What is the New Apostolic Reformation and which leaders are most closely associated with it?

1. What the NAR teaches and how scholars describe it

Adherents assert that God is restoring apostolic and prophetic offices to govern the church today, prioritize spiritual warfare and signs-and-wonders, and often embrace a postmillennial hope that the church will transform society before Christ’s return; scholars and critics summarize these traits as restorationism, manufactured continuationism, experientialism and reconstructionist dominionism ^{[2] [5] [3]}. Observers trace the movement into contemporary charismatic and Pentecostal streams—where prophecy, healing and “hearing God’s voice” are institutionalized through schools and media—and note its rhetorical aim to exercise influence across the “seven spheres” of society ^{[6] [4] [3]}.

2. Origins and the man who named it: C. Peter Wagner

Missiologist C. Peter Wagner is the figure most closely tied to the movement’s formulation: he coined the term “New Apostolic Reformation” in the 1990s, organized networks and conferences to promote apostolic leadership, and positioned the NAR as a historic shift in church governance—claims documented by multiple accounts of the movement’s history ^{[1] [7] [8] [9]}. Wagner’s Global Harvest Ministries and related initiatives helped institutionalize the language of apostles and prophets, even as critics argue the theology recycles older Latter Rain ideas and raises governance concerns ^{[8] [4]}.

3. Who the leading names are (and why they’re named)

Popular teachers and leaders frequently associated with the NAR include Bill Johnson of Bethel Church (often listed as an NAR leader because of Bethel’s influence on supernatural ministry), Lou Engle and Don Finto (visible through nationwide prayer events), Rick Joyner and Kim Clement (named by evangelically oriented sources), and media-facing figures such as Paula White-Cain and Dutch Sheets who have bridged ecclesial and political arenas; these associations appear repeatedly in reporting and activist analyses ^{[1] [2] [6] [10] [11]}. Commentators and watchdogs also cite evangelists and charismatic preachers such as Todd White and Michael Brown among names that appear in critiques and lineage charts of NAR influence ^[8].

4. Political reach, controversy and internal disputes

The movement’s political entanglements—prayer events with politicians, public prayers with President Trump, and the presence of NAR-aligned advisers—have magnified scrutiny, prompting journalists to describe it as a significant force in conservative Christian politics and prompting some NAR-adjacent leaders to rebrand or distance themselves as the movement’s antidemocratic implications became headline news ^{[7] [3]}. At the same time, internal pushback exists: some evangelical and Pentecostal institutions warned about potential authoritarianism in apostolic structures, and in 2022 dozens of NAR-linked Pentecostal figures signed a statement rejecting extremes of “new revelation” theology—evidence of both influence and contested boundaries within the movement ^{[3] [4]}.

5. What the label misses and the limits of reporting

Because the NAR is a movement rather than an organization, there is no membership roll and many prominent figures deny the label even while sharing language and practices with those who use it; academic and denominational sources stress the importance of distinguishing networks, individual teachings and local church practice rather than treating NAR as monolithic ^{[4] [10]}. Reporting surveyed here documents leaders, theological markers and political ties, but does not settle debates about how many Christians actually identify as NAR or precisely how centralized its decision-making is—those remain areas where further empirical study is required ^{[1] [4]}.