WU-Thy Kingdom Come: Dominion Mandate
Student 2025
Week5.DiscussionForum.Responses.docxINSTRUCTIONS: PLEASE RESPOND TO THE THREE DISCUSSION POST WITH 100-150 WORDS EACH.
Paradigm:
1. From Denominational Government to Apostolic Government
I’ve been a senior pastor for 19 years. For many occasions, I struggled with my leadership is that the decisions are made by democratic way or to go with my vision. Peter Wagner’s book impacted me in that church needs to have an apostolic government. I think I hastened to have an apostolic government because I wasn’t sure whether I am called to be an apostle or a prophet. By reading Peter Wagner’s book, I’ve got assurance that I am an apostle with prophecy gift.
I am not quite sure how I am going to form an apostolic government for my church, but I believe that’s the biblical way. My paradigm has shifted!
2. From Ministry in the Church to Ministry in the workplace
Yes, my paradigm has shifted that ministry in the workplace needs to go forth already by WLI.
Yet I still believe that a local church needs to be a center. I believe that the apostles for different work place still need to be members of a local church. I still believe that believers need to gather on Sundays to worship together. Then the church needs to send the people out in the market places to be salt and light.
I am not against for the people to do their missions according to their callings from God. However, when they leave the church to fulfill their missions, I’ve seen many gone astray. I do understand that some people are to anoint to conquer the seven mountains and some are to build the local church. In any situation, the church needs to be the center for the people doing ministry in the workplace.
3. From a Spirit of Poverty to a Spirit of Prosperity
I was taught and led to believe that a respectable and honorable servant of God should live poorly! To be rich as a minister doesn’t edify the body of Christ nor glorify God.
My paradigm is shifted by reading Peter Wagner’s book. I now believe that the spirit of poverty is from Satan and the spirit of prosperity is from God. God wants his people to be in prosperity to do Kingdom works.
Dr. Peter C. Wagner’s book, “This changes everything” (Wagner, 2013), invites us all to examine ourselves on deeper levels. I am accustomed to saying, “No one has the total understanding and interpretation of the Bible,” I believe God intended to be this way. In his candid temperament, Dr. Wagner took us on his journey to show us how God transformed his mind and life. What a beautiful example of humility! His secret? Romans 12:2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good, pleasing, and perfect. [i]
Paradigm #1 : From Two Channels to Jesus as a Real Man
Growing up in a pastoral family, I learned at a very young age the understanding of Jesus, both God and a human being. It is such a considerable part of my young life, and as I grew older, I tried to put myself in Jesus’ shoes many times to understand his mindset and his process of receiving and releasing information. Like Dr. Wagner, I never questioned the fact that Jesus has (notice the present tense) two natures: a divine nature and a human nature. (Wagner, 2013, p. 19). Interestingly enough, he commented in Mark 13:32 passage, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father,” which I heard so many different versions and interpretations. Still, in my understanding, Jesus meant the “son” in his human nature. If He gave up his position of glory and the attribute of God to become a man, He also gave up some mysteries that only belonged to God in heaven. To my amusement, Dr. Wagner took the same approach by stating that Jesus became a human being (the incarnation) and became different from the Father (for a purpose and a season) and took a human nature (limited on time and space) to become in the likeness of man. (Wagner, 2013, p. 23).
The real impact of his explanation of Jesus in both natures highlighted one word in particular: “obedience.” The key to Jesus’ successful life is stated in Hebrews 5:8 “Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.” In Philippian 2:8, the Word emphasizes the concept to a greater level: “After He was found in [terms of His] outward appearance as a man [for a divinely appointed time], He humbled Himself [still further] by becoming obedient [to the Father] to the point of death, even death on a cross. [ii] How can I remain the same? I must obey Him in all His ways. If I do, no one can stop me from fulfilling my destiny. As long as I live, I will live a life of “obedience.” In that, “I am convinced that nothing can ever separate me from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither my fears for today nor my worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate me from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate me from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus my Lord”. [iii]
Paradigm #2 : From Human Abilities to Spiritual Gifts
It is interesting to read the writing of Dr. Wagner’s mindset regarding his life while ignorant of spiritual gifts. I grew up on the opposite side of the aisle. I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit when I was twelve years old in my dad’s church. I vividly remember evangelist Manfred Hass, born in Germany, laying his hand on my head, and “boom,” I was speaking in another language. That same day thirty-three people received it, including children. My father would bring some of them to the platform because they spoke foreign languages like English, Japanese, etc. It was an unconventional night, and the Lord was very present. It was not emotional behavior like most people do these days. It was real and raw.
