New Apostolic Reformation

The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is a theological belief and movement that combines elements of Pentecostalism, evangelicalism and the Seven Mountain Mandate to advocate for spiritual warfare to bring about Christian dominion over all aspects of society, and end or weaken the separation of church and state. NAR leaders often call themselves apostles and prophets. Long a fringe movement of the American Christian right, it has been characterized as "one of the most important shifts in Christianity in modern times." The NAR's prominence and power have increased since the 2016 election of Donald Trump as US president. Theology professor André Gagné, author of a 2024 book on the movement, has characterized it as "inherently political" and said it threatens to "subvert democracy." Many notable American Republican politicians such as Mike Johnson, Doug Mastriano, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Lauren Boebert and activists such as Charlie Kirk have aligned with it.

History and reach
American missiologist, theologian, and "church growth guru" C. Peter Wagner was the founder of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and coiner of the term itself.

Some scholars also use the term Independent Network Charismatic (INC) to refer to the NAR. Sociologists Brad Christerson and Richard Flory argue that the NAR is part of the INC, but there is enough difference that not all INC groups would fall under the NAR.

Primarily "influenced and driven by North American evangelicals," the NAR is rooted in the Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity movements: namely, the first-wave Pentecostalism of the 1900s, the Latter Rain movement of the 1940s, the second-wave Charismatic Christianity of the 1960s through 1980s, and the Shepherding movement of the 1970s and 1980s. The NAR has been described as taking the restorationism, dominionism, and "end-times revival" focus of the Latter Rain movement – thought to lead to a new Christian influence on the world – and the authoritarian nature of the Shepherding movement, described as "a kind of pyramid of power and accountability whereby authority (usually male) would flow down from a leading national (or global) figure to local pastors, and even through a chain of pastoral command between congregants".

Starting in the early 1980s, Wagner was a professor in Church Growth at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, where his influence grew. A "key disciple" of Vineyard Church founder John Wimber, who focused on exercising spiritual gifts such as prophecy and miracles, Wagner initially emphasized spiritual gifts as well, holding "Signs, Wonders and Church Growth" courses at Fuller Seminary along with Wimber. Wagner saw the growth of independent Charismatic churches in the 1980s – including in Latin America and Africa and combining elements of indigenous cosmologies; Wagner termed the new neo-charismatic movement the "Third Wave". As the movement developed and Wagner's views were changed through his connection with Wimber, Wagner's focus would later shift to spiritual warfare. The neo-charismatic movement – as opposed to traditional Pentecostal belief, which focused on individual demonic oppression – developed a theology of regions being controlled by specific demons termed territorial spirits. Wagner helped popularize the concept. Though spiritual warfare had not been of significant importance in evangelical theology, his Spiritual Warfare Network of the 1980s profoundly and quickly impacted broader evangelical belief on the matter.

In 1996, Wagner organized a convention with 500 evangelical leaders, the National Symposium on the Postdenominational Church, including the organization of the church and evangelization, at Fuller Seminary. It addressed the changing organizational forms Wagner saw in churches, which he considered a radical paradigm shift. He then coined the term New Apostolic Reformation to refer to the new movement. Over time, the term New Apostolic Reformation gained prominence over the previous Third Wave.

As the fastest growing group "within or on the periphery of American Christianity" since the 1980s, the New Apostolic Reformation has rapidly gained religious and political influence in the United States. In 2015, it was estimated that churches openly part of the NAR were attended by 3,000,000 Americans; some estimates claim an "[influence on] approximately thirty-three million adherents in the United States", though this number is disputed.

The movement is global, growing in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. American missionaries introduced New Apostolic thought and spiritual warfare practices to Haitian pastors and seminarians during the first presidency of Jean-Bertrand Aristide and again following the 2010 Haiti earthquake through transnational missionary networks.

Beliefs
The title New Apostolic Reformation is descriptive of a theological movement and is not an organization and therefore does not have formal membership. Among those in the movement that inspired the title NAR, there is a wide range of variance on specific beliefs. Those within the movement hold to their denominational interpretations of the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit within each believer. Unlike some parts of Protestant Christianity, these include the direct revelation of Christ to each believer, prophecy, and the performance of miracles such as healing. This movement has also been given the descriptive title "Third Wave of the Holy Spirit".

