An investigation into the phenomena and practices of spiritual ...

There is a prayer and healing session where the moderator invites the congregation toclaim healing by placing their hand on the pain and pray, thus claiming their healing.This continues for about 10 minutes. During this time the majority of the congregationappears to be in state of animation which accompanies an altered state of consciousnessas in hysteriaThis was followed by a gospel song by the youth choir. The host Pastor greeted thechurch and then introduced the dignitaries in the congregation to the church. The hostminister was also asked to pray for the preacher and introduced the preacher for the dayto the congregation.The preacher greeted the church and introduced the scriptures (2 Samuel 4, 1 Chronicles16:4 and 2 Chronicles 5:11 matt 21:10.The topic of the message was workmanship. Throughout the sermon he focused on theyoung people by consistently making reference to ‘young people‘(1 Samuel 6) he read the whole chapter. A member of the congregation was propelledinto shouting and praising God periodically during the delivery of the sermon whichlasted 45 minutesAfter the sermon (they call this the word or the message for the day) there was aninvitation for prayer for healing the baptism of the Holy Spirit, sanctification deliverancefrom demonic spirits. The invitation is not specific. It is targeted at anyone who needsprayer for whatever the need may be. Several people responded to the invitation andcame forward for prayer. All the ministers were invited to pray alone and at the sametime for those who came for prayer.The Pastor invited the church secretary to announce the notices. The Pastor closes theservice with a final prayer.241