I can’t imagine life without the supernatural gifts that bring His presence so tangent and authentic. For that reason, I must say that it took much praying on his part to make this shift and rely on the Holy Spirit and not solely on the word of God. I love his pursuit to absorb new ideas, and as he gravitated to specific passages of the Bible, his heart was opened to receive the shift the Lord was doing in his life.
I am grateful for the knowledge he gave us to further assist our walk with the Lord. I will explore more possibilities and experiment with new ways to understand my gifts, perfected in Jesus.
Paradigm #3 : From Mono-cultural Theology to Cross-cultural Theology
Being raised in one culture and moving to another at twenty-three gives me a broader perspective. Most foreigners live in the United States of America, dreaming about a nation miles away that never existed in their dreams and aspirations. I made a rational decision to take this nation as my own; consequently, I have lived a successful life and enjoyed the American dream. Why am I saying that? Because the same occurrence applies to the topic of mono-culture theology versus cross-culture theology. If we agree with Dr. Wagner that theology is a human attempt to explain God’s Word and works reasonably and systematically (Wagner, 2013, p. 65), we must take the culture God has sent us as our own. Is it not what Joseph did in Egypt? Joseph integrated into the Egyptian culture and fulfilled his calling, which ironically was to save his birth nation Israel.
I witnessed many missionaries being sent from Brazil to other nations to come back defeated and left the reputation of the Assembly of God smeared in most cases. The leadership position was quite the opposite of our brilliant apostle Peter Wagner as described in his book. They stopped sending missionaries to other nations and forbade any man or woman aspiring to missions to use their denomination name, resources, or reference. The recurrence of this type of issue is exhibited in the Bible, which left us with a fundamental message between mono-cultural and cross-cultural theologians brought about by the famous Council of Jerusalem in AD 50. This incident was a crashing of cultures pushing Gentiles to follow Messianic Jewish customs to be circumcised as part of the new covenant. In Acts 15:19, James addressed the council with his final position: “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.” [iv] We can compromise our theology to reach other cultures for the kingdom.
I am conflicted and distressed by reading this Mono-cultural to Cross-cultural Theology chapter. On one side, we see the result of one man willing to shift his paradigm to please God and reach other cultures, and the effect of his obedience to the word left a legacy no one can measure with total accuracy. On the other side, an entire denomination stuck in one paradigm, mono-cultural to their extreme, aborted the destiny of so many men and women in my country of origin. The best I can do to settle these emotions is to follow in the steps of Dr. Wagner and never stop learning and allow the Holy Spirit to shift my mind as He pleases.
It was interesting to read about the paradigm shifts that Dr. Wagner went through. I have become acutely aware of how fortunate and blessed I am as a direct result of the excellent and dynamic mentors that have poured into my cup over the years. For me, a large part of my learning in this reading was becoming aware and gaining an understanding of some of the paradigms that needed to be shifted. For example, gaining an understanding that there was a paradigm that was not the duality of Christ as human and divine. I never considered that position before so this has shed some light about other perspectives. Of the shifts that Dr. Wagner presents in his book, I have chosen the following three to write on.
1. Theological Education to Ministerial Training.
Dr. Wagner discovered that the churches experiencing the most growth had, often, the least amount of formal theological education and in fact, formal theological training had a negative correlation to church growth and quality of churches. His discovery of using TEE (Theological Education by Extension) and subsequent implementation of different ministerial training methods (E.G. WLI) proved to be effectual. I can personally relate to and support this shift. For one, would never have been able to study to this level had such alternatives not been made available. I believe that practical training is vital and has been sorely lacking in the past. It is the game changer for full effectiveness to be realized
2. Passive Evangelism to Pragmatic Evangelism
I really enjoyed this chapter. With the work that I do, it’s all about teaching and empowering others to use pragmatism in everyday life. I believe that some of the examples given, especially when planning strategy and measurable outcomes to be memorable. Using the farming analogy and the counting of sheep sends the message home. SMART goals are taught every day when managing and planning life. These should also apply to the service we are in. And I agree that it is important to count disciples not decisions, numbers have an important role to play.
3. Mono-cultural to Cross-cultural Theology
This particular chapter and related chapters I found the most difficult. At first I equated it to remembering to keep it “relative”, however I have discovered it goes much deeper. His explanation and definition of theology and how this is culture bound was a new perspective for me. Contextualization without compromising the essence of the Christian faith will be the true challenge. I believe for me, continuing to remind myself God chose the Jews and to purposefully continue to learn about the Hebrew culture, will help me to better understand and ultimately accept – without reservation, this paradigm shift. I see its value but still remain with degrees of discomfort.
