06.04.2020

Healing and Deliverance

Praying during the workshop.

Members of the workshop in Kibuye, Rwanda. (photos: C. Währisch-Oblau/UEM)

A Protestant Approach to the Ministry of Healing and Deliverance:  UEM Workshop evaluates past work and suggests further reflection and trainings

“Since we have started offering the ministry of healing and deliverance in our church, congregations are thriving and people are no longer leaving us to join the Pentecostals.” This experience by Jerome Bizimana from the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda (EPR) was echoed by many participants in a workshop held in Kibuye, Rwanda.
From March 5-9, 2020, when lockdowns and border closures were still confined to China, 17 pastors from 13 member churches in Africa and Asia met with the Executive Secretary Evangelism, Claudia Währisch-Oblau, to evaluate the work done on the ministry of healing and deliverance within the context of UEM since 2012.

Within the last years, several UEM member churches in Africa have made the ministry of healing and deliverance an integral part of their work. EEC in Cameroon, EAR and EPR in Rwanda, CDCC and CADELU have regulated the ministry and are offering trainings for pastors, evangelists and lay members of prayer groups. In other churches, pastors and local prayer groups sometimes offer the ministry on an individual basis.
In Asia, Abdi Sabda Theological Seminary in Medan has been offering a training in healing and deliverance ministry since 2008. Jaharianson Saragih, who runs this, has also been invited to other churches in North Sumatra and Nias to lead such trainings. GKPA on Sumatra has also been running a number of training programs in different local areas. 

In their discussions, the participants of the workshop agreed that the ministry of healing and deliverance has to be seen in the greater context of the churches’ work in counseling, diaconia and advocacy. After all, many people ask for deliverance prayers due to problems caused by poverty and unjust political and economic structures.
The group also voiced the need for more theological reflection and training on the issue as misleading theologies and harmful practices are common in many parts of Africa and Asia. The documents developed within the UEM study process were seen as helpful for this, but the participants complained that they were not sufficiently publicized and known in the churches. 

To enable further theological discussion, the workshop participants developed a three-part document which gives a short outline of a specific Protestant theology of the ministry, a basic theology of prayer, and a longer reflection on the connection between the ministry and social and political action. The document can be downloaded here.

Rev. Dr Claudia Währisch-Oblau (Executive Secretary for Evangelism)