THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF HEALING MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH – FROM

A BIBLICAL & THEOLOGICAL STANDPOINT

No understanding of the nature and scope of the healing ministry of the Church can be
obtained without some prior discussion of the nature and scope of health and healing,
and so we begin.

THE NATURE OF HEALTH

The word health belongs to a group of words which came to Britain with the Anglo-
Saxon invasion of the fifth century AD, and first appears in the translation of the Psalms
and the Gospels into Anglo-Saxon. The word was derived from the Teutonic root hal
which means 'whole' and gave rise to the words wholeness, holiness and haleness, as
well as to the word health.

Health, then, by derivation means 'wholeness'. However, there are so many and various
aspects to health that several other words are needed to describe these different aspects.
Also, health is not an abstract idea; it is a property of life and living beings, although its
use may be extended to refer to objects and situations that may affect those beings.

We may speak of health in terms of the form, function, relationships or characteristics

of a living being:

 In terms of form, health is completeness of structure;

 in terms of function, it is harmony or integration;
 in terms of relationships, it is the rightness of relationships, and
 in terms of its characteristics, it is soundness, holiness, wholesomeness and
strength.

If we use one of these terms to define health we should remember that it often only
describes one aspect of its condition - thus if we say with Jurgen Moltmann that health
is ‘the strength to be human’1 we run the risk of suggesting that those who are not strong
are not human.

The Bible tells us that human beings were created in 'the image and likeness of God'
(Gen 1.26) and therefore they must have been created healthy since God is healthy in
the fullest sense of that term. The human beings he had created were included in God's
verdict when he pronounced all that he had made to be 'very good' (Gen 1.31). As we
read on in the Old Testament (OT), we find that it very rarely uses the word health
although it soon becomes obvious that it is very much concerned with the health of
human beings. Health is not defined so much as it is described in terms of its
characteristics. These are set forth in the lives of people and the demands of God upon
them. One of the best examples of this is seen in the account of the lives of the
patriarchs in the book of Genesis, especially the story of Abraham in chapters 12-25.

The word which most fully enshrines the OT understanding of health is the word
shalom which is commonly translated 'peace' in the English versions. This word is used

1
Jurgen Moltman, God in Creation (London: SCM Press 1985), pp 273-275
to denote the presence of wholeness, harmony and wellbeing in all spheres of life
whether physical, mental and spiritual; or individual, social and national.

Another word that describes the OT concept of health is the word righteousness - a word
that describes relationships. In these terms we may define health as a right relationship
of a person to God, to themselves, to their neighbour and to their environment. When
these relationships are right they find expression in a person's life as uprightness of
character and wholeness of being and living.

The New Testament (NT) presupposes the concept of health set out in the OT and uses
such words as life (Jn 10.10), blessedness (Mt 5.3-12) maturity (Eph 4.13) and holiness
(1 Thes 5.23) to describe it. Jesus summed up the NT idea of health when he described
it as an overflowing fullness of life (Jn 10.10). However, the NT tells us more about
healing than about health.2

If we were to sum up the essential nature of health in one word in English, the most
appropriate word would be wellbeing. This was the word used in the constitution of the
World Health Organisation (WHO) when it was drawn up in 1946. In this document
health was defined as 'a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not
merely the absence of disease or infirmity'.3 In 1984 the WHO invited its members to
include ‘a spiritual dimension’ in their health service planning, thus recognising an
important aspect of health and health care which the definition had previously omitted.4

However, as in the case of the word health, the term wellbeing needs to be provided
with both content and context for it to be meaningful. By derivation ‘wellbeing’ means
‘being what you will to be’ for the words ‘well’ and ‘will’ are cognate5 words.
Therefore, our understanding of the nature of health and wellbeing will depend on what
we believe about human nature and destiny.

The result is that there is a specifically Christian understanding of health based on the
Christian view of humankind as created and redeemed by God. Consequently we need
to define more closely what we mean when we speak of health as wholeness and
wellbeing.

These words are to be understood in the context of the nature and will of God as
revealed by his love toward us, and the demands of that love upon us.

His love desires our complete wellbeing and to that end he sent his Son to die on the
Cross that we might be forgiven and restored to fellowship with him - a fellowship that
was the original purpose of our creation. His basic demand of his people is that they
should be holy as he is holy (Lev 19.2; 20.7 and 21.8) and this requires holiness or
wholeness in all parts of their life and being.

