Late twentieth-century evangelical-charismatic movement combining the apostolic / prophetic gifts emphasis of Pentecostalism and charismatic renewal with broader evangelical theology and church-structure. The term was coined by C. Peter Wagner (Fuller Theological Seminary) to designate the post-1980 phase of Pentecostal-charismatic renewal, distinguished from the original 1900s Pentecostal movement (the first wave) and the 1960s charismatic renewal (the second wave). Principal figures: John Wimber and the Vineyard Movement (founded 1982); Peter Wagner himself; John and Paula Sandford; the broader signs-and-wonders network. The movement's distinctives include (1) ongoing apostolic and prophetic gifts as normative for the contemporary church; (2) power evangelism — the integration of evangelism with signs, wonders, healings, and prophecy; (3) spiritual warfare with extensive deliverance ministry, generational curses, territorial spirits; (4) the New Apostolic Reformation in some streams (Wagner's later teaching); (5) various manifestations including laughter, falling, shaking, and visions. The Reformed-confessional response is largely critical. The cessationist position (Westminster Confession 1:1; Warfield's Counterfeit Miracles; Richard Gaffin Jr.'s Perspectives on Pentecost) holds that the apostolic-era miraculous gifts ceased with the closing of the canon and the death of the apostles. The continuationist Reformed position (D. A. Carson, Wayne Grudem, Sam Storms) maintains that the gifts continue but in less spectacular form than third-wave practice depicts. Both Reformed positions reject the New Apostolic Reformation and the more extreme third-wave manifestations as departing from biblical patterns. The patriarchal-Reformed reader holds to confessional cessationism or sober continuationism while firmly rejecting the third-wave excesses.
Late 20th-c. evangelical-charismatic movement combining Pentecostal gifts with broader evangelical theology; coined by Peter Wagner; Vineyard Movement, signs-and-wonders network; rejected by Reformed-confessional cessationism and sober continuationism.
THIRD WAVE CHARISMATIC, n. (contemporary theological-ecclesial movement; late 20th c.) Combines apostolic/prophetic gifts emphasis of Pentecostalism with broader evangelical theology. Term coined by C. Peter Wagner (Fuller Seminary): first wave = 1900s Pentecostal; second wave = 1960s charismatic renewal; third wave = post-1980. Principal figures: John Wimber (Vineyard Movement, 1982); Peter Wagner; John and Paula Sandford. Distinctives: ongoing apostolic/prophetic gifts; power evangelism; spiritual warfare with deliverance ministry, generational curses, territorial spirits; New Apostolic Reformation (Wagner); manifestations (laughter, falling, shaking). Reformed responses: cessationism (Warfield, Gaffin) vs. sober continuationism (Carson, Grudem, Storms). Both reject NAR and more extreme manifestations.
1 Corinthians 13:8-10 — "Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away."
Hebrews 1:1-2 — "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds."
2 Corinthians 12:12 — "Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds."
1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 — "Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."
Third-wave charismatic combines Pentecostal gifts with broader evangelicalism; produces excesses (NAR, generational curses, territorial spirits, extreme manifestations); critiqued by both Reformed cessationism and sober continuationism.
Third-wave charismatic theology produces a number of distinctive excesses that even the broader continuationist Reformed position rejects. The New Apostolic Reformation (Peter Wagner's later teaching) claims the contemporary restoration of the apostolic office with attendant church-government authority; the Reformed-confessional position holds that the apostolic office was foundational (Ephesians 2:20) and not continuing in the same authoritative form. The generational-curses teaching extends biblical patterns of covenantal corporate identity into a quasi-magical system requiring specific deliverance prayers to break ancestral spiritual influences; the Reformed position rejects this as a category error misreading covenantal solidarity. The territorial-spirits teaching maps biblical principalities-and-powers theology onto specific geographic regions in a way that produces strategic-prayer-warfare practices the NT does not endorse.
The Reformed-confessional answer distinguishes between the biblical category and the third-wave extension. The apostolic-era miraculous gifts (tongues, prophecy, healing, miracles) are real biblical categories; the cessationist position holds that they ceased with the closing of the canon and the death of the apostles, while the sober continuationist position holds that they continue but in less spectacular form than third-wave practice depicts. Both positions agree in rejecting the third-wave excesses: the New Apostolic Reformation, the generational-curses system, the territorial-spirits framework, and the more extreme physical manifestations (uncontrolled laughter, falling, shaking, animal sounds). The patriarchal-Reformed reader holds either confessional cessationism or sober continuationism while firmly rejecting the third-wave excesses.
Peter Wagner's coinage; Vineyard Movement; signs-and-wonders network; NAR; rejected by Reformed cessationism and sober continuationism.
['English', '—', 'third wave', "Wagner's coinage; first wave = Pentecostal; second wave = charismatic renewal"]
['English', '—', 'power evangelism', "Wimber's term"]
['English', '—', 'New Apostolic Reformation', "Wagner's later teaching"]
"Third wave charismatic: late 20th-c. evangelical-charismatic movement."
"Vineyard Movement; signs-and-wonders network; NAR."
"Rejected by Reformed cessationism and sober continuationism."