Although the movement regards the church as the true body of saved believers, as does most of evangelical Protestantism, it differs from the broader Protestant tradition in its view on the nature of church leadership, specifically the doctrine of "five-fold ministry", which is based upon a non-traditional interpretation of Ephesians 4:11, the so called-"apostles and prophets", evangelists, pastors (also referred to as the shepherds), and teachers. Scholar Matthew Taylor describes the NAR's leadership in contrast with other forms of local church governance, in which churches are run by either an episcopal hierarchy, authoritarian pastor, or democratic system such as a church board. Rather, the movement's shared authority among the apostles and prophets is what he terms a "spiritual oligarchy". This leadership sees itself as having the divine authority and spiritual power – used in spiritual warfare – to "advance God's earthly kingdom so that Christ can return." Made up of networks of apostles and prophets and networks of churches, Wagner saw the movement as the "most radical change in how churches operate since the Protestant Reformation." These "relational networks", as opposed to a church bureaucratic system, were part of the previous Latter Rain movement. Biola University theology professor R. Douglas Geivett and writer Holly Pivec, who have written three books on the movement, described the movement's promises in God's Super-Apostles: Encountering the Worldwide Prophets and Apostles Movement:

"If you submit to their leadership, then you too will work mighty miracles. You'll become part of a great end-time army that will bring about a world revival and cleanse the earth of evil by calling down hailstones, fire and the other judgments of God described in the New Testament book of Revelation."

Those in opposition are seen as being subject to demonic forces.

In addition to spiritual warfare, the Seven Mountain Mandate (7M) is another aspect of NAR belief, which states that Christians should take over multiple aspects of society: family, religion, education, media, arts and entertainment, business, and government.

Prominent NAR believer Lance Wallnau has promoted 7M combined with spiritual warfare. Wallnau told followers in 2011:

"If you're talking to a secular audience you don't talk about having dominion over them. This whole idea of taking over and that language of takeover, it doesn't actually help. It's good for preaching to the choir and it's shorthand if we interpret it right, but it's very bad for media.'"

Wallnau, who has asserted Donald Trump was "anointed" to be president, is a major proponent of waging spiritual war against perceived demonic spirits. Televangelist Paula White, chair of the evangelical advisory board in the Trump administration, called for "every demonic network that is aligned itself against the purpose, against the calling of President Trump, let it be broken, let it be torn down in the name of Jesus." Theology professor André Gagné, author of the 2024 book American Evangelicals for Trump: Dominion, Spiritual Warfare, and the End Times, asserts White's high-profile platform contributed to the "mainstreaming of spiritual warfare" against "demonic forces in the world that have sometimes taken over their political enemies." Media Matters reported in January 2024 that former Trump strategic advisor Steve Bannon often spoke of a "spiritual war" that characterized Democrats as "demons." Gagné has asserted the Seven Mountain Mandate is more of a strategic marketing tool to mobilize NAR adherents than a theology.

Many NAR adherents have adopted the Appeal to Heaven Flag from the American Revolutionary War that symbolized seeking authority from a power higher than the British king. NAR leaders such as Dutch Sheets popularized the flag to symbolize Christian nationalism, and many participants in the January 6 attack were seen carrying it. André Gagné asserts the NAR symbolism of the flag "has completely turned" from the original meaning, to now "support the idea that Trump should be president, that he's chosen by God." The flag is displayed outside Speaker Mike Johnson's Capitol Hill office, and has flown at the New Jersey vacation home of United States Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito.

Dutch Sheets, who asserts he is an NAR apostle, has long advocated the end of separation of church and state, co-authoring a 2022 "Watchman Decree" that states "we, the Church, are God's governing Body on the earth." During a summer 2022 livestreamed service, Sheets prayed over congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who identifies as a Christian nationalist, concluding, "You are highly favored, you will not fail, in Jesus' name, Amen!" House Speaker Mike Johnson said in November 2023 that the "separation of church and state is a misnomer" because the Founders "did not want the government to encroach upon the church—not that they didn't want principles of faith to have influence on our public life. It's exactly the opposite." Speaking at a religious service in summer 2022, congresswoman Lauren Boebert said:

"The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church. That is not how our Founding Fathers intended it. I'm tired of this separation of church and state junk that's not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter, and it means nothing like what they say it does."