THE SCOPE OF HEALTH

2
The word health occurs only four times in the NRSV (of the NT) and only once in the NIV, whilst the
verb to heal in its different forms occurs about one hundred times in both versions
3
World Health Organisation, Basic Documents: Constitution (Geneva: WHO, 1948), p 1
4
World Health Organisation, WHO Chronicle: Report of the 37th World Health Assembly (Geneva:
WHO, 1984) Vol 38, p172, 'Spiritual dimension and FCDC in Health for All'
5
i.e., related in origin
In popular speech, health usually means physical health, i.e. the health of the body. It is
important to emphasise, however, that health includes much more than the body in its
scope. The body is only one aspect of human beings, and health extends to all aspects of
their existence. On an individual level it includes all aspects of the human being, body,
mind and spirit, and on a corporate level it includes the neighbour, community and
environment to which human beings are related.

THE NATURE OF HEALING

Although human beings were created healthy, it is obvious today that they have not
remained so. In the words of John Baillie, 'We cannot say that human nature is a good
thing. Also we cannot say that it is a bad thing, nor a bad thing improving with time. It
is a good thing spoiled'.6 The result is that the characteristics of human beings are no
longer those of healthy people for their various relationships have been broken. Human
beings no longer enjoy fellowship with God, they are at war within themselves and with
their neighbours, and they are exploiting and spoiling the environment in which God
placed them. In the Christian view, this change in the human situation is due to
humankind's rebellion against God which caused them to fall from the fellowship they
had enjoyed with God. In theological terms this view is called the doctrine of the Fall.

If shalom is the word which describes the essential concept of health in the OT, the verb
rapha describes its concept of healing. This word means to restore, to make whole. It is
the word used when God tells the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord your healer (rophe)’
(Ex 15.26). Karl Barth calls this verse ‘the divine Magna Carta in the matter of health
and all related questions’.7

We see from this verse that health is preserved and ill health prevented by obedience to
the laws of God. This is a reminder that basically health is a right relationship to God,
and it is through such a relationship that the other human relationships are made right. If
any of these relationships break down then the result is ill health either of the individual
or the community, or of both. In the OT the restoration of a right relationship with God
was through the sacrificial system set out in the Pentateuch. The restoration of other
right relationships followed obedience to those laws of God that regulated the life and
behaviour of both the individual and community. These laws included the laws of
personal, social and environmental hygiene, the observance of which was important in
the promotion of health and the prevention of disease.

In the NT, physical healing is accepted as the responsibility of the physician. Jesus said,
'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick' (Mk 2.17).
Although his own acts of healing were physical they were always potentially more than
this, for they were brought about by the faith of the sick in him, and could include
forgiveness of sin as spiritual healing as well as physical recovery (as in the case of the
healing of the paralytic in Mk 2.1-12). By his death on the cross Jesus offered himself as
a once-for-all sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin and the restoration of human
relationships (Rom 5.6-11; Heb 7.27 and 10.12-18). In this way he provided the basis
for a comprehensive ministry of healing available to all humankind.
6
John Baillie, Divinity Class Lectures, New College, Edinburgh, 1946
7
Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1961), vol 3, part 4, p 369
That the healing ministry of Jesus was intended to be continued by the Church is shown
by the examples of healing by Paul and other Christian leaders in the book of the Acts
of the Apostles; by the specific reference to a gift of healing (or literally ‘gifts of
healings’) in the list of the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the Church provided by Paul in 1
Corinthians 12.7-11; and also by the description of a procedure for the healing of the
sick in the context of the congregation in James 5.13-16. It is important to notice that no
time limit is imposed in the NT on the presence or exercise of the gifts of healings in the
Church, or on the practice of the method of healing described by James.

THE SCOPE OF HEALING

When evil entered into the world with humankind's rebellion against their Creator, this
adversely affected all aspects of human life and behaviour - physical, mental, spiritual
and social. This means that healing is required in all spheres of human life.
It is here that problems of understanding arise because the word healing has acquired a
restricted meaning in its popular usage and has been virtually ‘disowned’ by both
medicine and theology. In general, when people speak of healing they are thinking of
the healing of the body (and to a lesser extent of the healing of the mind). Thus healing
tends to mean, in the first place, healing that is physical in nature and scope. In medical
usage this meaning is uncommon, for although medicine speaks of the healing of ulcers
and fractures, it does not speak of the healing of diseases of the body, but of ‘cure.’ The
common meaning of the term healing in medical usage is to describe non-conventional
and non-medical methods of treatment which are often regarded as not far removed
from quackery, although this attitude is now changing with the increasing medical
acceptance of the possible benefits of the use of methods which are complementary to
those of medicine itself.8 (The New Age movement has contributed to this concept too).

