Charles Peter Wagner (1930-) is a former professor of Church Growth at Fuller Theological Seminary School of World Mission. He coined the term Third Wave. He is the founder of Global Harvest Ministries, and co-founder of the World Prayer Center.

Wagner and his wife, Doris, live in Colorado Springs and were attending New Life Church (pastor Ted Haggard) in 2004. They have three adult children, and seven grandchildren.

Life and ministry

From 1956-1971

In 1971 Wagner became a professor of Church Growth at the School of World Mission (Fuller Theological Seminary). He and Donald McGavran established the school as a popular and influential organisation within the Evangelical, Pentecostal and Charismatic movements internationally.

In 1981 Wagner replaced McGavran as head of the faculty. Wagner retired from his position there in 1998 to focus on his own areas of ministry.

In 1982 Wagner teamed up with John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard Movement, to create a new course at Fuller called "Signs, Wonders and Church Growth". Since that point, Wagner has been formally associated with Charismatic teaching and theology.

Areas of teaching and controversy

Spiritual Mapping

Identificational repentance

The ministry and role of Apostles

Demonic deliverance

Education

• B.S. Rutgers University (summa cum laude), 1952
• M.Div. Fuller Theological Seminary, 1955
• Th.M. Princeton Theological Seminary, 1962
• M.A. Fuller Seminary School of World Mission (Missiology), 1968
• Ph.D. University of Southern California (Social Ethics), 1977

Selected works

• Latin American Theology. Radical or Evangelical,Life Publisher House,1971.
• 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.
• Prayer Warrior Series, Regal Books, 1992-1997.
• The New Apostolic Churches
• Churchquake!, Regal Books, 1999.
• Changing Church, Regal Books, 2004.
• Breaking Strongholds in Your City
• Freedom from the Religious Spirit", Regal Books, 2005.

Relevant Biographical Source

• George M. Marsden, Reforming Fundamentalism: Fuller Seminary and the New Evangelicalism (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1987), pp. 292-295. ISBN 0802836429

Critical Assessments

• Paul G. Hiebert, "Biblical Perspectives on Spiritual Warfare," in Anthropological Reflections on Missiological Issues (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994), pp. 203-215. ISBN 0801043948
• A. Scott Moreau, "Religious Borrowing as a Two-Way Street: An introduction to animistic tendencies in the Euro-North American context," in Christianity and the Religions, Edward Rommen and Harold Netland, eds. (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1995), pp. 166-183. ISBN 0878083766
• Robert J. Priest, Thomas Campbell and Bradford A. Mullen, "Missiological Syncretism: The New Animistic Paradigm," in Spiritual Power and Missions, Edward Rommen, ed., (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1995), pp. 143-168.

See also

• Kingdom Now theology
• Territorial Spirits
• Third Wave of the Holy Spirit
• World Prayer Center and Global Harvest Ministries