HEALING, SALVATION

AND MISSION:
THE MINISTRY OF HEALING
IN LATIN AMERICAN P E N TECOSTALISM
Daniel

Chique te

Daniel Chiquete id an architect and Pentecodtal theologian from Mexico. He id currently compUting a doctorate at the Middiondakademie of the University of Hamburg, Germany.

In what follows I shall attempt to formulate theologically some aspects of the ministry of
healing in Latin American Pentecostalism and outline their implications for mission. I shall
do so under four headings: 1) Healing and salvation in the context of Pentecostal faith; 2)
Healing and salvation in Pentecostal biblical and existential hermeneutics; 3) The missiological dimension of the ministry of healing in Pentecostalism; and 4) Elements of a
Pentecostal theological approach to healing/salvation/mission.

i. Healing and salvation in the context of Pentecostal faith

Pentecostal movements have grown most and had the most significant impact in the poor
regions of the world. Pentecostalism s ability to interact with the context enables it to
respond to a situation marked by sickness and exclusion by offering healing and inclusion.
The changes of religious emphasis in Pentecostalism therefore have to be understood in the
light of the changing living conditions in Latin American societies. The impoverishment
affecting all areas of life, that has reached dramatic proportions since the 1990s, is a very
important factor when it comes to understanding the renewed emphasis on healing practices in Pentecostalism. This has taken the place of speaking in tongues in almost all
Pentecostal traditions and even rivals the ministry of "renewal of praise and adoration" in
others. This emphasis on healing, together with the message of the "theology of prosperity", also partly explains the success of some groups which are incorrectly referred to as
neo-Pentecostal.
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The underdeveloped capitalism that characterizes most Latin American economies is a system that produces poverty and exclusion of one kind or another.1 One of the areas where
the effects of such exclusion are most disastrous is health care. For large sections of the population in Latin America (and in the world), falling sick can become a desperate problem
affecting the very basis of their existence and all areas of life, including religious faith. These
people generally do not have access to state and private health care systems so that, apart
from folk medicine, they have to depend on divine providence to restore them to health.
Pentecostals, most of whom come from the most deprived groups in society, are also directly affected by this state of affairs. But their belief that God is a "healing God" gives them a
special kind of strength and a different perception of sickness and health. The socio-economic background of Latin America and the particular Pentecostal religious experience are,
to my mind, two key factors in any theological analysis of the topic of healing/salvation/mission from a Pentecostal perspective.
One distinguishing feature of Pentecostal piety is that it is always very much part of the daily
lives of individuals and communities, and is always functionally related to them. Pentecostals
perceive sickness as a direct attack on their condition as children of God. They almost always
give a religious dimension to any experience of sickness and healing. Their belief that God cares
for all aspects of their lives causes them to look for the divine presence and divine reasons even
in cases of sickness. And because of that they also possess great reserves of hope and trust that
some good will come of it all the same. "We know that all things work together for good for
those who love God" (Rom. 8:28) is a text often quoted with conviction in such circumstances.
At the consultation on "Healing, Salvation and Mission" held by the World Council of
Churches (WCC) and the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) in Santiago de
Chile in October 2003, it was clear that Pentecostalism understands sickness in a broad
sense, including among its pathologies and manifestations social upheavals, the destruction
of nature and situations that may exist within communities, not excluding the possibility of
emotional or spiritual illness in pastors and their families, and the existence of traumas
resulting from history, for example. But it was equally clear that the Pentecostal understanding of healing goes beyond the restoration of individual health aqd extends to the family as well as to the social and historical dimensions mentioned above with a view to restoring them. This is at least a broad, if not a completely holistic vision.

2. Healing and salvation in Pentecostal biblical and existential bermeneutics

The two keys to understanding the Pentecostal conception of the healing/salvation link are
its experience of life and its interpretation of the Bible - although in fact the two are so
1

P. Apauleyo Mendoza, C A . M o n t a n e r and A. Vargas Llosa, Fabricantes de mieria: PoUticoj, curad, mUitared,
emprejarioj, indicatod, Barcelona, Spain, Plaza y J a n s , 1998, p p . 283-304.

