{{Short description|American missionary and author (1930–2016)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} [[File:C. Peter Wagner.jpg|thumb|Charles Peter Wagner]] '''Charles Peter Wagner''' (August 15, 1930 – October 21, 2016) was an American missionary, writer, teacher and founder of several [[Independent Network Charismatic Christianity|Independent Charismatic]] Christian organizations. He is known for leading and building the [[New Apostolic Reformation]], a network in the [[Apostolic-Prophetic Movement|Apostolic-Prophetic movement]]. In his earlier years, Wagner was known as a key leader of the [[Church Growth|Church Growth Movement]] and later for his writings on [[spiritual warfare]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stetzer |first=Ed |date=October 2016 |title=C. Peter Wagner (1930-2016), Some Thoughts on His Life and Passing |url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2016/october/in-memory-of-c-peter-wagner.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180315163630/http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2016/october/in-memory-of-c-peter-wagner.html |archive-date=March 15, 2018 |access-date=November 21, 2016 |website=[[Christianity Today]]}}</ref>
==Biography==
===Early life=== Wagner was born in 1930 in New York City.<ref name="AtlanticMcCrummen" >{{Cite web |last=McCrummen |first=Stephanie |title=The Army of God Comes Out of the Shadows |publisher=[[The Atlantic]] |url= https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/02/new-apostolic-reformation-christian-movement-trump/681092/ |date=January 9, 2025 |access-date=January 18, 2025}}</ref>
===Education=== Wagner was trained at [[Fuller Theological Seminary]], [[Princeton Theological Seminary]], and [[Fuller Theological Seminary#History|Fuller's School of World Missions]]. He received a Ph.D. from the [[University of Southern California]] in [[Macroethics and microethics|social ethics]] in 1977. He was ordained by the [[Conservative Congregational Christian Conference]].<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Holvast |title=Spiritual Mapping: The Turbulent Career of a Contested American Missionary Paradigm, 1989–2005 |publisher=[[Utrecht University]] |url=https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/29340/holvast.pdf?sequence=2 |isbn=978-90-393-4829-1 |first=René |date=2008 |page=228}}</ref>
===Missionary work=== Wagner served as a missionary in Bolivia under the [[South American Mission Society|South American Mission]] and [[Andes Evangelical Mission]] (now [[SIM International]]), the latter of which he eventually became the general director of, from 1956 to 1971.<ref name="AtlanticMcCrummen" /> He then served for 30 years as Professor of Church Growth at the [[Fuller Theological Seminary]]'s School of World Missions until his retirement in 2001. During his time at Fuller, Peter was largely recognized as the leading authority on the [[Church Growth movement|Church Growth Movement]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rainer |first1=Thom S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cp64AwAAQBAJ&dq=c+peter+wagner+influential+church+growth&pg=PT45 |title=The Book of Church Growth |date=September 1998 |publisher=B&H Publishing |isbn=9781433669460 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> after his mentor and the founder of the movement, [[Donald McGavran]], passed the succession to him.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eHWyCwAAQBAJ&dq=Peter+Wagner+Donald+McGavran&pg=PA54 | title=A Case Study in Contextualization: The History of the German Church Growth Association 1985-2003 | isbn=9781620328507 | last1=McRae | first1=Fred W. | date=January 30, 2014 | publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers }}</ref> The acceptance of Peter's teachings on church growth by churches across the world was due in part to the use of [[Fuller Theological Seminary]] as a platform to spread the message.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |author1= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kJsI9YqaItoC&dq=c+peter+wagner+influential+church+growth&pg=PA43 |title=Evaluating the Church Growth Movement: 5 Views |date=June 2010 |publisher=Zondervan |isbn=9780310872153 |editor-last=McIntosh |editor-first=Gary L. |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Together, both McGavran and Wagner led the Fuller Evangelistic Association to continue to spread the message of church growth.<ref name=":0" />
He authored 80 books and was the founding president of [[Global Harvest Ministries]] from 1993 to 2011 and founder and chancellor emeritus of Wagner Leadership Institute (now [[Wagner University]]), an unaccredited institution which trains revivalists and reformers to bring about a global movement of transformation.<ref>{{cite web |title=Apostolic Leader and Authority on Church Growth C. Peter Wagner, Dies |url=http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2016/october/apostolic-leader-and-authority-on-church-growth-c-peter-wagner-dies |website=CBN News |date=October 24, 2016 |accessdate=August 22, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Wagner University |url=http://wagner.university/about/ |website=Wagner University |accessdate=August 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822214001/http://wagner.university/about/ |archive-date=August 22, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He also founded Reformation Prayer Network, International Coalition of Apostles, Eagles' Vision Apostolic Team, and the Hamilton Group and served as vice president of Global Spheres, Inc.<ref>{{Cite web |title=C. Peter Wagner Collection |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c86t0trf/entire_text/ |access-date=July 27, 2024 |website=[[Online Archive of California]]}}</ref>
He died in 2016 at the age of 86.
