This week in Christian history: ‘Because He Lives’ first released, Bethel Bible Institute founded

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, October 15, 2023

Bethel Bible Institute founded – Oct. 15, 1900

Charles Fox Parham (1873-1929), a pioneering leader, preacher and evangelist of the Pentecostal movement. | Public Domain

This week marks the anniversary of preacher Charles Fox Parham founding the Bethel Bible Institute in Topeka, Kansas, a short-lived yet influential Pentecostal school.

An influential leader in the early days of the Pentecostal movement, Parham founded Bethel at a local mansion, with the school only staying open for about a year due to lack of funds.

Bethel remains notable for a student gathering that occurred in 1901 in which future missionary Agnes Ozman reportedly spoke in a foreign tongue due to being filled with the Holy Spirit.

“Ozman asked Parham to lay hands on her so she might be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak in another tongue as evidence,” noted the Christian History Institute.

“Soon she was speaking a language which other students identified as Chinese. More students began speaking in tongues and so did Parham. He claimed they spoke and wrote in several known languages. The writings, however, proved indecipherable to linguists.”