C. Peter Wagner

Life

Charles Peter Wagner was born on August 15, 1930, in New York City. He studied at Fuller Theological Seminary and Princeton Theological Seminary, among other institutions, and in 1977 he received a doctorate in social ethics from the University of Southern California. He was ordained by the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, a conservative association of Congregational churches.

From 1956 to 1971 he served as a missionary in Bolivia, where he was general director of his sending agency, the Andes Evangelical Mission (now SIM). From 1971 until his retirement in 2001 he taught church growth at Fuller Theological Seminary's School of World Mission. He died on October 21, 2016, at the age of 86.

Ministry and Contributions

Church growth Wagner is regarded as a leading theorist of the Church Growth Movement begun by Donald McGavran. He devoted himself to analyzing the conditions under which churches grow. He also took part in the ethical debate over the "homogeneous unit principle," the idea that the gospel spreads most readily within a single culture or social class. He wrote more than seventy books.

Charismatic turn From the 1980s onward, he joined John Wimber and others in a movement emphasizing healing and signs and wonders. He is known for popularizing the term "Third Wave" to describe movements emphasizing experience of the Holy Spirit within established evangelical churches. His subsequent writings on spiritual warfare (prayer and ministry aimed at confronting the powers of evil spirits) drew both attention and controversy.

New Apostolic Reformation Wagner named and led the "New Apostolic Reformation," a movement holding that the offices of apostle and prophet are being restored today. He served as president of Global Harvest Ministries from 1993 to 2011 and founded the Wagner Leadership Institute (WLI). He is reported to have become presiding apostle of the International Coalition of Apostles in 1999.

Influence on the Korean Church

In Korea, Wagner first became known as a church growth scholar. Since the 2000s, however, he has been mentioned chiefly as the leading proponent of the New Apostolic movement. As the movement spread in Korea, several denominations issued official positions on it.

• Presbyterian Church in Korea (Kosin): At its 2007 General Assembly, it named Wagner, along with Wimber, as a leader of the Vineyard movement and related movements. At its 59th General Assembly in 2009, it judged the New Apostolic Reformation to be "extremely unsound" and directed that persons associated with WLI not be invited as speakers.
• Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hapshin): At its 2009 General Assembly, it reportedly resolved to prohibit participation in and fellowship with the movement.
• Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea: At its 99th General Assembly in 2014, it reportedly resolved to prohibit introducing the movement, participating in it, or having fellowship with it.
• Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hapdong): At its 100th General Assembly in 2015, it adopted a position of "strict caution," stating that the New Apostolic movement differs from Reformed theology in many respects.

The denominations cited three reasons: the premise that the apostolic office continues today; the claim to receive personal revelation apart from Scripture (so-called direct revelation); and the concern that an emphasis on experience weakens the authority of Scripture.

Assessment

Supporters regard Wagner as an authority on church growth and a man devoted to world missions. Wagner himself held that the offices of apostle and prophet had lapsed after the early church. He argued, however, that just as other offices had been successively restored over the course of history, these two offices are now being restored as well.

Critics hold that the offices of apostle and prophet ended with the apostolic age, and they contend that his claims undermine the principle of the sufficiency of Scripture. Some Presbyterian media outlets even took issue with his understanding of the Trinity. Others, while criticizing the New Apostolic movement, caution against lumping sound charismatic movements together with it. The issue is closely tied to the cessationism and continuationism debate.