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closely bound up together that they might best be seen as one, since Pentecostal religious
experience is very much determined by its interpretation of the Bible and that interpretation in turn takes place within the framework of real life and experience. This is, paradoxically, its great weakness and its great strength. One pole of its hermeneutical position is
anchored in the world of the Bible, as seen and understood by Pentecostals, and the other
in daily life.

Pentecostalism attempts to identify and reproduce the accounts of healing in the Bible, especially those of the New Testament. Although it does not use scientific methods of biblical
study such as historical criticism, it is able to achieve a deep understanding of some aspects
of these accounts thanks to its unconscious and often effective hermeneutic. Let me illustrate
this with a few examples.
One of the virtues of Pentecostal religious experience lies in the fact that there are
some clear parallels between its daily existence, and life in the situation in which the biblical accounts first emerged and were transmitted. In other words, the Penteco&tal
hermeneutical perspective enables it to approach the Bible, and the specific topic of healing and salvation, from a context and experiences which are similar to those of the communities and writers who produced the biblical accounts.2 The situation of poverty, lack
of work and daily bread, exploitation, family and social disintegration, state violence and
so on, form the background to the acts of healing performed by Jesus and are, to some
extent, his response to and criticism ofthat situation.3 Allowing for differences of time and
culture, this existential setting bears strong parallels to that of the Latin American
Pentecostal communities, which gives them a very direct and intuitive understanding of

B. Kollman, Neutestanuntliche
Wundergeschichten: Biblisch-theologische Zugnge und Impube fr dL Praxis,
Stuttgart, Berlin, Cologne, Kohlhammer, 2002, p.64: "The original groups carrying the stories of miracles
probably belong chiefly to the lower social classes because the texts of the N e w Testament tell of emergency
situations which are far removed from the upper classes." Although with different nuances, G. Theissen
reaches a similar conclusion: The MiracU Storied of the Early Christian Tradition, & Clark, Edinburgh, 1983,
ed J o h n Riches, p.249: "The movement inaugurated by J e s u s was certainly not an affair of the u p p e r class
es. In Galilee J e s u s t u r n e d to the social a n d political outcasts. The summaries leave no doubt about the sort
of people w h o flocked to him; it was the oxlos "the crowd", the humble people. It is true that primitive
Christianity soon had members from higher classes ... b u t the miracle stories in particular present them
selves as forms of expression of lower classes, in the simplicity of their theology, the simplicity of their nar
rative, but above all in their subject matter. Belief in miracles is concentrated here on specific situations of
distress, on possession, disease, hunger, lack of success a n d danger, in other w o r d s on situations which do
not strike as h a r d in all social groups."
J . D . Crossan, Der historische Jesus, Munich, Beck 1995, p.428: "When things w e n t badly the poor people
were more helplessly at the mercy of authority. W h e n J o h n the Baptist or J e s u s healed people of their infir
mities with a magic rite or a magic touch they were (more or less implicitly a n d silently) declaring their sins
to be forgiven or non-existent. In doing so they were not questioning the medical monopoly of the physi
cians, b u t the religious monopoly of the priests. All this was religiously a n d politically subversive."

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the meaning of these stories. One might say that their perceptions are in tune with one
another.4
The stories of miracles take up even more space than the parables in the gospels. Without
these accounts much of the meaning of the New Testament and the ministty of Jesus would
be lost, not least his preaching on the kingdom of God. The book of Acts would likewise be
incomprehensible without the accounts of healing. Why were the stories of healing so important in the first Christian communities? Because there were lots of sick people! Many of the
first followers of Jesus approached him because they were looking for healing, and many of
them became his disciples after a healing experience. Like many present-day Pentecostal
believers, these first followers of Jesus were sustained by the vision of a healing God who
is close to human beings and who cares for them as communities and as individuals.5 God's
"option for the poor" can be seen most clearly in the healing miracles of Jesus of Nazareth.
This option is embodied in practice by a Jesus who touches, heals and saves the sick, thus
restoring them to physical health, reintegrating them into their society and giving them the
chance to develop a spiritual and a family life. In restoring them to health he also gives them
back their dignity: "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of
your disease" (Mk. 5:34). The acts of healing performed by Jesus always signify the victory of life over the threat of death, of faith over unbelief, inclusion over exclusion, of the rule
of God over the rule of Satan. They are almost always the sign of the coming kingdom and
so have an eschatological component at the very heart of them.6 Jesus' healing actions also
contain a strong element of criticism of the authorities of his time. This was an unjust society, one that produced sickness, exclusion, and people who were "possessed by demons".
With his acts of healing and exorcism Jesus implicitly and explicitly announced the overthrow of barriers, of the rule of suffocating laws and prejudices and systems of death and

