In
the last 50 years there have been many Pentecostal evangelists who
became known for their big healing crusades and rallies - people like
Oral Roberts, Kathryn Kuhlman, Reinhard Bonnke, and Benny Hinn. The
prominence of such high profile individual ministers is one of the
important features of Pentecostalism. With its beginnings early in
the last century and explosive growth throughout the world, Pentecostalism
is associated with the experience of the charismatic gifts of the
Holy Spirit, and the emergence of miraculous signs and wonders among
congregations of ordinary people. By demonstrating God's presence
through the charismatic gifts, and thereby raising the faith level
of entire congregations, the Pentecostal healing evangelists empowered
relatively poor and often uneducated people to live effective Christian
lives with commitment and confidence. In such situations, healing
is preached, expected, ministered, and experienced. Because healing
is seen as an integral part of evangelism, any evangelistic outreach
will include public demonstrations of the healing ministry. The style
of ministry calls for full participation in prayer and singing, sometimes
dancing, and the preaching is from the Word of God, and at the intellectual
level of the people, with opportunities for them to respond.
There was a significant revival in American Pentecostalism in the
late 1940s and in the 1950s which spread to many other countries.
It was led by a number of healing evangelists who built up large independent
ministries. They held revival meetings all over the United States,
ches. They believed that healing was a part of the atonement, and
that deliverance from sickness is the promise to all believers. In
Pentecostalism the concept of redemptive suffering does not exist.
The ministries of healing and of deliverance are closely entwined,
with considerable use of the gifts of the Holy Spirit referred to
in 1 Corinthians 12. They claimed that God spoke directly to them,
and they were the ultimate authorities in their ministries. In preaching
revival, they sometimes made exaggerated claims of healings to outdo
one another, but their faith and the style of their meetings had a
great effect on a whole generation of healing evangelists around the
world.
Within the Pentecostal tradition, anecdotal claims of healings are
widespread, but there are very few examples of any formal procedures
for assessing claims of miracles or keeping records of what occurred.
This leads many people outside their tradition to regard all claims
of divine healing with scepticism. Experienced church leaders are
well aware of the dangers of unsubstantiated claims, and advise people
to seek verification from their doctors. In the Pentecostal churches
there is a far higher expectancy of physical healing than in many
of the denominational churches, but this can cause problems, and Wayne
Gruden, an American New Church theologian, gives the following caution
to these churches:
"Christians should be very cautious and take extreme care in
their reporting of miracles if they do occur. Much harm can be done
to the gospel if Christians exaggerate or distort, even in small ways,
the facts of a situation where a miracle has occurred. The power of
the Holy Spirit is great enough to work however he wills, and we should
never embellish the actual facts of the situation simply to make it
sound more exciting than it actually was. God does exactly what he
is pleased to do in each situation."
In the Catholic Church our problem is not so much exaggerations as
lack of expectation, influenced by the rational western mindset which
has to a large extent rejected any belief in divine healing. In this
situation, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal has certainly helped create
a much greater expectancy that God can heal people, and there have
been many medically verified examples of dramatic healings through
prayer. The healing ministry is clearly present in every Christian
Tradition in sacramental and non-sacramental ways, rooted in prayer,
and using recognised liturgies or spontaneously responding to the
guidance of the Holy Spirit. The differences come in the ways in which
this is done, and in the amount of local freedom to choose the style
and presentation of the ministry. We all need to benefit from one
another's experiences of this important ministry of healing, and to
bring together our understanding, our ways of acting and our most
effective practices.
So when we look at healing in the other Christian Traditions, we
must be careful not to reject their practices through our intellectual
pride, or because they are outside our own experience and we do not
agree with the theology, style or pastoral practice of those through
whom the healing is ministered. The Lord's ways are not always our
ways, and he will use whoever he chooses. We should rejoice when we
see men and women alive in the Holy Spirit, using the charisms for
the benefit of others, and giving glory to the Lord. One of my own
sons, who had been diagnosed with a form of deafness for which there
was no medical solution, was completely healed through the ministry
of a Pentecostal pastor.
Men and women with a genuine charism of healing often attract publicity
and large crowds. This is not wrong, provided they give the glory
to God, any more than it is wrong when well-known institutional church
leaders attract publicity and large crowds. As Catholics we understand
the importance in the Church of both the charismatic and the hierachical
gifts. This was clearly recognised at the Second Vatican Council in
Lumen Gentium section 12 based on 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and has
been repeated in Christifideles Laici and elsewhere. The charisms
are distributed freely among all of us, and are given for the good
of others and for the growth of the whole Church. One of the key differences
between the Catholic situation today and the position in many Pentecostal
churches is that the importance of equipping and releasing people
into the healing ministry is more widely accepted by them, and put
into practice with remarkable results. This is certainly an important
factor in the on-going growth of the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches,
which today account for almost 30 per cent of organised global Christianity.
God not only exists - he also heals people. All the Christian churches
and ecclesial communities believe that, but sadly not all of our congregations
and parish communities are willing to step out in faith and put it
into practice. My prayer is that we will see a real encouragement
to everyone to pray for healing in our families in simple ways, while
at the same time encouraging the development of more liturgical and
non-liturgical settings for this ministry, with the building of teams
of people trained to pray for healing. In all this we have much to
share with and to receive from our brothers and sisters in the other
Christian Traditions and Ecclesial Communities, particularly their
understanding of the importance of establishing this ministry in all
our local churches, for the glory of God and the extension of his
Kingdom among us.
