Jennie Evans Moore

Life

Jennie Evans Moore was an African American woman who served as a Christian leader. She was active in the Holiness movement, which arose in the United States in the late nineteenth century and emphasized an experience through which Christians attain a holy life, and in the early Pentecostal movement. Sources differ on her year of birth, giving either 1874 or 1883.

In 1906 she joined a prayer meeting in Los Angeles led by William J. Seymour. On April 9 of that year, at a private home on North Bonnie Brae Street, Seymour preached from Acts 2:4. According to accounts, Moore was one of the seven people who first spoke in tongues at this meeting. The gathering later moved to Azusa Street and developed into the Azusa Street Revival.

Moore married Seymour in May 1908; sources disagree on whether the wedding took place on the 3rd or the 13th. The couple lived on the second floor of the mission building. After Seymour died of a heart attack on September 28, 1922, Moore led the mission. She died on July 2, 1936, and was buried beside her husband in Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Ministry and Accomplishments

• She was one of the Black leaders of the Azusa Street Mission. She preached regularly in services and filled the pulpit when Seymour was away. She is also said to have traveled at times to minister in other places on Seymour's behalf.
• After their marriage, she and her husband jointly pastored the Apostolic Faith Mission. The revival's momentum waned around 1913, and by about 1915 most of the crowds and press attention had moved on. Thereafter the mission remained a small congregation made up mostly of Black members.
• Seymour is said to have passed leadership of the mission to his wife before his death. Sources differ on how long Moore led the mission: some say until 1931, when the building was lost to foreclosure, while others say until her death in 1936.

Influence on the Korean Church

No record has been found of any direct connection between Moore and the Korean church. However, the Azusa Street Revival in which she took part is regarded as one of the principal roots of the worldwide Pentecostal and charismatic movement. Some hold that nearly every Pentecostal movement derives, directly or indirectly, from this revival. Full Gospel denominations in Korea, such as the Korea Assemblies of God, also stand within this stream. For further details, see History of the Pentecostal Movement in Korea.

Assessment

Although Moore played a significant role in the early Pentecostal movement, she is regarded as having long been overlooked by church historians, overshadowed by Seymour. In recent years she has frequently been cited as an example of a woman who preached and led a community during the Azusa Street Revival. Supporters of women's ordination point to Seymour's entrusting the mission to his wife as evidence for their position.

The couple's marriage met with opposition within the mission at the time. Florence Crawford, one of the mission's leaders, opposed the marriage on the grounds that the Rapture was imminent. The following year Crawford left the mission, taking with her the mailing list for the mission's newsletter, The Apostolic Faith. It has also been noted that the mission continued to decline during the period Moore led it after her husband's death.

Denominations differ in their judgment of the Pentecostal belief that speaking in tongues is the evidence of baptism in the Holy Spirit. That question is treated in Cessationism and Continuationism.