NPR characterizes the Michael Flynn ReAwaken America Tour as "part conservative Christian revival, part QAnon expo and part political rally." Anthea Butler, chair of the University of Pennsylvania religious studies department, asserts the prophecies and charismatic preaching at ReAwaken events can be traced to NAR. Flynn, a former Army lieutenant general and Trump national security advisor, said at a November 2021 event that "If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God and one religion under God, right?" At one event, Trump confidant Roger Stone asserted there is a visible "satanic portal" over the Biden White House that must be closed by prayer. At another event, self-declared prophet Julie Green claimed God had spoken to her that "These are the days for you to control the governments of this earth. God said he can take this country back in unconventional ways. He doesn't need an election to do it."

Bible translation
Brian Simmons is a NAR apostle and the author of The Passion Translation, which he asserts Jesus Christ personally commissioned him to translate from the New Testament and the Hebrew Bible into new scripture in 2009. He added that he had been transported to meet Jesus in an immense library in heaven. Pivec, who has co-authored three books on the NAR, writes that the translation has been endorsed by several NAR leaders, and many in the movement use it as their primary Bible. She adds that Simmons is the sole author of the translation and he has not disclosed the editors and scholars he says have reviewed his work. Pivec and her co-author, Geivett, assert the translation contains "completely reworded verses, making it appear that the Bible supports NAR teachings." Bible scholars say the Simmons book does not meet the rigorous standards of a translation but rather functions as a paraphrase. BibleGateway, an evangelical Christian website providing access to 232 versions of the Bible in 74 languages, removed The Passion Translation from its site in February 2022.

Few, if any, organizations publicly espouse connection to the NAR, though there are numerous public individuals associated with it, including:
 * Brian Simmons, founder of Stairway Ministries and Passion and Fire Ministries, author of The Passion Translation
 * Jim Garlow, former senior pastor of Skyline Church
 * Lou Engle, founder of TheCall
 * Bill Johnson, senior leader of Bethel Church, has been called part of the movement; he states, however, that the church has no official connection
 * Guillermo Maldonado, co-founder and senior pastor of El Rey Jesús
 * Rick Joyner, founder of MorningStar Ministries
 * Mike Bickle, founder of International House of Prayer
 * John P. Kelly, founder of John P. Kelly Ministries and Convening Apostle
 * C. Peter Wagner, founder of Global Harvest Ministries, who coined the term New Apostolic Reformation
 * Ché Ahn, Harvest International Ministries; an asserted NAR apostle
 * Todd White, Lifestyle Christianity
 * Faytene Grasseschi, Canadian conservative activist and broadcaster
 * Cindy Jacobs, cofounder of Generals International
 * Mike Johnson, Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives
 * Dutch Sheets, founder of Dutch Sheets Ministries and asserted apostle
 * Lance Wallnau, an asserted apostle
 * Michael Flynn, Republican former Trump national security advisor, whose ReAwaken America Tour is sponsored by NAR proponent Charisma News
 * Alice Patterson, leader of Justice at the Gate, who has characterized the Democratic party as a demon structure
 * Tom Parker, Republican chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court
 * Doug Mastriano, 2022 Republican nominee for governor of Pennsylvania
 * Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican congresswoman
 * Lauren Boebert, Republican congresswoman
 * Roger Stone, Republican political advisor
 * Charlie Kirk, Republican leader of Turning Point USA

C. Peter Wagner of Global Harvest Ministries considered the year 2001 to be the beginning of the second apostolic age, for the movement holds that the lost offices of prophet and apostle were restored in that year.

After being named as part of the NAR, and critics believing that Bethel Church was instrumental in leading some Christians to embrace tenets of NAR, Pastor Bill Johnson of Bethel became regularly listed as an NAR leader. Johnson confirmed that he does believe in the apostolic and prophetic ministries; he denied, however, in an official statement that his church had any official ties to the NAR. Johnson and NAR apostle Lance Wallnau co-wrote the 2013 book Invading Babylon: The 7 Mountain Mandate.

When Rick Joyner of MorningStar Ministries was listed, he announced that "there will likewise be a horde of false apostles released", continuing: "Our team received two very specific dreams warning about false 'apostolic movements' that were built more on organization than relationship. The dreams indicated that these were trying to bring forth apostles that were really more like corporate CEOs, and the movement that they led had the potential to do great damage to the church. The enemy's intent with this false apostolic movement was to have the church develop a deep revulsion to anything that was called apostolic."