Taking its cue from the popular understanding of healing as primarily physical in
nature, theology has traditionally had little to say about it because it had little to say
about the body. A standard textbook of theology published at the end of the last century
dismissed the subject of the body in the following words:

As to the body of man, theology is not concerned with it, except to note how
truly, both in material and structure, it is part of the physical universe.9

It is difficult to justify this dismissal of the body theologically. As Bonhoeffer has

reminded us, God has ordained that there should be human life on earth only in the form
of bodily life.10 Human beings cannot therefore be considered apart from their body if
such consideration is to be complete. In this connection it is important to remember that
the body was the medium of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Also, at the resurrection the
form of our body will be retained (as it was in his case) and not discarded, although it
will be changed from a natural body to a spiritual one in the likeness of Christ (1 Cor
15. 42-49). From these considerations it will be seen that the body has a significant
place in theology.

8
British Medical Association, Complementary Medicine: New Approaches to Good Practice (London:
BMA, 1993)
9
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics (London: Collins/Fontana, 1964) p 156
10
W.N. Clarke, An Outline of Christian Theology (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1898), sixth edition, p 184)
In spite of this, theology has not been interested in the body and its healing. In
particular, it has not linked it with the salvation of the soul although both of these must
be included in the complete healing of the whole human being. In this connection it is
important to notice that in the gospels, Jesus uses the verb ‘to save’ (sozo) equally for
physical healing and spiritual salvation, so that healing and salvation are brought
together into the one concept of wholeness.11

The Church of England Report of 1958 makes the point in this way: ‘As ordinarily used,
this word healing means the restoration to normality of deranged physical functions but
in the wider meaning which the Christian view of man requires, healing is the enabling
of a man to function as a whole in accordance with God's will for him.’12 That
functioning as a whole requires not only physical restoration but also spiritual salvation.
The problem is that the English language does not have a word that embraces all these
aspects of the healing which is the restoration to wholeness. We may summarise the
scope of healing in the following propositions:

1. Healing extends to all aspects of human life and being, and not only to the
physical aspect.

2. Healing includes all effective methods of treatment and care whether these are
by self-help, orthodox medicine or non-conventional therapy.

3. Healing, understood as the restoration to wholeness of a human being, is only

part of the total approach to health and health care. It must be accompanied by
measures that promote positive health and prevent disease and sickness.

4. Healing never gives immunity against the causes of death and so is never
complete in this life. Complete healing will only occur at the resurrection.

The phrase The Ministry of Healing first appeared in modern times as the title of a
booklet written by the Rev A. J. Gordon DD, a Baptist pastor of Boston, Massachusetts,
and published in 1881.13 Since then it has become the common term used to describe the
involvement of the Church in what has been variously called faith-healing, divine
healing, spiritual healing, charismatic healing and (by doctors) non-conventional
therapy.

In its general sense, the word ministry means service rendered to people in need or to
God in response to their need. In the present context 'the ministry of healing' means the
service rendered to people who are sick in any aspect of their being in order to promote
their healing and restore them to wholeness as far as this is possible.
There are two senses in which the phrase the ministry of healing may be used. In the
wider sense, it describes all activity directed to the healing and care of the sick. In this
general sense, the ministry of healing is a spectrum made up of many different
11
Church of England, The Church's Ministry of Healing: The Report of the Archbishop's Commission
(London: Church Information Office, 1958), p 12
12
John Wilkinson, 'Healing and Salvation: Some Theological Considerations' published in the Frontline
Target Pack on health and Healing (Edinburgh: Church of Scotland Department of Education, 1988)
13
In the following year he used the phrase as the title of a book. See A & J Gordon, The Ministry of
Healing (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1882)
approaches to, and forms of, healing. Most of these are based on the properties and
substances to be found in nature or the Creation. Thus the human body and mind were
created with self-healing properties and although these may be limited in some respects,
they are nevertheless responsible for much of the recovery from disease and injury that
occurs in the world today. The healing of wounds and fractures are obvious examples,
together with the action of the natural immune defense systems present in the tissues of
the body. Also the Creator placed in the human environment healing substances which
may be used in the treatment of disease and the results of injury. The group of antibiotic
compounds derived from moulds is a good example of these substances.

