View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Unisa Institutional Repository THE STRATEGIC LEVEL SPIRITUAL WARFARE THEOLOGY OF C. PETER WAGNER AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR CHRISTIAN MISSION IN MALAWI by ERWIN VAN DER MEER submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR IN THEOLOGY in the subject MISSIOLOGY at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: DR JNJ KRITZINGER NOVEMBER 2008 ****************** DECLARATION I declare that “THE STRATEGIC LEVEL SPIRITUAL WARFARE THEOLOGY OF C. PETER WAGNER AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR CHRISTIAN MISSION IN MALAWI” is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. Student: ________________________ Date_________ ERWIN VAN DER MEER THE STRATEGIC LEVEL SPIRITUAL WARFARE THEOLOGY OF C. PETER WAGNER AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR CHRISTIAN MISSION IN MALAWI ABSTRACT Strategic level spiritual warfare has been an emerging trend within Evangelical missiology ever since C. Peter Wagner published his Spiritual Power and Church Growth (1986). The distinctive doctrines of Wagner’s SLSW are 1. The doctrine of territorial spirits, which entails the belief that powerful demons control specific geographical territories and its human inhabitants. Through a variety of spiritual warfare techniques such demons can be overcome. 2. The doctrine of territorial defilement. The assumption here is that a territorial spirit can only hold people in a location in bondage if it has obtained the legal right to do so because of sins and evils committed in that locality in the past. Identificational repentance on behalf of the people living in such territories removes the legal right of the territorial spirits. 3. The doctrine of Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare prayer. The underlying assumption is that territorial spirits can only be removed by means of aggressive spiritual warfare in the form of a variety of prayer and exorcism methods for dealing with territorial spirits. (4) The doctrine of territorial commitment. This doctrine justifies the exercise of spiritual power and authority by modern apostles in their communities. Wagner’s missiology has been largely shaped by the church growth movement. In his quest for better techniques to bring about mass conversions Wagner, impressed by the Latin American Pentecostal churches, embraced Pentecostalism and developed SLSW. However, a thorough biblical study demonstrates that SLSW is mostly unbiblical. A study of SLSW in Church history also demonstrates that SLSW was never accepted in orthodox Christianity. From a contextual point of view SLSW turns out to be a North American missiology with nationalist and political biases. Finally, when looking at the potential effects of a SLSW style missiology in the context of Malawi it emerges that Wagner’s SLSW is likely to reinforce rather than diminish the prevalent witchcraft fears in the Malawian society. At the same time SLSW tends to ‘demonize’ other cultures and thus hinders genuine contextualization. In the final analysis SLSW turns out not to be a commendable strategy for Christian Mission in Malawi. KEY TERMS Strategic level spiritual warfare; Territorial spirits; Ruler demons; Powers and Principalities; Spiritual mapping; Spiritual warfare; Warfare prayer; Prayer warriors; Identificational repentance; Territorial defilement; Territorial demonization; Territorial commitment; New Apostolic Reformation; Demonic strongholds ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people have assisted me in the writing of this thesis. My most special thanks go to my wife who has been very supportive and has had to put up with an ‘absent’ husband who often spend day and night behind the computer and his books. I am also much indebted to my promoter Dr. JNJ Kritzinger who has been very patient as I was working on this thesis during a very turbulent period of my life after our family was expelled from Zimbabwe and I was unable to register for two years. I am also grateful to Dr. Steven Paas who in spite of his busy schedule agreed to proofread my drafts. His enthusiasm and useful recommendations helped me to improve this thesis. I also need to mention my good friend, and African theologian, Fabulous Moyo. He has been a great source of encouragement and inspiration during his visits to Malawi. I am also indebted to my friends Dr. Arie Brand, Rev. Jim Pfeiffer and to my former colleagues at Harare Theological College, Dr. O Ngundu and Dr. D Rousseau. They have encouraged me to specialize in the area of spiritual warfare ever since I started investigating Wagner’s missiology back in 1996. They have also helped me acquire books and articles on Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare and related topics. I am also indebted to Dr. Paul Bowers, who back in the 1990s during my undergraduate studies introduced me to the dynamics of contextualization in Africa. Finally, I want to thank my Malawian colleagues and co-workers in the gospel, in particular my good and knowledgeable colleagues in Christian ministry, Rev. Wonder Kanyangira and Rev. Syrus Williamu of the Central African Presbyterian Church and the Evangelical Church of Malawi respectively. They assisted me with a lot of insights concerning culture, church and religion in Malawi. There are many more people who, in one way or another, contributed to this thesis. Though they cannot all be mentioned by name, I am grateful for their comments, suggestions and corrections, many of which are incorporated in the text. Erwin van der Meer Blantyre, Malawi 30 October 2008 4 Table of Contents CHAPTER 1...............................................................................................................................8 INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................8 1.1. About this study..............................................................................................................8 1.1.1. The focus of this study............................................................................................8 1.1.2. Relevance of this study for Evangelical missiology.............................................12 1.1.3. Review of relevant literature.................................................................................21 1.1.3.1. Spiritual power and missions (Rommen 1995).............................................21 1.1.3.2. The Holy Spirit and mission dynamics (McConnell 1997)..........................26 1.1.3.3. Territorial spirits and world evangelisation? (Lowe 1998)...........................28 1.1.3.4. Strategic level spiritual warfare: a modern mythology (Reid 2002)............30 1.1.3.5. Statements of the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelisation (LCWE)...34 1.1.3.6. An urban mission strategy for reaching entire cities with the gospel. A critical evaluation of the prayer evangelism strategy of Ed Silvoso (Mostert 1997).40 1.1.3.7. Conclusions from book reviews....................................................................45 1.2. Personal considerations................................................................................................46 1.2.1. My experiences in Evangelical christian mission and spiritual warfare...............46 1.2.2. Similarities and dissimilarities in my background as compared to Wagner.........47 1.2.3. Contours of my missiology...................................................................................48 1.2.4. Contours of my Evangelical epistemology in a post modern world.....................50 1.3. Method of this study.....................................................................................................56 1.4. Delimitation of this study.............................................................................................57 1.5. Survey of coming chapters...........................................................................................58 1.5.1. About chapter 2.....................................................................................................58 1.5.2. About chapter 3.....................................................................................................59 1.5.3. About chapter 4.....................................................................................................59 1.5.4. About chapter 5.....................................................................................................60 1.5.5. About chapter 6.....................................................................................................60 1.5.6. About chapter 7.....................................................................................................61 CHAPTER 2.............................................................................................................................62 THE THEOLOGICAL PILGRIMAGE OF C. PETER WAGNER.........................................62 2.1. About C. Peter Wagner.................................................................................................62 5 2.2. Theological background of C. Peter Wagner...............................................................63 2.3. C. Peter Wagner and the Church Growth Movement...................................................66 2.3.1. The Church Growth Movement and Fuller Theological Seminary......................66 2.3.2. The Church Growth Movement and Wagner at Fuller Theological Seminary.....69 2.3.3. The influence of Wagner in the Church Growth Movement ...............................70