W. Kahl's self-criticism seems t o me relevant here: "Heilungserfahrungen in westafrikanischen Kirchen u n d

ihr kultureller Kontext - betrachtet aus neutestamentlicher Perspektive", Weltmission heute, No. 41:He'dung in
Mission und kumene, E M W , M a y 2002, p p . 117-141, p . 118: "A special challenge for western exegesis in the
northern hemisphere is t h e question of whether it does not perhaps have to acknowledge that other cultural perspectives have a hermeneutical advantage w h e n it comes to understanding the N e w Testament,
because they have a greater affinity with the socio-economic relations a n d cultural assumptions of the
ancient world."
D . Werner, " Z u r Wiederentdeckung des heilenden Dienstes d e r Gemeinde", Weltmission heute, No. 41: Heilung
in Mission und kumene, E M W , M a y 2002, pp.64-68, p.64: "In J e s u s ' ministry, preaching a n d healing are
inseparably linked. The healing miracles cannot simply be spiritualized a n d their significance reduced to a
matter of individual faith. Rather, they are a mark of J e s u s ' real practical concern for the real practical existence of h u m a n beings."
Kollmann, op.cit. p . 12: " J e s u s ' most striking acts are sharp reminders that G o d has begun to act decisively
in J e s u s ; they powerfully proclaim a n d promise that in him G o d is at work; in short, they are eschatological
in character." According to Theissen, op.cit., p . 277-278: "For J e s u s too t h e miracles were not normal events,
but elements in a mythical drama: in them the mythical transformation of the whole world into the basiUia
theou w a s being carried out."

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pointed to the absolute value of the human being. Some of these parallels and values are also
to be found in Pentecostalism.
One of the outstanding features of the Jesus movement and, later, of early Christianity was
that they were charismatic, healing movements. Because Pentecostalism is likewise a charismatic and healing movement, it has a deep insight into the meaning of these accounts. They
"speak" to it in its own language. The image of Jesus the healer is very present in Pentecostal
religion and provides the model, inspiration and justification for its ministry of healing.
Although Pentecostals generally take the biblical accounts literally, they know that is not all
there is to it. They do realize that these stories point to a deeper underlying meaning and
purpose. Pentecostalism interprets them as demonstrating the power of Jesus, but it also
understands them as signs of God's love and salvation in Christ. In the Bible, these divine
attributes are not expressed by means of intellectual concepts and rational arguments;
rather, they are "depicted" in images and "demonstrated" in stories. Here again
Pentecostalism, with its oral tradition and its capacity to theologize in narrative form, is particularly well placed to absorb the deeper meaning of the biblical stories; the context, content and method of communication are familiar to it. Pentecostalism also understands them
as the sign of the coming of the kingdom with Jesus, foreshadowing the great victory at the
end of time, as signs of Gods grace, as Jesus' protest against the political-economic system
and the legalistic religious system which produced poverty and disease, and as God s will for
fullness of life for all human beings. This perception exists in the Pentecostal communities,
even if it is not expressed in academic theological categories. This is another of the tasks that
lie ahead for Pentecostal theology in the immediate future.
Pentecostalism does not equate healing with salvation, but it does see them as being closely
linked. Meta-(or trans-) historical salvation is not the only kind of salvation that interests
Pentecostalism, as some of its critics assert. Pentecostal believers' absolute conviction that
they are "children of God" causes them to hope for concrete acts of divine love, healing being
one of the most highly valued and longed for experiences. For these believers, being healed
by God equals being loved by God. And being healed also means being saved from a situation of pain, weakness, exclusion or, simply, stress and worry. In this sense, healing or salvation immediately open up a perspective which enables Pentecostal believers to broaden
and deepen their hope of "salvation in Christ". One might say that they historicize, materialize and objectivize this transcendental salvation; they make it something close, part of daily
life and believable.7 Among the Christian traditions Pentecostalism has perhaps the greatest
7

As Chr. H. Grundmann has put it, "Heilung und Heil theologisch befragt", Weltmission heute, No. 41: Heilung
in Mission und kumene, EMW, May 2002, pp.8-16, p. 10: "... because healing is certainly not a precondition
for the possibility of salvation, but it certainly is one of the possibilities of experiencing it in practice in an
immediate and physical way."

