This article from August of last year may not seem important to some as Rick Perry is no longer a GOP presidential candidate. But even tho Perry is out, the New Apostolic Reformation is not. The influences of this ideology runs deep. Just some of the points made in this article:
C. Peter Wagner was the Donald McGavran Professor of Church growth at Fuller Theological Seminary when I was there as a student in the early 1990s. He had had a career on the mission field in South America before coming to Fuller, and what brought him there was a book he had written about his time as a missionary called Look out! The Pentecostals are coming.
That book chronicled what he termed the “move of the Holy Spirit” in the world today, and that the healing and deliverance ministries of Pentecostalism would reform the church. Wagner is not a theologian—and this is an important point—because much of what he is teaching is not filtered through systematic theology, or any other creed or doctrine. Rather, it is from the realm of the “Holy Spirit” and is “spirit-led” or derives from “divine revelation.” That makes it difficult to characterize, since he is mixing a lot of old doctrines and “heresy” together to make his NAR movement.
Wagner’s founding of the NAR comes out of two streams: one, his time at Fuller seminary from the 1970s on, working with John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard church movement, and second, from his work in the church growth movement. He was considered to be the heir of Donald McGavran, founder of the church growth movement. That movement essentially said “whatever grows a church is good” and needs to be nurtured. When McGavran retired in the early 1980s, Wagner was his heir apparent.
Two things that concern me "spirit-led" and "whatever grows the church is good". Something about those two thoughts send chill up and down my spine. when I first read this article the hair on my neck stood straight. Too cult-ish sounding to me, a bit of Catholicism and Mormonism mashed together; my first thoughts.
The NAR was “created” by Wagner after leaving Fuller. Wagner believes that the offices of apostles and prophets are still given by God for today, and they are not just for the church, but for the world. Some apostles are to lead the church, and others are to lead in the world, in order to bring the world under the rule of Jesus or the “Kingdom of God.” This “reformation” operates a lot like a Amway organization, with certain apostles, who are connected to churches having an area that they preside over; others are “apostles” because they have achieved success in the “world.”
I like the use of the word "created" as that is exactly what has occurred. An empire is born, a means to control the masses; not unlike the Roman Empire or the Catholic Church it developed into.
I’m really glad you brought up the entrepreneurial/multilevel marketing aspect of this. There’s big money in all the conferences, books, DVDs, speaking honoraria, and so forth. His “apostles” have a pecuniary interest in bringing in more followers and rising higher in the hierarchy.
,,,they’re interested in the bodies that NAR types bring to events like Perry’s and ultimately to the voting booth. That’s been a longstanding strategy of GOP candidates
Bring me the money!! Religion as big business, and yes it is big!!
All of the groups are enmeshed in a symbiotic web. These evangelists’, apostles’, and leaders’ messages are the commodity, and you have to buy the books, conferences, and other materials in order to get the blessings. I know that will seem distasteful and a caricature to some, but these events are well-attended, and at a hundred bucks a person, revenues from book and DVD sales. Conferences and meetings like Lou Engles’ The Call are not just prayer meetings, they are Christian marketplaces, with all sorts of spiritual wares being sold.
As to the political interaction, all of these groups know they don’t have the numbers alone to bring folks in, they need to interact for like-minded causes. Electing a “Christian” is a like-minded cause, whether you believe in dominionism or not. A politician like Perry knows that he has to get these groups to coalesce together on his side in order to get votes and support. Whether Perry believes what they preach is up for debate, but it is clear that he is willing to use them to the fullest extent to gain the support he needs for a presidential run.
These events are, like I said, performances that are carefully staged and mapped out; there may be a series of speakers who seem like they are reacting spontaneously to what’s happening, moved by the holy spirit. But it’s carefully orchestrated, along with mesmerizing music, for maximum impact. It’s big business.
For the last 30 years, journalists have had an easy time reporting on the religious right, because all they did was pay attention to to white male leaders of big organizations like Focus on the Family, National Association of Evangelicals, or Family Research Council. The days when a nice soundbite from Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, or Ted Haggard would suffice are over. If journalists and others want to understand the last 10 years of the religious right movement, they will need to pay attention to the theological, religious, and ethnic diversity among evangelicals, Pentecostals, and non-denominational churches.
And what they are putting in the koolaide,,,
When journalists discount the religious right it just tells me that they are still uncomfortable writing about religion; it takes work to understand the nuances of belief. What this brouhaha about dominionism and NAR shows is that there is a place for the naysayers and the dominionist researchers alike. What Rick Perry’s prayer rally did was to give all of this a big enough footprint in the media so that everyone felt comfortable pontificating about what they thought was going on, even if some journalists didn't get it
No when they discount the RR they trying to save their own asses. Thankfully not all journalists can be categorized as such.
The fact of the matter is, the players have shifted, the playing field is broad, complex and worldwide, and religious conservatives’ role in American electoral politics is still strong. To cite Led Zeppelin, the song remains the same. Only the players of the song have changed, and they’ve added some old and new instruments to make their performances of religiosity and political action remain the same moral tune.
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