==Theology==
===Spiritual warfare=== Wagner wrote about [[spiritual warfare]], in books including ''Confronting the Powers: How the New Testament Church Experienced the Power of Strategic-Level Spiritual Warfare'' and ''Engaging the Enemy''. New Apostolic Reformation prophet [[Cindy Jacobs]] was a main influence on this aspect of Wagner's theology.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Resane |first=Kelebogile |date=April 8, 2016 |title=The New Apostolic Reformation: The critical reflections of the ecclesiology of Charles Peter Wagner |url=http://www.hts.org.za/index.php/HTS/article/view/3240 |journal=HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies |volume=72 |issue=3 |doi=10.4102/hts.v72i3.3240 |issn=2072-8050 |doi-access=free}}</ref> In ''Confronting the Powers'', Wagner breaks down spiritual warfare as having three levels: "Ground Level: Person-to-person, praying for each other's personal needs. Occult Level: deals with [[demon]]ic forces released through activities related to [[Satanism]], [[witchcraft]], [[astrology]] and many other forms of structured [[occultism]]. Strategic-Level or Cosmic-Level: To bind and bring down spiritual principalities and powers that rule over governments."{{Sfn|Wagner|1996|pp=21–22}}
Wagner's method of accomplishing strategic-level spiritual warfare involves six steps:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zimmerling |first=Peter |title=Die charismatischen Bewegungen |date=2002 |publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht |pages=354ff |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Handbuch Weltanschauungen, religiöse Gemeinschaften, Freikirchen |date=2015 |publisher=Gütersloher Verlagshaus |location=Gütersloh |pages=232 |language=de}}</ref>{{Sfn|Wagner|1996}}
* The area is selected. "Prayer armies" are deployed for a large area (e.g. the [[40/70 window]] between 40 and 70 degrees north latitude). * The participants establish unity together; particularly, the pastors as "spiritual gatekeepers" of an area must join. * Building on this, Christian congregations in an area should also join for the purpose of spiritual warfare. * The prayer warriors prepare themselves for the upcoming spiritual warfare through personal [[Sanctification in Christianity|sanctification]]. * Christians with the [[spiritual gift]] of [[prophecy]] locate and [[True name|identify]] the [[Territorial spirit|demons to be found in the area]] ([[spiritual mapping]]). For example, places with [[Paganism|pagan]] or [[Nazism|Nazi]] history are identified as their strongholds. * Practical prayer warfare, specifically as a [[prayer march]]: the believers proclaim God's power and command the demons to leave, tearing down their strongholds.