In this sense all those concerned with health care in whatever capacity join in the
ministry of healing. They all make use of the accumulated knowledge of the body and
its properties and practice the skills derived from the experience of their use. This is the
basis of the work of the medical profession and the other health care professions.
The second and more restricted usage of the term the ministry of healing is that which
restricts its meaning to the activity of the Church in the care and healing of the sick in
terms of prayer and the laying on of hands. In this case the Church's ministry of healing
forms only one part of the total spectrum of healing.

THE MINISTRY OF HEALING OF THE CHURCH

As mentioned above, the term the ministry of healing was first used in connection with
the Christian healing activity of the kind recorded in the NT. It has continued to be used
of healing under Church auspices. As we study the ministry of healing of the Christian
Church, certain questions arise.

Why should the Christian Church be involved in the healing ministry?14

1. Because the Church is concerned for the well-being of human beings.

2. Because it believes that health in the fullest sense is the will of God for human
beings (John 10.10).

3. Because it believes that all healing ultimately comes from God although it may
be mediated through human agents (Exodus 15.26 and 2 Kings 20.7).

4. Because the healing of all aspects of human life and being belongs to the gospel
of Jesus Christ.

5. Because it has before it the example of Jesus Christ and the apostles who healed
human beings of their diseases. See, for example, Mark 1.32-34 and Acts 5.15-
16.

6. Because it believes that it is the will of Jesus Christ that his disciples should heal
the sick. This belief is based on the instruction to heal the sick, that he gave to
the Twelve and Seventy disciples respectively (Mt 10.8 and Lk 10.9). While the
specific context in which these instructions are given restricts their application to
certain localities and people, they nevertheless indicate the general desire and
14
Church of Scotland, The Church is Healing (Edinburgh: Board of Social Responsibility, 1982) p 1
 intention of Jesus that his disciples should engage in the ministry of healing as
they did after he left them.

7. Because its exercise of the hea1ing ministry forms part of the obedience of its
members, to the second commandment of Jesus that they should love their
neighbour as themselves (Mark 12.31).

8. Because the Church has a contribution to health and healing that no other agency
can provide, namely, the gospel of redemption and forgiveness through the grace
of God, without which we cannot be made truly whole (Romans 5.10).

How does the Church become involved in the healing ministry?

The Church has been involved in a healing ministry throughout its history. The gospel it
preaches is a gospel concerned with the wholeness of the life and being of men and
women. In obedience to their Lord's command to love their neighbour as themselves, its
members have always been concerned with the health and welfare of other people.
Some have felt themselves specifically called by God to train and serve in health and
welfare services, both Christian and secular.

The question, therefore, is not, ‘How does the Church become involved in the healing
ministry?’ but, ‘How do its members come to realise they are already involved in such a
ministry?’ This can only be by the Church clearly teaching that this is so; that every
service of worship in which prayer is offered to God, in which his praise is sung, and
his word read and expounded is a healing service in which people may experience the
healing and redeeming grace of God. Other special services of intercession for the sick
or for the laying on of hands may be held, but they should not disguise this fact that the
normal Sunday service may equally be a source of healing in which people may find
shalom and forgiveness.

In what kind of healing is the Church involved ?

As already mentioned, “there is still, in the minds of many, a popular assumption that
‘healing’ in a Church context means healing of a special kind, and exercised in a special
way - called 'spiritual', 'divine', 'faith', 'charismatic' or 'miraculous' healing”.15 The
methods used by this kind of healing are usually those of prayer and the laying-on of
hands, with perhaps also anointing with oil. If this assumption were correct it would
mean that the healing ministry of the Church would be confined to only one part of the
spectrum of healing with no necessary connection with any other part.

However, the real answer to this question is that the Church is involved in the whole
spectrum of the healing ministry. “The Church of Jesus Christ has a ministry to the sick
which cannot be compartmentalized or delimited. Our ministry is not to "souls" in
abstraction; our ministry is to men in their totality as creatures, whose whole lives need
to be filled with the power of God.”16

15
Reports to the General Assembly (Edinburgh: Church of Scotland, 1980), Report of the Special
Committee on Healing, p443
16
United Presbyterian Church of the United States of America, The Relation of Christian Faith to Health
(Philadelphia: Office of the General assembly, 1960) p 8
Thus, on the one hand, the Church has built hospitals and provided medical health care
staff and facilities down through the ages. In Africa today there are countries wherein
the Church still provides about fifty per cent of the medical health care available to the
population. On the other hand, the Church by its spiritual healing ministry provides
health care which complements the medical and paramedical kind, and by making its
own contribution to healing completes the spectrum, gathering up into itself the other
kinds of healing that are available.

