Charles Peter Wagner (August 15, 1930 – October 21, 2016) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

missionary, writer, teacher and founder of several Christian organizations. In his earlier years, Wagner was known as a key leader of the

Church Growth Movement The Church Growth Movement is a movement within evangelical Christianity which aims to grow churches based on research, sociology, analysis, etc. The Church Growth Movement started with a passion for the Great Commission, and seeing people come to ...

and later for his writings on

spiritual warfare Spiritual warfare is the Christian concept of fighting against the work of preternatural evil forces. It is based on the biblical belief in evil spirits, or demons, that are said to intervene in human affairs in various ways. Although spiritua ...

Biography

Wagner served as a missionary in Bolivia under the South American Mission and Andes Evangelical Mission (now SIM International) from 1956 to 1971. He then served for 30 years (1971 to 2001) 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 after his mentor and the founder of the movement, Donald McGavran passed the succession to him. 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 spreading the message. Together, both McGavran and Wagner lead the Fuller Evangelistic Association to continue to spread the message of church growth. 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. 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. He died in 2016 at the age of 86.

Theology

Spiritual warfare

Wagner wrote about

, in books including ''Confronting the Powers: How the New Testament Church Experienced the Power of Strategic-Level Spiritual Warfare'' and ''Engaging the Enemy''. 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 A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, ani ...

ic forces released through activities related to

Satanism Satanism is a group of ideological and philosophical beliefs based on Satan. Contemporary religious practice of Satanism began with the founding of the atheistic Church of Satan by Anton LaVey in the United States in 1966, although a few hi ...

, witchcraft, astrology and many other forms of structured

occultism The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism an ...

. Strategic-Level or Cosmic-Level: To bind and bring down spiritual principalities and powers that rule over governments." "Strategic-level intercession" uses "

spiritual mapping Spiritual warfare is the Christian concept of fighting against the work of preternatural evil forces. It is based on the biblical belief in evil spirits, or demons, that are said to intervene in human affairs in various ways. Although spiri ...

" and "tearing down strongholds" to engage in

against "territorial spirits".Confronting the Powers According to Wagner, these methods "were virtually unknown to the majority of Christians before the 1990s”. 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. 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-warriors actively interceding in the contemporary world. These prayer warriors are responsible for ushering in the return of Jesus and the Kingdom of God through warfare prayer. In ''Hard-Core Idolatry: Facing the Facts'', Wagner asserted that idolizing Catholic saints brings honor to the spirits of darkness, and promotes the burning of their statues in Argentina. Wagner asserted that the

Holy Spirit In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...

came to his associate, Cindy Jacobs (a prophet in Wagner's Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders) and "told her that in he Argentinian city ofResistencia they need to burn the idols, like the magicians did in Ephesus in Acts of the Apostles".

New Apostolic Reformation

Wagner used the term New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) to describe what he observed as a movement within Pentecostal and

charismatic Charisma () is a personal quality of presence or charm that compels its subjects. Scholars in sociology, political science, psychology, and management reserve the term for a type of leadership seen as extraordinary; in these fields, the term "ch ...

churches. The title is not an organization and does not have formal membership. Wagner stated, "The roots of the NAR go back to the beginning of the African Independent Church Movement in 1900, the 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." Dr. Roger Olson writes, “…the closer I looked at the NARM ew Apostolic Reformation Movementthe 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.” Another term coined by Wagner is the

Third Wave of the Holy Spirit Signs and wonders refers to experiences that are perceived to be miraculous as being normative in the modern Christian experience, and is a phrase associated with groups that are a part of modern charismatic movements and Pentecostalism. This ...

. 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 articl
The New Apostolic Reformation Is Not a Cult.
He noted that those participating in the movement believe the Apostles’ Creed and adhere to

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Christian doctrine.

Seven Mountains 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 Dominion theology (also known as dominionism) is a group of Christian political ideologies that seek to institute a nation which is governed by Christians and based on their understandings of biblical law. Extents of rule and ways of acquiring go ...

Selected works

*''Latin American Theology. Radical or Evangelical'', Eerdmans, 1970. *''Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church Grow'', Regal Books, 1979, 1994, 2005. *''Strategies for Church Growth'', Regal Books, 1987. *''How to Have a Healing Ministry'', Regal Books, 1988. *''The New Apostolic Churches'', Regal Books, 1998 *''Churchquake!'', Regal Books, 1999. *''Changing Church'', Regal Books, 2004. *''Breaking Strongholds in Your City'', Regal Books, 1993. *''Freedom from the Religious Spirit'', Regal Books, 2005. *''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'' ** ''Prayer shield: How to intercede for pastors, Christian leaders, and others on the spiritual frontlines'' ** ''Confronting the Powers: How the New Testament Church Experienced the Power of Strategic-Level Spiritual Warfare'' ** ''Praying With Power : How to Pray Effectively and Hear Clearly from God'' *''Dominion:How Kingdom Action Can Change the World'', Chosen Books, 2008. *''The Book Of Acts: A Commentary'', Regal Books, 2008.

Sources

* George M. Marsden, ''Reforming Fundamentalism: Fuller Seminary and the New Evangelicalism'' (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1987), pp. 292–295.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, C. Peter 1930 births 2016 deaths American Pentecostal missionaries American evangelicals Place of birth missing Protestant missionaries in Bolivia Fuller Theological Seminary faculty Spiritual warfare American expatriates in Bolivia Missiologists