According to Wagner, these methods "were virtually unknown to the majority of Christians before the 1990s".{{Sfn|Wagner|1996|p=21}} The premise of ''Engaging the Enemy'' is that Satan and his demons are literally in the world, that Satan's territorial spirit-demons may be identified by name, and that Christians are to engage in spiritual warfare with them.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wagner |first=C. Peter |url=https://archive.org/details/engagingenemyhow0000wagn |title=Engaging the Enemy: How to Fight and Defeat Territorial Spirits |date=1995 |publisher=Regal Books |isbn=9780830717699 |location=Ventura, Calif. |pages=xii–xiii |url-access=registration |via=[[Archive.org]]}}</ref>
Wagner preached a [[fivefold ministry]] view based on Ephesians 4:13, in which apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are considered legitimate offices of the church. While mainline Protestant denominations see prophets and apostles as dispensed of within the early period of Christianity, Wagner's spiritual-warfare theology depicted these figures as [[Prayer warrior|prayer-warriors]] actively interceding in the contemporary world. These prayer warriors are responsible for ushering in the [[return of Jesus]] and the [[Kingdom of God (Christianity)|Kingdom of God]] through warfare prayer.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McAlister|first=Elizabeth|date=January 2, 2016|title=The militarization of prayer in America: White and Native American spiritual warfare|journal=Journal of Religious and Political Practice|volume=2|issue=1|pages=114–130|doi=10.1080/20566093.2016.1085239|issn=2056-6093|doi-access=free}}</ref>
In ''Hard-Core Idolatry: Facing the Facts'', Wagner asserts that idolizing [[Catholic saints]] brings honor to the spirits of darkness, and promotes the burning of their statues in [[Argentina]]. Wagner also asserts that the [[Holy Spirit]] came to his associate, [[Cindy Jacobs]] (a prophet in Wagner's Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders) and "told her that in [the Argentinian city of] Resistencia they need to burn the idols, like the magicians did in Ephesus in Acts of the Apostles".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wagner |first=C. Peter |title=Hard-Core Idolatry – Facing the Facts |date=1999 |publisher=Wagner Institute of Practical Ministry |location=Colorado Springs |pages=38–40 |oclc=936466188}}</ref>
Wagner had close ties to [[Ted Haggard]]'s [[New Life Church (Colorado Springs, Colorado)|New Life Church]], which found an early focus on spiritual mapping and confronting territorial spirits through strategic-level spiritual warfare. The church "and the adjacent World Prayer Center that was dedicated in 1998 were, for roughly a decade, the epicenter of an ongoing, radical redefinition of Christianity."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wilson |first=Bruce |date=June 22, 2009 |title=Fighting Demons, Raising the Dead, Taking Over the World |url=https://religiondispatches.org/fighting-demons-raising-the-dead-taking-over-the-world/ |access-date=September 8, 2024 |website=[[Religion Dispatches]]}}</ref>
===New Apostolic Reformation=== {{Main|New Apostolic Reformation}} Wagner used the term ''[[New Apostolic Reformation]]'' (NAR) to describe what he observed as a movement within [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal]] and [[Charismatic Christianity|charismatic]] churches. The title is not an organization and does not have formal membership.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Brown |first=Michael |date=April 30, 2018 |title=Dispelling the Myths About NAR (the New Apostolic Reformation) |url=https://askdrbrown.org/library/dispelling-myths-about-nar-new-apostolic-reformation |accessdate=August 22, 2018 |website=Ask Dr. Brown}}</ref> Wagner's organizational acumen helped the movement expand through networks of apostles and prophets and their organizations, while their ideas, such as [[dominionism]], and more specifically the [[Seven Mountain Mandate]], also spread back into the movement.{{Sfn|Taylor|2024|loc=Chapter 2}}
