Biography of Peter Wagner
Peter Wagner Biography
Peter Wagner Biography – Peter Charles Wagner was an American missionary, author, teacher, and founder of many Christian organizations. He was born on August 15, 1930, and went to be with the Lord on October 21, 2016. He was famous as a key leader of the Church Growth Movement and also for spiritual warfare writings by him.
Early Life & Ministry
Peter Wagner was a missionary in Bolivia under the South American Mission and Andes Evangelical Mission presently known as SIM International) between 1956 to 1971. He later served from 1971 to 2001 (30 years) as a Professor of Church Growth at the Fuller Theological Seminary’s School of World Missions till he retired in the year 2001. During his 30 years of service at Fuller, he was the leading authority on the Church Growth Movement ever since his mentor and the founder of the movement Donald McGavran passed the mantle to him.
Due to using Fuller Theological Seminary as a platform for his message on church growth, churches all over the world accepted his message. He and his mentor led the Fuller Evangelistic Association in continuing the message of church growth.
Peter Wagner founded Global Harvest Ministries from 1993 to 2011 and also founded the emeritus of Wagner Leadership Institute (presently Wagner University. It is an unaccredited institution that focuses on training revivalists and reformers to bring about a global movement of transformation. He was the chancellor of the institution.
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Other organizations founded by Wagner are; Reformation Prayer Network, International Coalition of Apostles, Eagles Vision Apostolic Team, and the Hamilton Group. It was accounted that he served as vice president of Global Spheres, Inc.
His Theology
He was famous for his writings on spiritual warfare. The book on spiritual warfare can be downloaded on this page.
Peter Wagner preached a fivefold ministry view referencing Ephesians 4:13 where the legitimacy of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers offices of the church are confirmed.
New Apostolic Reformation
His observation of the movement within Pentecostal and Charismatic churches birthed the term New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). It is not an organization and does not have a real member.
According to Wagner, “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 also writes, “…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 websites 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.”
Books By Him
He has authored close to 80 books and some of them are:
- 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.
