Deliverance ministries to be included in work of UEM member churches

Member churches of the United Evangelical Mission (UEM) in Africa and Asia should include deliverance ministries into their work, according to two papers resulting from two think tank workshops.

Experts from churches in Africa and Asia met in the Philippines and Rwanda to discuss about magic, witchcraft, demon beliefs and deliverance. Their common statements: Evil or occult powers such as demons or bad spirits do exist and have to be dealt with in deliverance ministries. The carrying out of such ministries, however, shall differ from those usually being carried out by charismatic movements. According to the papers, psychological and medical assistance need to be included, and political dimensions have to be considered as well. The well-being of the people shall be of highest priority. The basis of the deliverance shall always be the Bible only.

Nevertheless, the statement of the African experts clearly declares: “Issues of witchcraft, demons and magic are not a mere belief, since every day we face situations in which we experience the manifestations of demons and witchcraft phenomena. We can testify that these phenomena are spiritual, psychological, and physical realities."

Such statements may be unusual for Christians from Germany, says Claudia Währisch-Oblau, the Executive Secretary for Evangelism of UEM. “But they show the reality of receiving and  preaching the gospel in Africa and Asia and should be discussed seriously within the UEM.” She  moderated the workshops and experienced the importance they were given by the participants. “People told me how glad they were that UEM had finally created a space for theological reflection and exchange of experiences of these burning issues which are not discussed officially in most member churches”, she says. The documents state that ignoring the church members’ beliefs in the invisible world was a failure of the churches.

Some of the African churches have already announced to hold workshops for pastors on deliverance ministry within the coming weeks.  Several Indonesian churches are planning seminars on the congregational level.

Read the full text of the African and Asian papers on deliverance here:

• <media 1001 - - "TEXT, Africa Region Pastoral and Theological Foundations for Deliverance, Africa_Region_Pastoral_and_Theological_Foundations_for_Deliverance.pdf, 63 KB">Theological Foundations Africa</media>
• <media 1002 - - "TEXT, Africa Region Pastoral Guidelines for a Deliverance Ministry, Africa_Region_Pastoral_Guidelines_for_a_Deliverance_Ministry.pdf, 97 KB">Pastoral Guidelines Africa</media>
• <media 1004 - - "TEXT, Asia Region Theological Basis for Deliverance, Asia_Region_Theological_Basis_for_Deliverance.pdf, 58 KB">Theological Basis Asia</media>
• <media 1003 - - "TEXT, Asia Region Pastoral guidelines, Asia_Region_Pastoral_guidelines.pdf, 55 KB">Pastoral Guidelines Asia</media>
• <media 1006 - - "TEXT, Asia Region texts indonesian, Asia_Region_texts_indonesian.pdf, 85 KB">Full text in Bahasa Indonesia</media>
• <media 1167 - - "TEXT, Africa Region Pastoral Guidelines in French, Africa_Region_Pastoral_Guidelines_in_French.pdf, 163 KB">Pastoral Guidelines French</media>
• <media 1166 - - "TEXT, Africa Region Pastoral and Theological Foundations in French, Africa_Region_Pastoral_and_Theological_Foundations_in_French.pdf, 100 KB">Full text in French</media>