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capacity to experience the deeper and the everyday dimensions of the faith, as it readily
establishes bridges of meaning between the Bible and everyday life, the transcendent and
non-transcendent aspects of life, between God s promises and their fulfilment in the life of
the communities of believers.
True, the literal reading of the Bible has a negative influence in some aspects of Pentecostal
practice, but it also has a positive influence in these traditions. Among its positive effects are
that it establishes a perspective of identity, continuity and understanding between the first
Christian communities and the Pentecostal communities of today; that it makes the Bible
concrete and believable, part of daily life; that it enables them to "translate" and "apply" the
biblical stories convincingly into their own time and context; and that it enables them to shed
light on their church practice and other components of their religious expression from this
point of view.
Another important point is that Pentecostals see the ministry of healing as an integral part
of the whole life of the church. Healing is important in itself, but an effort is also made to
integrate it into the whole religious experience. In some regions and in some Pentecostal traditions it is central, but this is not the case everywhere and emphases vary. In Chile, for
example, the main emphasis is on the experience of conversion, while in Mexico it is on
direct communion with God through the action of the Holy Spirit in an atmosphere of praise
and adoration, and in other places on the experience of liberation. Nevertheless, the ministry
of healing occupies an important place in all branches of Pentecostalism. It is one of the
many, varied aspects that make these communities so rich and attractive. The conviction
with which they exercise this ministry is based on their belief that God will faithfully fulfil
his promises, which Pentecostals diligently seek in the Bible. In the light of the above, I
believe that the Pentecostal exercise of the ministry of healing and its theological formulation are based on an understanding that is determined by its religious experience in its own
context and on its understanding of the Bible.8 These are the pillars of Pentecostal
hermeneutics.

3. The missiological dimension of the ministry o healing in

Pentecostalism
The importance of the ministry of healing makes itself felt in various facets of the life of
Pentecostal communities, most notably in worship, in teaching and in mission. Experiences
of healing are central in the Pentecostal understanding of the church and mission.
Pentecostals see the church as a living organism and hold it in high esteem as the
8

Ch. B.Johns, "Heilung und Befreiung aus pfingstkirchlicher Perspektive", Concilium, N o . 32, 1996, German
ed., p p . 238-241, p. 240: "The Bible is first and foremost a living book. It is the w o r d of God. Consequently,
God's presence is intertwined with the w o r d of God, the encounter with Scripture is the encounter with God."

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"community of saints" and as a place where the presence of the Holy Spirit is felt in a special way (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:15, 19; 12:12f; Rom. 12:3f).9 They see a direct relationship between
holiness and health. They argue implicitly that if God sanctifies people through the presence
of the Holy Spirit, and if we believe that where God s Spirit is there is complete freedom and
liberation, including freedom from disease, then we have to conclude that it is not God s will
that there should be sick people in the church, which is the body of Christ. In this way they
establish a fundamental religious premise: the presence of God s Spirit in the community and
in each one of the believers generates health/healing and salvation. This view is a central
motive for the attempts at healing that are carried out in the worshipping community and in
home visits and other group activities organized for the purpose of evangelizing. The same
healing concern is also expressed in preaching, in testimonies, thanksgiving, prayers, singing
and, often, the celebration of the Lord s Supper. It is therefore easy to understand the power
of attraction that the Pentecostal communities may exert among social groups where disease
is rife.
In general the Pentecostal communities can become effective spaces of healing, also on an
emotional level. They are able to establish strong emotional ties and solidarity where people
can find support and advice to help them cope with daily problems that often have to do with
illness. This welcoming, empathizing capacity, plus the attractiveness of its worship services and its religious message, are essential to understanding the success and expansion of
Pentecostalism. What makes it attractive to so many people is not its orthodoxy or its systematic theology, but the emotional and spiritual strength that radiates from its communities.
People often join a Pentecostal community after a conversion experience, one of the most
common causes of which is an experience of being healed through prayer, one s own or
someone else s. The healing will generally be understood as proof of God s love and acceptance, which includes the forgiveness of sins and a new life filled with the presence of the
Holy Spirit. This new understanding will have a very positive effect on the person's selfesteem and on his or her subsequent personal and social development, and its effects will be
felt by those around him. "The act of healing brings the person who is healed to see that the
Holy Spirit is the greatest of all the cosmic forces. Through healing it will become clear to
him or her that the power of Jesus has something to do with them personally. And so they
come to believe that with this same Jesus who has manifested himself with such power and
loving kindness, they are also prepared to face the other challenges of life/'10 They will then

