Christians believe healing matters because Jesus healed people, and asked his followers to do the same – not just doctors and experts, but everyone. We believe modern medicine is a gift from God, but healing is about more than the body: it’s about hope, meaning, and knowing that God is with us even when things don’t get better. This page explains how we think about healing, prayer, and suffering – even when life is hard and answers don’t come easily.
Christian healing ministry has its origins in the healing work of Jesus Christ. It is rooted in scripture, shaped by a holistic vision of health and enabled through prayer. It is grounded in the conviction that healing is not the work of a specialist few, but part of the calling of every Christian disciple.
The gift of modern medicine sits alongside a deeper Christian vision of health and healing: one in which suffering and death never have the last word when it comes to meaning, purpose and hope. The resurrection of Jesus underpins our faith that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So what does a theology of healing need to hold?
It must allow God the freedom to be God. It must place prayer in its proper context. It must contend with the truth that the Good News remains good even when the miracle we long for does not appear to happen. It must speak of hope and flourishing at every age and stage of life. And it must include not only human beings, but the whole of creation, because the promise of God’s renewal extends to all that God has made.
This matters because, without a good theology of healing, we will struggle to face the most important questions: the questions that arise when people are suffering, when bodies are in pain, when prayers seem unanswered, and when the darkness threatens to overwhelm.
A theology of healing is not a get-out-of-jail card. Nor is it something to bash people over the head with when they do not agree with us. It does not remove mystery or give us easy answers. Rather, it helps us live faithfully on this side while looking through the glass darkly.
A theology of healing should help anyone who wants to become a healing presence in the world. This is because we will almost never know the full outcome of our prayers, our actions or our presence. Theology helps us understand that we are part of God’s work: a work that began before us and will continue after us.
It settles us in the knowledge that no tear falls without God knowing it. It gives us hope and firm ground, while releasing us from the need to have all the answers.
And it must be usable. It must be something we can carry in our back pocket as we go about the ordinary and extraordinary work of being a Christian: offering to pray, showing up with love, and trusting that God is already at work.