalism—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 due to a fire that destroyed the building, 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 the Holiness Movement 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 had fallen on an individual, a view that became the doctrine of the third work of grace in Holiness Pentecostalism. 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. The testimony of those who attended the Azusa Street Revival was "I am saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost" in reference to the three works of grace taught by Holiness Pentecostals: (1) the New Birth; (2) entire sanctifiation; and (3) Spirit baptism evidenced by speaking in tongues. Today many Pentecostal denominations trace their beginnings to Bethel and Azusa Street.