Ibid. p . 241: "The place where healing a n d liberation take place are the communities of believers. These communities are places a n d spaces of liberation, created b y t h e Holy Spirit."
10
A. Kusch "Ethnosoziologische berlegungen zum Wachstum charismatisch-pfingstlicher Bewegungen u n d
Kirchen" in Reformierte Kirchenzeitung, N o . 140, Freudenberg, 1999, p p . 275-280.

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try to share their changed perspective with others, by "testifying" to it to as many people as
possible, usually those who are closest to them and who can see for themselves the change
that has taken place. This is one of the most elementary and effective forms of evangelism
practised in Pentecostalism. Mission takes place within a process of face-to-face communication in which healing is the motor and the message, and which results in the conversion of
yet more people and hence the growth of the communities. Healing and mission are thus
linked together in a highly effective and emotionally charged circuit.
Besides such one-off experiences, Pentecostals also see healing as a process. For them the
conversion event has immediate positive effects which they include in their understanding
of a wider process of salvation. They now work longer and harder, they give up any vices
they may have, organize their finances better, improve their family and working relations
and are altogether more confident and energetic. They interpret all these side effects as signs
of the new presence of God in their lives, the "fruits of the Spirit" and a "foreshadowing" of
the final salvation which will be fulfilled with the second coming of Christ when he returns
to establish his kingdom for ever.
The main motor of Pentecostal growth is the communicative outreach of its local communities, with the healing action of its worship services being a very important factor. These communities and their services can be spaces of healing, not only for the physical dimension, but
also for the spiritual, emotional and social dimensions, all of which are closely linked in
Pentecostalism. Pentecostals try to bring family members and friends with them to worship,
especially anyone who has a special need, often an illness, in the hope that they will be given
a solution to their problems. People who are healed generally become members of the community. Those who are not healed generally find so much understanding, human warmth
and support in these communities that they able to bear their troubles with less anguish.11
Many people in the latter group also join the community. This network of human relations,
religious convictions and worship practices is a major strength and helps in part to explain
the numerical growth of Pentecostalism.
So it is that Pentecostalism has developed a great capacity to visualize the salvation dimension of the faith from the practical context of everyday life. Where there is exclusion, salvation means inclusion; where there is oppression it calls for liberation and celebration; where
there is sickness it demands health and fullness of life. Pentecostal mission sets out to be a
response to the exigencies of life in Latin America. In fact, the spiritual and social strength
of Pentecostalism lies in large measure in its being an effective religious response capable of
11

Ibid. p . 25: "After healing, the convert generally joins in t h e life of a church community. Here, in addition to
healing groups there is also a wider range of prayer groups a n d Bible study on offer. H e finds that t h e experience of God's nearness does not have to be limited to a single need, b u t that God's love a n d care can also
be experienced in the difficulties of everyday life."

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bringing health in societies that generate sickness, offering a tangible, practical (kind of)
salvation that can be seen in the real changes that take place in people s lives.

