Book Review by Judith M. Bunyi

Stretch Out Your Hand and its accompanying Leader's Guide loudly proclaim the theme "Healing and Wholeness," the same theme as this year's Leading from the Center. Updated and fully revised, the book and leader's guide sprouted from the seeds of the personal faith journeys of the authors and the way they came to experience and understand healing grounded in Scripture. In addition to their personal stories, they trace the shifts in the church's beliefs and attitudes toward healing, from the New Testament Church, to controversies through the centuries, to the resurgence of interest in healing prayer in recent years. Norberg and Webber conclude the first chapter by contrasting what Christian healing is and is not. For them, "Christian healing is a process that involves the totality of our being . . . and that directs us toward becoming the person God is calling us to be at every stage of our living and our dying."

As the authors and the people they worked with navigated the waters of theology and the practice of healing prayer, they inevitably met with storms of doubt. The second chapter deals with these issues head-on. The most frequently asked questions about healing are grouped by theme. The writers present opposing perspectives on the questions and show how each perspective is supported or contradicted by biblical teachings, as well as the possible danger of misusing the Scriptures to support a faulty theology. By so doing, the writers are able to deal with fears, skepticism, reservation, resignation, and even resistance associated with healing prayer upfront and, thus, prepare the reader to be open to this form of ministry.

As the readers try to discern what God is calling them to be and embark on their own healing journey, Norberg and Webber offer lessons they learned from their own faith, experience, and ministry. Discernment had not been a familiar part of the Christian Protestant parlance. Thus, they devote a section to defining discernment within the context of healing prayer and outlining the steps in a discernment process. From the writers' definition of Christian healing, we can infer that they view the individual as an interconnected system of physical, emotional, and spiritual dimensions. Therefore, if we are to be healed and become whole persons, our healing should touch all of these areas. To help the readers along, they explore "soaking prayer" and "faith imagination." Story after story illustrates that healing and wholeness involve our entire being. These serve as an invitation to taste and see what wholeness means for us. As the sequence of chapters suggests, attending to our own health needs is critical before we can effectively minister with others. It does not mean that we become perfect; only that we experience God's love and grace ourselves and see God at work in our lives firsthand, so that we can become channels of God's healing.

Healing prayer for oneself is not the sole purview of discernment. The latter is also a vital part of healing prayers for others. More important to keep in mind, though, is the authors' caution not to get in God's way by falling into one or more of the seven traps they list. Then, as we assume the posture of healing prayer for others, we will do well to remember the power of healing rituals.

Often, when we think of healing, we limit ourselves to the image of physical healing of human beings. One feature that sets this book apart is the chapter on "Social Healing: Praying for Institutions." Norberg and Webber go beyond perfunctory prayers for social structures in which human beings live and move. Social exorcism, as they call praying for social healing, is needed as much as individual healing. Social brokenness has been an integral part of human history; even the Hebrew Bible addresses the community's need for God's shalom. So does the New Testament, whenever the coming reign of God is preached and announced. The chapter includes a Service of Social Exorcism, which, in turn, includes a process for discernment.

The final chapter invites the church to be a healing community: "Whether in acts of prayer or deeds of service, a healing church is one that asks how the Spirit wants to work in the lives it touches and then makes itself available for that work." The Philippian church ministering to Paul, as well as a present-day urban ministry, are cited as examples of this type of holistic healing and partnership of giving and receiving. This chapter closes with models of congregational healing ministry.

When individuals and churches, through discernment process, sense a call to healing prayer and ministry, they will benefit from using these two resources as they prepare to launch their healing ministry. Norberg and Webber provide biblical, theological, and personal perspectives on the various dimensions of healing. The accompanying leader's guide includes a variety of practical, easy-to-follow prayer exercises to help leaders and participants experience prayer for themselves. Flexibility in the design and setting is an added feature.

While this is not the last word in healing prayer and ministry, it is definitely a resource worth investigating, as individuals and churches respond to God's call to "stretch out your hand."

Judith Bunyi at the time of this article served as director of Small Group Ministries, General Board of Discipleship, Nashville, Tennessee.