GOD CAN MAKE US HEALTHY THROUGH AND THROUGH

Abstract

CLAUDIA WAHRISCH-OBLAU [*] ON PRAYERS FOR THE SICK AND THE INTERPRETATION OF HEALING EXPERIENCES IN CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN CHINA AND AFRICAN IMMIGRANT CONGREGATIONS IN GERMANY Let me begin with some personal remarks: When I was asked to present a paper to the working group on Healing in Pentecostal/Charismatic/Independent Churches and Movements, [1] I was somewhat surprised. First of all, even though I have been deeply challenged and influenced by many Pentecostal friends and colleagues, I do not consider myself a or Pentecostal in a denominational sense. I can therefore not write from, but only about a or Pentecostal perspective on faith and healing. Secondly, most of my research has been about healing prayers and healing testimonies within the official Protestant churches in China. While few of these churches are Pentecostal in a denominational sense, [2] prayers for the sick and miracle healing experiences are common in all of them. I found that prayers for healing and faith healing experiences were considered normal expressions of faith even in churches where charismatic phenomena like speaking in tongues would be severely frowned upon, and were interpreted in what I termed a pre-modern paradigm rather than what I thought was Pentecostal thinking. Since then my involvement with immigrant Pentecostal churches in Germany has caused me to re-evaluate what I had seen and heard in China. I now believe that the development of grassroots churches in that country must be interpreted as a truly Pentecostal movement, not in a denominational but in a broader theological sense. [3] In how far this development has been influenced by the worldwide Pentecos tal movement in the past as well as the present is impossible to gauge [4] and anyhow not of concern for this paper. The Pentecostal nature of the grassroots churches is not easily discerned by the outside observer, as they do not call themselves Pentecostal. Furthermore, as they are moving into the realm of the local and provincial Christian councils, they become -- at least superficially -- evangelicalized [5] through the many training programmes run by these organizations. [6] In my work with African and Pentecostal immigrant churches in Germany, [7] I found that prayers for healing are as important within congregational life as they are in China. Despite the enormous cultural differences, my Chinese experiences helped me to relate to what I observed among African Christians, and my experience with African Christians led me to reinterpret what I learned in China. This is why I decided also to include some observations about African immigrant churches in this paper, even though they can only be of a very preliminary nature. There are enormous differences in faith practices and theology between African Independent Churches and neo-Pentecostal ministries, but very little research has been done about any of these churches in Germany, [8] and my own experiences are, of course, limited. I hope that my observations will encourage further research to either prove or disprove my assumptions. I have written this paper because the practices and testimonies of both my Chinese and my African sisters and brothers have been important for my own faith journey. Furthermore, I firmly believe that the practices of prayers for the sick and the experiences of healing testified to in both Chinese and immigrant African churches constitute a challenge for mainline churches that we ignore at our own peril. As mainline churches have delegated healing to medical professionals, prayers for healing to hospital chaplains and political advocacy to public health specialists, our faith in the healing power of the Holy Spirit tends to become a mere dogmatic statement no longer testified to by our congregational life. African and Chinese Christians can help us to win back a holistic perspective that will also reform our practices. …