# C. Peter Wagner **Summary.** C. Peter Wagner (1930–2016) was an American missiologist, Fuller Theological Seminary professor, and the primary theorist who named and systematized the [[New Apostolic Reformation]] as a movement. Wagner coined the "New Apostolic Reformation" label in the mid-1990s to describe what he believed was the most significant structural change in Christianity in 500 years — a second Reformation that would restore the governing offices of apostle and prophet to the church. He is the intellectual architect of the [[Five-Fold Ministry]] governance model and of the apostolic-network structure that produced organizations like [[IHOPKC]] and the Bethel-adjacent networks. He died in 2016, but his frameworks remain the conceptual foundation for NAR theology. --- ## Biography and Institutional Roles Wagner was trained as a traditional evangelical missiologist and served as a missionary with the Bolivian Indian Mission in the 1950s–60s before joining the faculty of the School of World Mission (later the School of Intercultural Studies) at Fuller Theological Seminary, where he taught for several decades. His early academic work focused on church growth — the "Church Growth Movement" associated with Donald McGavran, which analyzed numerical growth patterns and developed strategies for expanding congregations. This background in growth metrics and movement dynamics shaped how he later theorized the apostolic-prophetic restoration. In the 1990s, Wagner's interests shifted toward the charismatic movement and what he termed the "Third Wave of the Holy Spirit" — a wave following classical Pentecostalism (first wave, early 20th century) and the Charismatic Renewal (second wave, 1960s–70s). By the mid-1990s, he had begun framing the emerging apostolic-prophetic movement as structurally distinct enough to deserve a new label: the New Apostolic Reformation. Wagner led the International Coalition of Apostles, a network of self-identified apostles, and later the Global Spheres network. He described himself as operating in apostolic authority in the later decades of his life. --- ## The "Second Reformation" Theory Wagner's central claim was that the first Reformation (Luther, 16th century) recovered soteriology — the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith alone. It did not recover the church's governance structure. Wagner argued that the New Testament pattern — apostles and prophets governing a network of churches, with evangelists, pastors, and teachers serving in subordinate roles — had been lost since the second or third century, producing an "incomplete" church. The NAR was therefore not a novel movement but a recovery: God restoring the church's intended governance through the re-emergence of the apostolic and prophetic offices. Wagner explicitly positioned this as the most significant reformation since Luther. This framing had significant rhetorical power within charismatic networks: participating in the NAR was participating in the most important move of God since the 16th century. The stakes justified the concentrated authority the model required. --- ## Dominionism and the Seven Mountains Wagner was a leading proponent of the "Seven Mountains" or "Seven Mountain Mandate" theology — the idea that Christians are called to exercise apostolic governance over the seven spheres of cultural influence: government, media, education, family, religion, business, and arts/entertainment. This is the political dimension of the five-fold governance model. If apostles hold governmental authority over the church, and if the church is called to disciple nations (Matthew 28:19 in the dominionist reading), then apostolic authority logically extends into cultural and political life. Wagner connected this to spiritual warfare theology: strategic-level spiritual warfare would break demonic control over the seven mountains, allowing apostolic-prophetic leadership to occupy them. See [[Dominionism]] (stub — to build). This framework is directly relevant to Christian Nationalism as a political theology. Wagner's seven-mountains framework provides the theological architecture for movements that seek theocratic cultural influence while claiming a charismatic mandate. See [[Christian Nationalism]]. --- ## Influence and Legacy Wagner's influence operates at two levels: **Theoretical:** He provided the conceptual vocabulary (New Apostolic Reformation, five-fold ministry, second Reformation, apostolic governance, seven mountains) that structured an otherwise diffuse charismatic movement into a coherent framework. His academic credibility — Fuller professorship, published books, missiological research background — gave the framework legitimacy in evangelical and charismatic circles. **Organizational:** Through the International Coalition of Apostles and the Global Spheres network, Wagner created structures that formalized the apostolic authority model. Leaders like [[Bill Johnson]] (Bethel), [[Mike Bickle]] (IHOPKC), and the wider apostolic-network tier operated within or adjacent to frameworks Wagner had theorized. His death in 2016 preceded the major public reckonings in the NAR network — the IHOPKC collapse, the Bethel Christology debates, the 2020 election-prophecy failures — but the structures he built are what those reckonings were reckoning with. --- ## Source Coverage Gap This entity page is built from wiki synthesis and standard academic and journalistic background knowledge of Wagner's biography and published positions, not primary Wagner texts. Priority ingests: 1. *The New Apostolic Churches* (Wagner, ed., 1998) — foundational collection 2. *Apostles and Prophets: The Foundation of the Church* (Wagner, 2000) — the doctrinal text 3. *Dominion! How Kingdom Action Can Change the World* (Wagner, 2008) — seven-mountains theology 4. Secondary treatment in Matthew D. Taylor, *The Violent Take It by Force* (already in Readwise/Books, not yet ingested) — likely the most academically rigorous treatment of Wagner's legacy --- ## Related Pages - [[New Apostolic Reformation]] — the movement he named and theorized - [[Apostolic Authority]] — the central doctrinal concept he systematized - [[Five-Fold Ministry]] — the governance structure his second-Reformation theory rests on - [[Dominionism]] — the political theology he promoted (seven mountains) - [[IHOPKC]] — [[Mike Bickle]]'s organization; major node in the network Wagner structured - [[Bill Johnson]] — Bethel; another apostolic-network node - [[Fallible Prophecy]] — doctrinal mechanism protecting the prophetic office he theorized - [[Christian Nationalism]] — downstream political manifestation of Wagner's theological framework