One of the best practical illustrations of how comprehensive the Church's healing
ministry can be, is found in the work of medical missionaries which combines medical
methods of health care with spiritual and pastoral ministration. This work of the
provision of comprehensive health care is being continued by the local indigenous
churches in Africa, Asia and elsewhere, which have now become responsible for the
hospitals and community health care services that were originally established by
medical missionaries.

Sometimes it is suggested that the Church's ministry of healing is an alternative to

orthodox medical healing and even in competition with it. To suggest this is to deny the
Christian doctrine of Creation. It has already been noted how God has included in his
Creation, healing properties and substances for human beings to use, and how this
provides the basis for the conventional health care carried out by people whether
professionally trained or not. All kinds of healing are therefore complementary to each
other and cannot be in competition because “all healing is ultimately of God, who alone
is the source of life and wellbeing. All those who combat and overcome disease are the
agents God uses.” 17

Who practises the healing ministry of the Church?

The short answer to this question is that all Church members practice the healing
ministry of the Church. They do this by their daily work and witness, in their life-style
and in their neighbourly concern for the health and healing of others.

While the ministry of healing is the vocation of all members of the Church, there are
several groups within its membership who have a special vocation and place in its
healing ministry.18

There are first of all, those who have been given a special gift of healing. This gift is
referred to by the apostle Paul in a list of the special gifts given by the Holy Spirit to the
Church in 1 Corinthians 12:8, 28 and 30.

Secondly, there are those members of the Church who are trained and experienced in
medical, nursing and paramedical methods of healing. They may serve in Christian
institutions or health services (often overseas with local indigenous Churches) or in
secular services such as government National Health Service or private health care
organisations. In both situations they are exercising the ministry of healing of the
Church of which they are members.

17
Church of Scotland, Spiritual Healing: The Report of The Church of Scotland Commission (Edinburgh:
The Saint Andrew Press, 1958) p 15
18
Reports to the General Assembly (Edinburgh: Church of Scotland, 1980) Report of the Special
Committee on Healing, pp 443-444
Thirdly, there are trained members of the Church involved in the social work and
welfare agencies of the Church and the State. They too are engaged in the healing
ministry of the Church.

Fourthly, the chaplains to various institutions such as hospitals and prisons together with
those involved in industry are also to be regarded as sharing in the ministry of healing of
the Church.

Finally, there are those ministers, deacons, deaconesses, and readers engaged in the
parish ministry who lead or share in the regular services of worship of the Church. As
already suggested, these services are essentially healing services during which God may
speak to individual worshippers and heal them of their sicknesses. In addition, special
intercessory services may be held in private or in public at which the leaders may lay
hands on the sick. Also, much of the daily work of the parish ministry is concerned with
the care and counseling of those who are sick in body, mind or spirit.

How does the Church practise a healing ministry?

1. By proclaiming the love of God for all men and women and his offer of
redemption and forgiveness by faith in Jesus Christ.

2. By seeking to promote in its members a Christian life-style involving personal

responsibility and concern for their own health and that of their neighbours as a
witness to their community.

3. By encouraging its members to train as health care professionals, and staff the
existing health care services whether provided by the Church or by secular
agencies.

4. By supporting its members who work professionally in the health care and social
services and helping them to relate their Christian faith to their professional
practice.

5. By establishing and maintaining institutional and community health care and

social services for the sick and disabled where these are required but do not
exist.

6. By engaging in the normal congregational activities of worship and service, and

educating its members in their healing significance.

7. By providing the opportunity for healing by engaging in intercessory prayer for

the sick, and the laying on of hands where this is appropriate and requested.

8. By co-operating with other agencies concerned with health care and promotion
where such co-operation is possible on a mutually acceptable basis.

The base for all these activities is the congregation of Christian people. As Jesus sent
out his twelve disciples to preach, to teach and to heal, so today the function of the
Christian congregation is to preach the gospel of redemption and forgiveness in order to
lead people to faith in him, to teach the people of God their Christian responsibilities
and to provide healing for those who are sick or disabled in body, mind or spirit. In this
way each congregation of God's people can be a therapeutic community in the fullest
sense of that term.19

19
World Council Studies No 3, The Healing Church (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1965), pp 29-
32 and 36-37