Worship Restoration Needed In The Foursquare Church - Part 1
The early Foursquare movement (founded 1923 with the dedication of Angelus Temple in Los Angeles by Aimee Semple McPherson) grew directly out of her Pentecostal revival meetings in tents, churches, and auditoriums from around 1915–1922. These services featured the lively, bodily expressions of praise typical of early 20th-century Pentecostalism—dancing, leaping, waving or lifting hands/arms, shaking, shouting, and falling prostrate “under the power” of the Holy Spirit.
Contemporary reports and McPherson’s own writings document these practices among attendees (and McPherson herself) in the years immediately leading into and around the church’s founding era. Here are key historical accounts: From Aimee Semple McPherson’s own memoir This Is That: Personal Experiences, Sermons and Writings (1919, describing her tent revival meetings that built the foundation for the Foursquare Church): In one vivid scene from an early tent meeting, McPherson wrote: “The power was falling everywhere in the tent, sinners being saved, believers baptized in the Holy Spirit (with Bible evidence, speaking in tongues), sick bodies had been healed, many were leaping, dancing and praising God, the slain of the Lord were many; my heart felt full to the bursting with joy at the sight, and with uplifted hands I was walking up and down the aisles amongst the audience, praising my wonderful Redeemer for the way in which He was working.”
She directly addressed critics who objected to the physical expressions: One critic said: “Of course, I believe in the power of God, but O, the noise, these awful manifestations! … that dancing and shaking … And that falling on the floor … As for this leaping and shouting, why can not these people praise God in a quiet, orderly way…?” McPherson defended them as biblical (citing examples like David dancing before the Lord, the apostles appearing “drunk” on the Day of Pentecost, and prostrations in Scripture and revivals like the Welsh Revival). She noted that genuine manifestations (including dancing, shouting, shaking, and falling prostrate) could not be stifled without quenching the Spirit. In her personal testimony of receiving the Holy Spirit, she described: “All at once my hands and arms began to shake, gently at first, then violently, until my whole body was shaking under the power of the Holy Spirit.” Later, with others: “How happy we were as we danced around the table laughing, crying and singing together.”
Direct eyewitness report from a 1920 revival campaign in Washington, D.C. (a major pre-Angelus Temple event that drew over 50,000 people and helped launch the Foursquare movement; published on the official Foursquare Church resources site): During a healing service on April 8, 1920, at McKendree Methodist Episcopal Church, many people were prayed for and healed. One striking testimony involved 67-year-old Mrs. Fannie Wallace, paralyzed on her entire left side for 15 years: After being anointed with oil and prayed for, “Mrs. Wallace began to walk, with some hesitation. Then she hurried, and then she danced. ‘Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,’ she cried out, and for more than two minutes she danced and waved her hands in the air.”
The same services saw “multitudes came seeking God” and “stampeded … to the altar,” with many lying “prostrate on the floor under the power of the Holy Spirit.” Over 3,000 sick people were prayed for during the three-week campaign; other reports noted people cured while others experienced the Pentecostal baptism of the Holy Spirit with “mighty manifestations.”
Descriptions of what visitors and members experienced in the early Pentecostal-style services (including those leading to and at Angelus Temple): Historian Anthea Butler (in the PBS American Experience documentary on McPherson) summarized the atmosphere in the missions and revivals McPherson encountered and led: “She might have seen people falling down, prostrate on the floor. She might have seen people going up and down the aisles and dancing, which in a normal church service would never happen. And then, she might have heard these strange noises … that we call speaking in tongues.” These were derided by outsiders as “Holy Roller” behavior but drew crowds. At Angelus Temple itself (opened January 1923), the core worship retained emotional fervor in prayer, healing lines, and praise, though McPherson’s illustrated sermons and radio broadcasts added theatrical elements while she sought to balance enthusiasm with order.
These accounts come from McPherson’s published writings, official Foursquare archival resources, and historical documentaries drawing on eyewitnesses and period reports. The bodily expressions (dancing “in the Spirit,” waving/lifting hands and arms, leaping, prostration) were common responses to healing, baptism in the Holy Spirit, or overwhelming joy in the early revival meetings that birthed the Foursquare Church. McPherson herself participated and defended them as scriptural, though she emphasized they should edify and not devolve into disorder.
By the mid-20th century the denomination trended toward more structured worship, aligning with my observation of today’s more subdued and less God pleasing style of Holy Spirit quenched worship. First Thessalonians 5:19 says: "Do not quench the Holy Spirit". Under the guise of structuring worship to have a more broader appeal, some Foursquare Church Pastors have actually quenched the Holy Spirit in their congregation of believers.
Primary sources like This Is That (available in full via public archives) and Foursquare’s own historical retrospectives provide the most direct “reports from the people within” the early movement. You can also search for links to the full book excerpts, specific newspaper clippings from the 1920s, or further details from Foursquare publications like the Bridal Call or Foursquare Crusader.
Go to Part 2 by clicking here.