spirit and healing in africa - University of the Free State

church-based healing would be deprived of its meaning if the idea of life-giving power were
absent. The life-giving power, continuously sought by man, has become a synonym of the Holy
Spirit, the all-embracing, pervading power of God. And this power of God is understood as the
power that can truly meet the existential needs of believers in the African context, and that can
withstand the threat of evil for the sake of man (cf. Anderson 1990:73). The Holy Spirit, the lifegiving
power of God, is thoroughly involved in human needs like healing and well-being,
protection and victory amidst spiritual warfare, anointment and material blessing. In this way,
the concept of life-giving power, transposed to the presence of the Holy Spirit, functions as a
parameter of how health, illness and healing are viewed within the church-based healing
discourse.
5.4.3 Power as an agency of transformation
The church-based healing discourse also covers the field of individual and communal
transformation. The church has become the site where people seek help for positive changes in
their life. Healing of a physical ailment, termination of demon possession, a breakthrough in
pastoral ministry or business endeavors — are all conditions begging for healing rituals in which
pastor and client call upon the power of the Spirit, hoping for a transformation of the status quo.
Hence, the quest for change, restoration and transformation is inextricably linked with the
concept of power, because the power of the Spirit is considered to be a medium of renewal and
transformation. In at least four different, but related, dimensions, the power of the Spirit brings
change and transformation: (1) in a religious sense, in which an individual or a group
experiences an existential redeeming change in life, like for example exorcism rituals; (2) Or
change in a socio-economic sense, in which the power of the Spirit is experienced as a medium
who accompanies and guides people in the tribulations they are facing due to an altering society,
such as the transition from a rural society to a modern urban nation; (3) Or change in a political
sense, in which the power of the Spirit plays a crucial role in addressing and transforming
existing power relations of the political and religious authorities; (4) Or change in an
ecclesiological sense, in which calling upon the power of the Spirit instigates a process of
democratization as far as the distribution of power and authority within the church as an institute
is concerned.
Individual and communal religious transformation
The relation of the Spirit’s power and individual transformation finds expression in spiritual
healing interventions like exorcism rituals. This process of individual transformation is
incarnated in the ritual of exorcism when the believer experiences liberation through the casting
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