John Wimber
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John Wimber |
John Wimber (born
February 25,
1934 in
Kirksville, Missouri, died
November 17,
1997) was a charismatic pastor and one of the founding leaders of the
Vineyard Movement.
He was raised in a non-religious family but converted to
Christianity in May 1963. He had previously been the keyboard player in the band
The Righteous Brothers. Some have attributed the formation of the band to Wimber (then as Johnny Wimber) since he was the one who brought
Bobby Hatfield and
Bill Medley together for the band the
Paramours in 1962. In the following years he attended a
Quaker church in Yorba Linda ,CA. During this time, he led hundreds of others to convert to
Christianity. By 1970, he was leading 11 different Bible study groups that involved more than 500 people.
In 1974 he became the Founding Director of the Department of Church Growth at the
Charles E. Fuller Institute of Evangelism and Church Growth, which was founded by the
Fuller Theological Seminary and the
Fuller Evangelistic Association. He directed the department until 1978. In this time a
House Church began to form in his home. This group began to embrace some of the beliefs of the
Charismatic movement. This resulted in a split with the
Quaker church that this group belonged to.
Wimber pastored this new church, which would later become known as the Anaheim Vineyard Christian Fellowship, from 1977 to 1994. Eventually, it out grew his home and began to meet elsewhere. After initially joining
Calvary Chapel, the church had some differences with the Calvary Chapel leadership, relating mainly to the practice of spiritual gifts. As a result, they left Calvary Chapel to join a small group of churches started by Kenn Gulliksen, known as Vineyard Christian Fellowships.
A particular emphasis of the
Vineyard Movement was church planting. One of Wimber's many catchphrases - intended to capture theological and practical ideas in easy to remember soundbytes - was that 'church planting is the best form of evangelism'. Indeed both during his lifetime and since his death the
Vineyard Movement Movement has planted thousands of churches across the US and the globe.
John Wimber became a well-known speaker at international
charismatic conferences with a focus on what he called "
Power Evangelism" and healing through the power of the
Holy Spirit. It is important to note that, while considered by many to be a
charismatic teacher, Wimber himself (along with the leaders of the Vineyard Movement) repeatedly rejected the
charismatic label as applying to their teachings.
Wimber took an approach to the Charismatic which was somewhat different from that of peers and predecessors. This new approach led a friend, C. Peter Wagner, to coin the phrase, "The
Third Wave of the Holy Spirit" to describe the concept he taught (and to some current labels with their pre-set negative connotations). The Third Wave differed from classic Pentecostalism and the Charismatic movement, foremost, in their approach to speaking in
tongues. Whereas the previous groups had emphasized the gift of tongues as the
only evidence for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Wimber and those he influenced emphasized that it was just one of the many spiritual gifts taught in the
Bible. This teaching revolutionized what was a major theological stumbling block to some mainstream
evangelicals (the idea of "spiritual gifts" in our present-day world), and Wimber held influence with a number of them, most famously
Jack Deere,
C. Peter Wagner, and
Wayne Grudem.
Gordon-Conwell Missiologist J. Christy Wilson also mentions Wimber in his book "
More to be Desired Than Gold".
Wimber also differed from contemporaries in his rejection of the
Word of Faith movement, and the associated
doctrines and showiness. The pursuit of
authenticity was core to Wimber's idea of church, and this was reflected in the worship as well.
John Wimber died of a
brain hemorrhage on
November 17,
1997, following a fall and recent
coronary bypass surgery.
John Wimber has written several books that became influential in the Charismatic Movement, among them
* Important biographical resources on Wimber are
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Doin' The Stuff Wimber merchandise
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John Wimber resources at the Father's House Vineyard