In 2022, the Victory Channel, owned by prosperity gospel televangelist Kenneth Copeland, launched the program FlashPoint, hosted by Gene Bailey, a pastor at Copeland's Texas church. The NAR-aligned program has the appearance of a cable news show, though reporting is delivered by prophets. Bailey's website asserts the show's programming is delivered "under the anointing," meaning that its hosts and guests speak for God. Pentecostal preachers constitute its primary guests, notably Lance Wallnau and Omaha pastor Hank Kunneman. Donald Trump has appeared on the program six times; other guests have included Michael Flynn, Charlie Kirk, Jeanine Pirro, Steve Bannon, Glenn Beck and Chaya Raichik. FlashPoint told viewers that criminal indictments against Trump were "against the purposes of God" and represented a "battle between good versus evil." Bailey has said, "We do have an agenda, and that is I am a Christo-fascist, Christian nationalist." Media Matters reported that at an August 2022 FlashPoint Live event, Dutch Sheets led Bailey, Wallnau and Kunneman in reciting the Watchman Decree with a live audience, declaring that "we have been given legal power and authority from Heaven" and "delegated by Him to destroy every attempted advance of the enemy." The show launched a seven-stop FlashPoint Live roadshow in support of Trump in February 2024.

Controversy and criticism
In 2022, Matthew Taylor, a scholar of Protestantism at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies, released an audio documentary on the movement's connection to the January 6 attack, entitled Charismatic Revival Fury. Taylor asserts that NAR is "the backbone ... of Christian Trumpism." He argues it was "seen as fringy, was seen as the realm of hucksters, seen as kind of low-brow and populist and extremist" before Trump recruited it in 2016 to rally evangelical support for his campaign. Taylor asserts NAR is difficult to track due to its intentional anti-institutional, decentralized "mesh network" of influencers on the internet. Taylor says radicalized NAR spiritual warfare adherents believe entire cities and institutions are possessed by demonic spirits (territorial spirits) that can be defeated only by the presence of large numbers of Christians. In the weeks preceding the January 6 attack, self-proclaimed NAR apostles such as Dutch Sheets told followers they needed to be at the Capitol to ensure Trump would remain president. Sheets met with Trump administration officials at the White House days before the Capitol attack. In addition, four of the six protest permits that day were issued to "NAR-affiliated charismatic church groups." Similarly, André Gagné states, "a lot of NAR people just embrace the Big Lie" based on messages from the movement's prophets.

Forrest Wilder, senior editor for the Texas Observer, describes the New Apostolic Reformation as having "taken Pentecostalism, with its emphasis on ecstatic worship and the supernatural, and given it an adrenaline shot." Wilder adds that beliefs of people associated with the movement "can tend toward the bizarre" and that it has "taken biblical literalism to an extreme."

Paul Rosenberg called the NAR "America's Own Taliban" in an article highlighting the NAR's dominionism as bearing resemblance to Islamic extremism as seen in groups such as the Taliban because of the NAR's language concerning a form of prayer called spiritual warfare.

National Public Radio brought the discussion about the political influence of the NAR to a national audience with a 2011 article. Lou Engle and Don Finto, who are considered to be leaders within the NAR, participated in a prayer event called "The Response" hosted by former Texas governor Rick Perry, on August 6, 2011, in Houston, Texas. This event is cited as a sign of the influence of NAR beliefs on Rick Perry's political viewpoints.

Politico reported in February 2024 that Russell Vought, a leader of Project 2025—a group closely aligned with Trump that created an expansive blueprint for the next Republican presidency—was spearheading plans to instill Christian nationalism into that presidency. One of the story authors, Heidi Przybyla, later said in a television interview, in part:

"Remember when Trump ran in 2016, a lot of the mainline Evangelicals wanted nothing to do with the divorced real estate mogul who had cheated on his wife with a porn star and all of that, right? So what happened was he was surrounded by this more extremist element. You're going [to] hear words like 'Christian nationalism,' like the 'New Apostolic Reformation.' These are groups that you should get very, very schooled on because they have a lot of power in Trump's circle."

