August 16th 2024. Surely all practising Christians know that Evangelistic Witness is a core value / component of the basic Christian experience. “The Four Talks of the Christian Life” was the title of a pamphlet I was given on first professing faith at the age of fourteen: Prayer (talking to God), Bible reading (God talking to us), Christian Fellowship (talking to fellow-believers) and Witnessing (talking to unbelievers) were all essential to discipleship. So I got stuck into Evangelism from day one: singing in one of Britain’s earliest guitar bands, several times in statutory Youth clubs and once in Coventry’s Shopping Precinct; giving testimony at my school’s Christian Fellowship and once in an English class. At London Bible College I served on the Student Committee as Evangelistic Chairman (following in the steps of Terry Virgo), during which time I instituted a Commission on Evangelism, and organised a Forum with a well-known Evangelist and a well-known Pastor. At this time I recall the Evangelical Alliance undertook a study and published a book called “On the Other Side”, which sought to redefine Evangelism for the current era (the sixties – how time has flown!)
I do not recall at any time any mention of Divine Healing as an essential component of Evangelism, then or subsequently as a Church pastor, as “One Step Forward”, “Evangelism Explosion” and a series of other programmes presented themselves to us as the latest ‘must have’. And, just before writing this post, I searched in vain on Google for any mention of Healing in the definitions of Evangelism. I now recall, however, that during my music band’s youth club exploits, we got assisted by the Assembly of God’s youth group who insisted on showing evangelistic films featuring the Healing Evangelist T L Osborn. I knew that Jesus Himself did healings (which I mistakenly believed was to prove he was divine), but I remember thinking “What has healing got to do with evangelism?” And it now amazes me that even during the time when my interest in Healing Prayer was growing (please check my earlier posts if you are unaware), I was blinkered in not holding healing to be an essential component of the Gospel.
My fresh calling back into ministry in 2018 – specifically the Healing Ministry – has forced me to take a fresh look at the Kingdom ministry of Jesus, and the Great Commission he delivered to his disciples/apostles. His ‘Manifesto of the Kingdom’ (Luke 4:18-19) set out a (surprisingly?) wide commitment to personal and social change, including “recovery of sight to the blind”. His calling of the first twelve disciples (Luke 9:1-2) entailed the mission to “proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal”. Following this an extra seventy were sent out with the same calling (Luke 10:9). Finally, before his Ascension, Jesus delivered to them his “Great Commission” (Matthew 28:18-20), with the words “teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” most certainly including the earlier instructions to ‘proclaim and heal’. And Mark’s version (for whatever the ‘longer ending’ – 16:9-20 is worth) includes “lay their hands on the sick and they will recover”.
Where, when and why did the church lose the plot? Thank God for churches and leaders that are now recovering it – Bethel in Redding, California and Oxford Community Church being the larger ones that I am acquainted with. May the plot be found by others – in Oxford, the UK and worldwide!
Healing in Jesus' Name 