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

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The service closed with <strong>the</strong> minister inviting <strong>the</strong> whole congregation to join in holdingh<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> minister prayed. This was different <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> first time I observed thisapproach in this church.The final song was a joyful one: 148.The benediction <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Grace was <strong>the</strong>n said: may <strong>the</strong> grace <strong>of</strong>-------7.6 Differences in How Prayer is Administered in <strong>the</strong> ChurchesPrayer for healing takes place in both churches but each church take a different approach.The Pentecostals such as COGIC pray according to <strong>the</strong> leading <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Holy Spirit <strong>and</strong> notaccording to a preset routine or a pre-written prayer. <strong>An</strong>y appointed minister can beasked to pray for <strong>the</strong> healing <strong>of</strong> an individual <strong>and</strong> at any time during <strong>the</strong> service. Thealtar call for prayer does not specify requests only for healing prayer, but also forreceiving <strong>the</strong> Baptism <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Holy Spirit, prayer for repentance or consecration or prayerfor forgiveness <strong>of</strong> sins. The URC prayers for healing are conducted in a routine manner(see examples <strong>of</strong> healing service in URC in Chapter 4. Not all <strong>the</strong> ministers pray forhealing during <strong>the</strong> service but all ministers pray for forgiveness <strong>of</strong> sins during <strong>the</strong>service. There is a healing service in <strong>the</strong> URC every 5 th Sunday <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> month however,<strong>the</strong>re is no specific healing service in <strong>the</strong> COGIC.Much <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> healing ministry <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> URC observed in this study is similar to <strong>the</strong> <strong>practices</strong>described more than a decade ago by Lucas (1997) in his book on Christian healing in<strong>An</strong>glo-Catholic churches. The URC like <strong>the</strong> <strong>An</strong>glicans use a ritualistic approach toprayer for healing. The intercessory prayer in <strong>the</strong> weekly Sunday services includesprayer for those who are sick in hospital <strong>and</strong> at home (see orders <strong>of</strong> service in chapter 4).253

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