Vought and several others criticized Przybyla on X for her televised remarks, which she said they had misunderstood.

Dartmouth College professor Jeff Sharlet is the author of the 2023 The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War. After years traveling to meet with Trump supporters, he writes that his initial "objections to describing militant Trumpism as fascist have fallen away." He asserts Project 2025 is influenced by NAR. Sharlet contends that the Project's first mandate to 'restore the family as the centerpiece of American life and protect our children' "is Q-coded—it's 'protect the blood,' it's the 14 words, it's all this stuff."

Writing in The Atlantic, Stephanie McCrummen reported in March 2024 that Frederick Clarkson, who has studied the Christian right for decades, "considers the NAR to be one of the most important shifts in Christianity in modern times." Clarkson said "Christian nationalism is a handy term, but it is a box into which NAR does not quite fit” because the movement is "so much bigger than that." McCrummen wrote:

"This [NAR] language, which can be mystifying to those not steeped in it, is commonly categorized as fundamentalism or Christian nationalism. But those terms do not adequately capture the scope and ambitions of the rapidly growing charismatic Christian movement with which [Tom Parker] has publicly associated himself—a world of megachurches, modern-day apostles and prophets, media empires, worship bands, and millions of followers that is becoming the most aggressive faction of the Christian right and the leading edge of charismatic Christianity worldwide."

Marvin Olasky, former longtime editor of the evangelical magazine World, says that American evangelicalism is fracturing in real time, between a faction that embraces pluralism, other faiths and democracy, and one that advocates governance by strict biblical law "by any means necessary." He added, "I have to say that compassionate conservatism is out of business these days, and in a sense, cruel conservatism is ascendant." NPR reported the "any means necessary" faction has a direct line to House Speaker Mike Johnson due to his close ties to NAR leaders such as Jim Garlow.

Holly Pivec, co-author with Biola University theology professor Douglas Geivett of Counterfeit Kingdom: The Dangers of New Revelation, New Prophets, and New Age Practices in the Church, said many Pentacostals and Charismatics are concerned that the NAR movement is inconsistent with historical Christian teachings. She asserted, "They're not just promoting the miraculous gifts, they're actually promoting the offices of apostle and prophet—these authoritative offices that all others are supposed to submit to." Pivec asserts some modern Christian churches "promote novel teachings and practices that do not have the support of Scripture" and that "NAR teachings and practices have divided families, split churches, stunted the spiritual growth of believers, and left countless Christians disillusioned by promises of healing and miraculous power that haven't panned out."

Michael Flynn has told ReAwaken America attendees that they are engaged in a political and spiritual war. Mark Clatterbuck, associate professor of religion at Montclair State University, described an October 2022 ReAwaken event he attended as a MAGA-driven "seething groundswell of spiritually sanctioned incitement to violence that was impossible to ignore." He wrote the event was "saturated" with war imagery, as well as preachers engaged in violent religious rhetoric. Clatterbuck added that leaders aligned with NAR are "driven by a prophetic certainty that God is commanding them to establish a militant Christian theocracy in the United States."

Anthea Butler says the messaging at ReAwaken America events of election denialism, vaccine conspiracy theories and anti-government sentiment has been largely embraced by the Republican Party. She and Matthew Taylor found that the NAR movement had garnered little attention in the press, noting its violent rhetoric. Butler said, "All the talk you hear about demonic stuff, about violent stuff—people should take that very seriously."

Researcher Bruce Wilson asserts he has identified well-funded programs designed "to obscure, to confuse and confound reporters and journalists and academics who are writing about and discussing dominionist Christianity." André Gagné argues that NAR's "strength is that they're stealth" and that the media "has a very important role to play in speaking about this movement and how it will use the levers of democracy to eventually subvert democracy."

In media
NAR beliefs have been part of evangelical, and particularly charismatic Christian, media. By the mid-to-late 1980s, Christian author Frank Peretti's novels featuring spiritual battles, territorial spirits, and demonology – seen as spiritual reality portrayed in fictional settings – found popularity among evangelicals; Wagner considered them the best depiction of real-world spiritual warfare. Scholar Damon T. Berry argues that the "presence of imagined enemies [threatening] to destroy Christianity and America added to Trump's appeal" to evangelicals, issues NAR prophecies were believed to address.