4. Elements of a Pentecostal theological approach to healing/salvation/mission

As a Pentecostal theologian who is also ecumenical I believe there is an urgent need for
pastoral and theological accompaniment of these processes. Clearly, there are incongruities in Pentecostalism, a lack of theological and medical knowledge, misinterpretations
and other shortcomings in the way both the ministry of healing and mission are carried
out. But equally clearly, there is an enormous spiritual strength and all the potential that
has to offer for the renewal of God's church, the enrichment of Latin American theologies
and hope and encouragement for millions of people around the world, especially in the
poor countries. I should like now to indicate a few themes which I believe have to be carefully studied and discussed in depth in ecumenical dialogue, and above all in the internal
discussion on theology and church practice within Pentecostalism. Some of the concerns
that follow were raised for me during the consultation held by WCC and CLAI in
Santiago.
At that consultation various Pentecostal voices clearly stated and reiterated their concern
that we should develop a holistic and relational concept of health. The discussion focussed
largely on the emotional, spiritual, social, family and church aspects, as opposed to the old
reductionist approach that sees illness purely as a pathological disorder in the individual.
This is a highly important qualitative and hermeneutical leap because it emphasizes the
importance of the community and the social dimension of health, and is in harmony with the
whole Pentecostal spirituality. A form of Christianity that is as community-based as
Pentecostalism has to develop a concept and practice of healing based on its own religious
and social specificity.
It cannot seek health only through faithful prayer, but must also call on other healing
resources such as sincere criticism and dialogue, different ways of communicating and
strengthening community ties, exercising forgiveness and love, to name only those, which
can have a powerful healing effect, leading to a fuller life for the individual, the church and
the society, according to the will of the God of life. We cannot ignore the fact that in
Pentecostalism, as elsewhere, there are group pathologies that require immediate, trained
attention, such as historical traumas, divisiveness, authoritarianism, marginalization of
women, lack of social engagement, inadequate attention to groups with specific difficulties,
serious deficiencies in general and theological education, intolerance and sectarianism, alienation and fanaticism, and other negative situations. These are pastoral and theological challenges for Pentecostalism that call for immediate attention.
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One concern that came up frequently at the consultation was care for the pastor and his family and the recurring problem of family crisis caused by stress and the fact that pastors are
almost totally absorbed by church work. Pastors' wives and children often suffer as a result.
There are hopeful signs of a growing awareness in Pentecostal communities of the need to
take more care of pastors and their families. In some regions and groups the Pentecostal pastor has been looked on as quasi-infallible and untouchable, a strong and authoritative figure
who is above question, and this has had a negative effect, including a lack of healthy criticism and of free flow of communication between communities and their pastor and, occasionally, the abuse of authority by certain leaders. I believe the rethinking that has begun in
Pentecostalism with regard to pastoral ministry in general and the need to care for pastors
and their families will bear fruit in the near future.
If the trend of recent decades continues, and all the indications are that it will, the worldwide face of Christianity in the 21st century will be Pentecostal and charismatic. This challenges Pentecostalism to develop its spiritual and social experiences theologically on the
basis of its own missiological vision, with respectful and critical internal debate and openness to ecumenical dialogue. This reflection and critical dialogue will serve to deepen and
enrich Pentecostal beliefs and practices, including, of course, those relating to the ministry
of healing and the practice of mission. At the same time, ecumenical openness will help to
prevent this rich dimension of Pentecostal spirituality from being trivialized and emptied of
meaning, as well as avoiding anomalies like excesses in worship or the commercial exploitation of healing practices. Pentecostalism must be careful not to fall into the trap of cheap,
magical, miracle-working triumphalism.
To exercise a ministry is to exercise power. The problem is not power as such, but the purposes and relations it serves and the motives that lie behind the way it is wielded. If power
in the church is not the power of service and self-giving ("Whoever wishes to become great
among you must be your servant" Mk 10:43) it is in danger of becoming power that is
destructive of life ("You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their
rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them" Mk 10:42). That being
so, the ministry of healing must always be placed in the perspective of God's kingdom, as a
ministry of service and salvation. Pentecostalism must not become obsessed with tangible
miracles, so forgetting that God's greatest miracle is intangible, free and does not require any
human cooperation: God's incarnation, God's redeeming power and the gift of the Holy
Spirit, God's commitment to life.
It is of the utmost importance that Pentecostalism should base its ministry of healing on a
"holistic" understanding of mission, in which healing is also the proclamation and the experience of salvation in Christ - the eschatological perspective providing the hermeneutical
key to understanding through which other Christian values such as justification,
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forgiveness, love, hope, communion, worship, mission, life can be given their proper place.
And, closely linked to this, Pentecostalism, and all the Christian families, are called upon to
be more aware of God s healing, liberating, missionary and saving presence in other
moments, signs, place and rites of the Christian faith - in worship, in the community, the
sacraments, the ecumenical movement, commitment, service to our neighbour, theology.
Jesus' preaching was, of course, almost always linked with his acts of healing and exorcism.
He commanded his disciples to proclaim the kingdom and heal people as part of the same
task: "Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all
demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to
heal" (Luke 9:1-2). Jesus taught a holistic vision of the kingdom of God, one in-which healing always involved the practical healing of some disorder, but where there was almost
always something deeper underlying the action. His acts of healing were also acts of salvation, signs of the breaking in of the kingdom.12 Jesus' holistic vision must be the supreme
example for Pentecostals as they exercise the ministry of healing. Healing and salvation are
not one and the same, but they belong together. Likewise, mission is not just putting over an
abstract message; as in Christ's command, word and deed belong together.
I believe, therefore, that from the Pentecostal point of view, healing has to be understood
as more than the disappearance of physical pathologies. The whole of life has to be healed:
relations, different areas, processes within the church, certain theologies and certain forms
of worship. As they fulfil their calling to spread the gospel, Pentecostals should not invite
people to come to the church to be healed of a disease, but to be healed of an unhealthy
or incomplete life through the encounter with God's saving power, as conveyed to us by
the Word, the sacraments and the Spirit and testified by the love manifested in the community. The focus of attention should not be disease, but the human being and every
dimension of what it means to be human. Healing, salvation and mission are not just ideas;
they are attitudes of faith towards life. They are at one and the same time promises and
commitments made to ourselves, the church, society and God. To lay claim to them implies
being committed to fulfilling them and bringing them about in practice in people's everyday lives.
I believe that Pentecostalism can also be seen as restoring the human body to its rightful
place in the doing of theology. The belief that the Holy Spirit sanctifies our bodies and
dwells within them means that Pentecostals see the human body as sacred and vested with
great dignity. Our bodies mediate the experience of God, they are God's temple, the channel of blessing, bearers of life and destined for resurrection. Through them w relate to our

