THE THEOLOGICAL PILGRIMAGE OF C. PETER WAGNER

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The Holy Spirit and mission dynamics (McConnell 1997)

This reader is a follow-up on ‘Spiritual Power and Missions’ (Rommen 1995). The article by Priest, Campbell and Mullen and the response by Charles Kraft in this volume did little to quiet the debate in Evangelical Mission circles. Consequently the on-going debate concerning SLSW but also the role of the Holy Spirit in Christian mission culminated in the publication of ‘The Holy Spirit and Mission Dynamics’ by the Evangelical Missiological Society (McConnell 1997:2-3). In this new volume the reliability of supernatural inspiration in the form of a personal word from God as a source of truth, which is one of Wagner’s main sources on which he bases his SLSW theology, is discussed and called into question (Pocock 1997:15-17). In the same reader Wagner’s assertion that territorial spirits need to be overcome by SLSW is questioned from a biblical point of view (Pocock 1997:17ff).

Territorial spirits and world evangelisation? (Lowe 1998)

In 1998 Chuck Lowe of the Overseas Missionary Fellowship published his book Territorial spirits and World Evangelisation which is a critique of SLSW from an Evangelical theological, church historical and biblical perspective. Significant is that Lowe identifies Wagner as a leading advocate of SLSW (1998:16) though I would modify this to say that Wagner is the leading advocate of SLSW. My modification seems to be vindicated by the acknowledgement of another prominent Evangelical missiologist and main critic of Wagner who states that Wagner is playing a strategists role in teaching and accrediting the new SLSW ideas around the world (Priest 1995:140). Nevertheless, Lowe does not focus primarily on Wagner but interacts with the various assumptions and practices of SLSW in a more general sense.

Strategic level spiritual warfare: a modern mythology (Reid 2002)

An interesting polemic dealing with SLSW and related practices was written by Michael B. Reid who is a Charismatic pastor in Essex, Great Britain and who is also an ordained bishop of the International Communion of Charismatic Churches. Reid wrote a dissertation of limited scope at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma (USA) which was subsequently published in 2002 (Reid 2002). Reid’s work is particularly interesting as it emerges from the 32 same Evangelical tradition in which SLSW was developed, namely from within the Pentecostal tradition. Reid decided to scrutinize the teachings and practices of SLSW in response to the confusion he noticed among pastors, church leaders and individuals who were confused by this new approach to spiritual warfare (Reid 2002:22).

Statements of the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelisation (LCWE)

The Lausanne Congress on World Evangelisation is a ecumenical body of Evangelicals world-wide and has repeatedly affirmed the reality of spiritual warfare in its various writings and declarations such as the Lausanne Covenant, the Manila Manifesto, and the 1993 LCWE Statement on spiritual warfare: We believe that we are engaged in constant spiritual warfare with the principalities and Powers of evil, who are seeking to overthrow the church and frustrate its task of world Evangelisation (IWG 1993). It is within the ranks of the LCWE that at the Lausanne II congress in Manila in 1989 the ‘AD 2000 and Beyond movement’ was launched which included a ‘United Prayer Track’ which was led by C. Peter Wagner and provided him with an effective platform to promote his SLSW beliefs and practices (AD2000; Priest 1997:140; Wagner 1996a:16-21).

An urban mission strategy for reaching entire cities with the gospel. A critical evaluation of the prayer evangelism strategy of Ed Silvoso (Mostert 1997)

This doctoral thesis by Bennie Mostert looks at the prayer-evangelism strategy of South American evangelist Ed Silvoso. Even though the main focus of Mostert’s thesis is on Ed Silvoso, the fact that Silvoso is a former student and close associate of Wagner (2000b:109) may shed some light on Wagner and his SLSW beliefs. It is likely that some of Silvoso’s beliefs and practices reflect those of his teacher. In fact Mostert confirms this as he states that Wagner had a strong influence on Silvoso and that they are still in close contact (Mostert 1997:40).

Table of Contents :

• CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
  • 1.1. About this study
    • 1.1.1. The focus of this study
    • 1.1.2. Relevance of this study for Evangelical missiology
    • 1.1.3. Review of relevant literature
      • 1.1.3.1. Spiritual power and missions (Rommen 1995)
      • 1.1.3.2. The Holy Spirit and mission dynamics (McConnell 1997)
• 1.2. Personal considerations
  • 1.2.1. My experiences in Evangelical christian mission and spiritual warfare
  • 1.2.2. Similarities and dissimilarities in my background as compared to Wagner
  • 1.2.3. Contours of my missiology
  • 1.2.4. Contours of my Evangelical epistemology in a post modern world
• 1.3. Method of this study
• 1.4. Delimitation of this study
• 1.5. Survey of coming chapters
  • 1.5.1. About chapter
  • 1.5.2. About chapter
  • 1.5.3. About chapter
  • 1.5.4. About chapter
  • 1.5.5. About chapter
  • 1.5.6. About chapter
• CHAPTER 2 THE THEOLOGICAL PILGRIMAGE OF C. PETER WAGNER
  • 2.1. About C. Peter Wagner
  • 2.2. Theological background of C. Peter Wagner
  • 2.3. C. Peter Wagner and the Church Growth Movement
    • 2.3.1. The Church Growth Movement and Fuller Theological Seminary
    • 2.3.2. The Church Growth Movement and Wagner at Fuller Theological Seminary
    • 2.3.3. The influence of Wagner in the Church Growth Movement
    • 2.3.4. C. Peter Wagner and the Lausanne Congress for World Evangelisation
  • 2.4. The Pentecostal paradigm shift of C. Peter Wagner
  • 2.4.1. Church growth and Pentecostalism
  • 2.4.2. Wagner and the ‘Third Wave’ movement
    • 2.4.2.1. Wagner’s paradigm shift and the ‘Third Wave’ movement
    • 2.4.2.2. The Pentecostal roots of the ‘Third Wave’ movement
    • 2.4.2.3. Contours of ‘Third Wave’ spiritual warfare missiology
    • 2.4.2.4. The Founders of the ‘Third Wave’ movement
    • 2.4.2.5. The ‘Third Wave’ movement and Fuller Theological Seminary
  • 2.5. The strategic level spiritual warfare movement
  • 2.6. The New Apostolic Reformation
• CHAPTER
  • STRATEGIC LEVEL SPIRITUAL WARFARE
  • 3.1. Background of SLSW
    • 3.1.1. Power evangelism and SLSW
    • 3.1.2. Distinctive teachings of SLSW
  • 3.2. Wagner’s doctrine of territorial spirits
    • 3.2.1. The Nature of territorial spirits according to Wagner
    • 3.2.2. Theological assumptions underlying the concept of territorial spirits
      • 3.2.2.1. Satan is not omnipresent and needs a hierarchy of spirits under his control
      • 3.2.2.2. Exorcism of demonic spirits is more effective if we know their names
    • 3.2.3. Biblical evidence for territorial spirits as presented by Wagner
• CHAPTER 4 WAGNER’S SLSW AND SPIRITUAL WARFARE IN THE BIBLE
• CHAPTER 5 STRATEGIC LEVEL SPIRITUAL WARFARE AND CHURCH HISTORY
• CHAPTER 6 STRATEGIC LEVEL SPIRITUAL WARFARE IN CONTEXT
• CHAPTER 7 SPIRITUAL WARFARE AND EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN MISSION IN MALAWI

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THE STRATEGIC LEVEL SPIRITUAL WARFARE THEOLOGY OF C. PETER WAGNER AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR CHRISTIAN MISSION IN MALAWI