Was Wimber a Bible Guy?

Some have suggested that John Wimber was more interested in people's experience than the Bible. Is this true? Or was John Wimber committed to teaching Scripture as a church leader?

Some people have suggested that John Wimber wasn’t really into teaching the Bible and that he was more concerned with people’s personal experience. Charismatics are often accused of being more focused on personal experience than they are on the teachings of the Bible… and sometimes that shoe does, indeed, fit. But what about John Wimber? Did Wimber have a high view of the Bible or was he mostly concerned with people’s feelings and personal experiences? Well on this video, we’re going to talk about Wimber and the Bible…

So for the past few days I’ve been in Southern California and on Sunday I had the chance to attend Haven Lane, led by Dave & Debbie King. Haven Lane is where Carol Wimber attends and though they aren’t a Vineyard church, they are about as Vineyard as you could get. Well while I was there, I met a really nice lady named Janeene and Janeene recognized me from some of these Wimber videos and she asked me if I’d be interested in getting access to a bunch of John Wimber’s teaching tapes from back in the 70’s and 80’s. 

I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to listen to them because I don’t have a tape player (I also don’t have an 8-track)… but then she told me that she had actually had them all converted to MP3’s! 

After downloading those files, I was reminded about how much John Wimber loved the Bible. There were over 70 Wimber teachings and the vast majority of the sermons were Wimber doing expository sermons. There are dozens of sermons that followed the verse by verse type of teachings that are typical of Calvary Chapel preaching… and given Wimber’s initial involvement with Calvary Chapel, this makes sense. In fact, the OLDEST sermons that I received, from back in 1979, the year I was born, John taught through Ephesians and Philippians. 

So did John Wimber love the Bible? ABSOLUTELY. Reflecting on Wimber’s influence, Glenn Schroder writes:

“… years later, as a pastor responsible for teaching Scripture to my own congregation, it was John’s tenacity and devotion to the Word that spoke most loudly to me. I realized that no matter how difficult the lessons of Scripture were, I was obliged to teach them with no compromise and no shame.” (Never Trust a Leader Without a Limp)

Now I think it’s important to point out that it’s a logical fallacy to suggest that you are either committed to the Bible or your committed to experiencing God’s presence. What we discover throughout Wimber’s life and ministry is that he was convicted BY SCRIPTURE that experiencing God’s presence, operating in spiritual gifts such as healing and prophecy, and many spiritual experiences were TAUGHT in the Bible. 

Schroder, whose book “Never Trust a Leader Without a Limp” is probably one of the best Wimber books you can buy, really fleshes this out in reference to why Wimber was committed to the ministry of healing. Schroder recounts the story that for ONE YEAR, Wimber taught through the the Bible on healing in order to give his church a biblical foundation. Listen to how Schroder tells this story:

“Week after week John would teach from the gospels the various accounts of Jesus healing people. He would talk about the kingdom of God and how when we pray “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” that we are, in fact, asking for just that. For God’s rule to come and his will to be done here, now, in this person’s body, just as it will one day be in heaven… But no one got healed. It would be easy to give up in a situation like that. To just move on and teach something else. But John was convinced that Scripture taught healing, and he continued to teach healing. We in the church also pressed in and continued to pray and seek God for healing. That was the focus.” (Never Trust a Leader Without a Limp)

If you know Wimber’s story and the story of the Anaheim Vineyard, then you know that eventually people started to get healed and Wimber’s teachings, FROM THE BIBLE, went on to influence thousands of people and thousands of churches all over the world to not discover something NEW and in addition to the Bible, but to rediscover what the Bible had taught all along. 

Pick up Schroder’s book, Never Trust a Leader Without a Limp. It’s a gold mine of Wimber reflections. And if you are in the Anaheim area and want to see what a John Wimber influenced church looks like, check out Haven Lane Ministries. You’ll discover pretty quickly that John Wimber was a Bible guy and that those who were impacted by his ministry are also really into the authority of Scripture. 

About the Author

Luke Geraty is a pastor-theologian in northern California. With a few theology degrees and nearly twenty years of pastoral leadership, Luke loves the Bible, theology, fly fishing, coffee, and books. All opinions are his own and not the views of any other organizations he’s affiliated with. You can follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe to his YouTube.