12

Theissen, op.cit. p. 285: "The miracle itself is the revelation, the manifestation, of the sacred in fascinating otherness and total unconditionality."

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T H E M I N I S T R Y OF H E A L I N G IN LATIN AMERICAN PENTECOSTALISM

fellow beings, to life and to God.13 That is why the human body should be healthy and also
why the Pentecostal ministry of healing must continue to be a ministry of sanctification and
salvation. It is this understanding that gives it the strong missionary calling that is such a
feature of it.

By way of conclusion
Most Christian traditions have difficulty in accepting the reality of healing through prayer,
which makes them look for other answers to explain the experiences testified to by
Pentecostals. Although "reality" is difficult to define, I would like to conclude my comments
by emphasizing that healing through prayer is "real" and it is a fundamental element in
Pentecostal piety. The testimony of any Pentecostal believer will certainly include at least
one experience of healing through prayer. Consequently, if we are to develop a theory (or
"do theology") on the subject we have to start by affirming that unless we take the biblical
accounts of healing seriously, and unless we consider the real experience of healing in
Pentecostal communities and other traditions (Christian and non-Christian), information,
meaning and spiritual wealth of enormous importance are being lost. But not only that, limits are being set to dialogue and mutual learning. It is a basic conviction in Pentecostal theology that healing through prayer is a real experience and not just a symbolic gesture or the
repetition of archaic cultural practices dating from before the Enlightenment and rationalism.
The struggle for health is also the struggle to affirm life. To believe and affirm that God heals
is to believe and affirm that sickness, sin and death do not have the last word, but the power
and love of God which are concretely expressed in the acts of healing wrought by him. That
being so, to pray for healing is also to recognize the sovereignty of God and the conviction
that God is the Lord "of life - life in all its fullness (John 10:10). Prayer for healing is thus a
confession of faith, the confronting of sin, affirmation of life, eschatological hope and witness to salvation. The ministry of healing thus contains a considerable symbolical and real
element of Christian criticism and protest: it holds a logic of life up against a logic of death.
And this offer of growing abundance of life is also mission.
Translated from the Spanish by the Language Service of the World Council of Churches.

G r u n d m a n n , op. cit., p . 12: "The body is t h e mediator of life p a r excellence. Life, including spiritual a n d emotional life, is experienced physically."

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