In response to an [[NPR]] article entitled "The New Apostolic Reformation: The Evangelicals Engaged in Spiritual Warfare", Wagner stated to ''[[Charisma News]]'', "The roots of the NAR go back to the beginning of the African Independent Church Movement in 1900, the [[Chinese house church|Chinese House Church]] Movement beginning in 1976, the U.S. Independent Charismatic Movement beginning in the 1970s and the Latin American Grassroots Church Movement beginning around the same time. I was neither the founder nor a member of any of these movements, I was simply a professor who observed that they were the fastest growing churches in their respective regions and that they had a number of common characteristics."<ref name=":1">{{cite web |author1=Wagner |first=C. Peter |date=August 24, 2011 |title=The New Apostolic Reformation Is Not a Cult |url=https://www.charismanews.com/opinion/31851-the-new-apostolic-reformation-is-not-a-cult |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926203113/https://charismanews.com/opinion/31851-the-new-apostolic-reformation-is-not-a-cult |archive-date=September 26, 2011 |accessdate=August 22, 2018 |website=[[Charisma News]]}}</ref>
The term ''NAR'' has been described as "relatively well established in the academic community".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Teigen |first=Arne Helge |date=2020 |title=Profetiene om Donald Trump, USA og NAR-bevegelsen: En kritisk undersøkelse av profetier om Donald Trump, USA og Guds rike innen New Apostolic Reformation-bevegelsen |trans-title=The prophecies about Donald Trump, the USA and the NAR movement: A critical examination of prophecies about Donald Trump, the USA, and the Kingdom of God within the New Apostolic Reformation movement |url=https://theofilos.no/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Theofilos-vol-12-nr-2-3-2020-academia-6.pdf |journal=Theofilos |language=no |volume=12 |issue=2–3 |pages=292}}</ref> Religion scholar and theologian Geir Otto Holmås states that the "NAR is not a denomination or an organization with membership lists and an unambiguous doctrinal foundation, but a loose movement which primarily operates through informal or semi-formal channels," continuing on to say that the movement is spread in bits and pieces:<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Holmås |first=Geir Otto |title=Ved en korsvei: åpent brev til mine karismatiske venner |date=2018 |publisher=Luther Forlag |isbn=978-82-531-4865-6 |edition=1st |location=Oslo |language=no |trans-title=At a Crossroads: Open Letter to My Charismatic Friends |chapter=New Apostolic Reformation – et overblikk}}</ref> religion scholar Matthew D. Taylor terms this "prophetic [[meme]]s".<ref name="TheNation">{{cite news |last1=Lehmann |first1=Chris |date=April 15, 2024 |title=The Trump Revival |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/society/trump-evangelicals-nar/ |access-date=April 19, 2024 |work=[[The Nation]]}}</ref> Holmås states that "this explains the slightly odd fact that that people who are associated with the NAR do not necessarily identify with the movement. Some of them will not even ''have heard'' the term 'New Apostolic Reformation'".<ref name=":5" />
Baptist professor and theologian [[Roger E. Olson|Roger Olson]] writes on his blog, "...the closer I looked at the NARM [New Apostolic Reformation Movement] the less convinced I was that it is a cohesive movement at all. It seems more like a kind of umbrella term for a loose collection of independent ministries that have a few common interests...I have examined the web sites of several independent evangelists who claim to represent that affinity...So far none of them seem blatantly heretical. Eccentric, non-mainline, a bit fanatical, maybe."<ref>{{cite web |author1=Roger Olson |title=Is the "New Apostolic Reformation Movement" a Cult? |url=http://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2015/06/is-the-new-apostolic-reformation-movement-a-cult/ |website=Patheos |accessdate=August 22, 2018 |date=June 25, 2015}}</ref> Another term coined by Wagner is the [[Signs and Wonders|''Third Wave of the Holy Spirit'']]. The NAR includes key elements of the Third Wave such as claims of [[miraculous healing]].
