Third Wave of the Holy Spirit

The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit is a Christian theological theory first introduced by C. Peter Wagner to describe what he believed to be three historical periods of the activity of the Holy Spirit in the 20th century and beyond. In his 1988 book, The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit: Encountering the Power of Signs and Wonders Today, Wagner defines the three waves as follows:

• The first wave at the beginning of the twentieth century with the rise of the Pentecostal movement, beginning with the Azusa Street Revival;
• A second wave during the 1960s as the Charismatic movement spread throughout some Protestant denominations, as well as the Roman Catholic Church; and
• A third wave during the mid 1980s.