Wagner provided the key differences between the NAR and traditional Protestantism in his article "The New Apostolic Reformation is Not a Cult". He noted that those participating in the movement believe the [[Apostles' Creed]] and adhere to [[orthodoxy|orthodox]] Christian doctrine.<ref name=":1" />
===Dominionism=== In his 1998 book ''Churchquake!'', Wagner denied that NAR had any political orientation. Ten years later he published ''Dominion!'', an endorsement of [[dominion theology]] which seeks to institute a nation governed by Christians and based on their [[Religious law#Christianity|understandings]] of [[biblical law]]: "the church should be governed primarily by charismatic apostles and prophets, who will lead it into concerted and orchestrated campaigns of strategic-level spiritual warfare, through which the church can transform societies."{{Sfn|Taylor|2024|loc=Chapter 2}}
==Selected works== *''Latin American Theology. Radical or Evangelical'', Eerdmans, 1970.<ref>{{cite book|title=Latin American theology: radical or evangelical? The struggle for the faith in a young church, (Book, 1970) |publisher=[WorldCat.org] |date=January 4, 2019 |oclc=451938295 }}</ref> *''Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church Grow'', Regal Books, 1979, 1994, 2005. {{ISBN|0-8307-3697-2}} *''Strategies for Church Growth'', Regal Books, 1987. {{ISBN|0-8307-1170-8}} *''How to Have a Healing Ministry'', Regal Books, 1988. {{ISBN|0-8307-1297-6}} *''The New Apostolic Churches'', Regal Books, 1998 {{ISBN|0-8307-2137-1}} *''Churchquake!'', Regal Books, 1999. {{ISBN|0-8307-1918-0}} *''Changing Church'', Regal Books, 2004. {{ISBN|0-8307-3278-0}} *''Breaking Strongholds in Your City'', Regal Books, 1993. {{ISBN|0-8307-1638-6}} *''Freedom from the Religious Spirit'', Regal Books, 2005. {{ISBN|0-8307-3670-0}} *''Engaging the Enemy'', Regal Books, 1991. *'''''Prayer Warrior Series''''', Regal Books, 1992–1997. **''Warfare Prayer: How to Seek God's Power and Protection in the Battle to Build His Kingdom'' {{ISBN|0-8307-1534-7}} ** ''Prayer shield: How to intercede for pastors, Christian leaders, and others on the spiritual frontlines'' {{ISBN|0-8307-1573-8}} ** ''Confronting the Powers: How the New Testament Church Experienced the Power of Strategic-Level Spiritual Warfare'' {{ISBN|0-8307-1819-2}} ** ''Praying With Power : How to Pray Effectively and Hear Clearly from God'' {{ISBN|0-8307-1919-9}} *''Dominion: How Kingdom Action Can Change the World'', Chosen Books, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-8007-9435-4}} *''The Book Of Acts: A Commentary'', Regal Books, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-8307-4595-1}}
== See also ==
* [[Apostolic-Prophetic Movement]] * [[Independent Network Charismatic Christianity]]
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== * {{Cite book |last=Marsden |first=George M. |title=Reforming Fundamentalism: Fuller Seminary and the New Evangelicalism |date=1987 |publisher=William B. Eerdmans |isbn=9780802836427 |location=Grand Rapids |pages=292–295}} * {{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Matthew D. |title=The Violent Take it by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy |date=October 1, 2024 |publisher=Broadleaf Books |isbn=9781506497785 |location=Minneapolis}} * {{Cite book |last=Wagner |first=C. Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gy7HAAAACAAJ |title=Confronting the Powers: How the New Testament Church Experienced the Power of Strategic-Level Spiritual Warfare |date=1996 |publisher=Regal Books |isbn=978-0-8307-1819-1 |series=The Prayer Warrior series |location=Ventura, Calif. |via=[[Google Books]]}}
{{Fuller Theological Seminary}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, C. Peter}} [[Category:1930 births]] [[Category:2016 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century American male writers]] [[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]] [[Category:20th-century evangelicals]] [[Category:21st-century American male writers]] [[Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers]] [[Category:21st-century evangelicals]] [[Category:American evangelicals]] [[Category:American evangelists]] [[Category:American missionaries in Bolivia]] [[Category:American male non-fiction writers]] [[Category:American Pentecostal missionaries]] [[Category:American religious writers]] [[Category:Protestant missionaries in Bolivia]] [[Category:Critics of the Catholic Church]] [[Category:Fuller Theological Seminary faculty]] [[Category:Missiologists]] [[Category:Pentecostal writers]] [[Category:Spiritual warfare]] [[Category:Place of birth missing]] [[Category:Apostolic networks]]