Holistic Healing
The Church should
function as a healing
community.
By Stanley Arumugam
MANY PEOPLE FROM WITHIN AND
outside of the Church have become
disillusioned with modern medicine and
are now exploring alternative therapies.
There is no absolute one response to this
subject; some therapies are beneficial
and others clearly biblically forbidden. It
seems that holistic healing is not a New
Age invention but a lost witness of the
Church.
HOLISTIC AND NEW AGE
One of the tenets of the new age
movement is holism – ‘the whole is
52 TODAY NOVEMBER 2009
greater than the sum of its parts.’ Holism
views human beings as a complete
entity of body, mind (soul) and spirit.
This is perfectly a biblical perspective as
described in the Word: “May your whole
spirit, soul and body be kept blameless
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,”
(1 Thes 5:23). Yet, it is much neglected
in the approach of modern medicine
which separates the human body, soul
and spirit.
Sadly the Church has done the
same in separating the soul and body
from the spirit. The Church is often
mostly concerned with ‘salvation and
spiritual care.’ Other human needs are
outsourced to the medical doctor (body)
or to the psychologist (soul / mind). This
is not a biblical view which considers
human beings as an integrated whole in
the image of God.
Our holistic needs in body, soul and
spirit do not vanish because we ignore
them. If they are not met in the Church,
people may seek a New Age experience.
Could it be that the Church has sold its
holistic healing birthright to the New Age
Movement?

The New Age healing movement is
renowned for its open mindedness.
This is a space of non-judgment where
wisdom from different sources is
considered in an integrated manner.
People are treated with care and
compassion; not processed in clinical
lines either in the doctor’s waiting room
or in dogmatic church prayer lines.
Sadly many local churches have lost
their mandate as a healing community.
Searching and needy people are
coming to the church with the hope of
finding healing for body, soul and spirit,
and often only experience a clinical
“Holistic healing is not a
New Age invention but a
lost witness of the Church.”
spirituality. The church is not just a place
for preaching but also of discipleship,
pastoral care, teaching and service; a
place where the family of God is lived
out.
A HEALING COMMUNITY
Many believers are disillusioned and
harmed spiritually and physically through
quick fix formula healings. Sound biblical
teaching on health and healing must
be provided. The local church must be
a place where biblical principles and
lifestyle issues are clearly addressed
and people are encouraged to seek out
with wisdom the healing ministry of the
local church and other agents of healing
in the wider community.
At the centre of our understanding
of health and healing is the recognition
that Jesus Christ is ultimately the Lord
of Healing. As we recognise Christ as our
Healer, we recognise that His healing
should not be limited to the physical
only but is for our whole being. Our
ultimate healing is the restoration of our
relationship with God through salvation.
A HOLISTIC JOURNEY
The woman with the issue of blood
healed by Jesus is a great illustration
of holistic healing. She was ill for 12
years with a haemorrhaging disease.
(Matt 9:20-22) By the time she heard
of Jesus, she was a deeply desperate
woman. The Bible says she had tried
different alternatives available to her
in her Jewish context. She tried doctors
and other alternative healers practicing
customary healing. In desperation she
explored all available options.
In the process of her
prolonged illness, this woman
not only experienced the pain
and discomfort of her physical
condition. Over time she also
experienced the scourge of
social and religious isolation.
In a Jewish context she was
marginalised first as a woman, then by
virtue of Levitical prescriptions which
considered her condition unholy and
grounds for social exclusion. Here was
a lonely woman who lost all her money,
dignity, sense of community and also felt
rejected by God.
When she came to Jesus in the
pressing crowd she believed, based on
her Jewish teaching, that if she could
only touch the hem of a Rabbi’s garment
she would be healed. She clearly had
a desperate faith but was wrongly
informed, not knowing that this Rabbi
was the Son of God. As she touches
Jesus she is physically healed. Jesus
responds to her physical healing by
calling her out of the crowd and restoring
her social dignity as a woman and a
child of God. Amidst the consternation
of His disciples and other followers, He
opens the door to her holistic healing of
body, mind and soul. She joins Him, not
as the beneficiary of a miracle worker,
but a redeemed disciple of Christ.
The woman with the issue
of blood teaches us several
lessons about biblical healing:
1. It’s holistic – including body,
soul and spirit. Sometimes we come
to God with a deep need in one or
more of these areas. Ultimately
God is concerned about our whole
wellbeing. Health is not just an
eradication of illness. We can have
perfectly groomed bodies but lack
spiritual wellbeing. Similarly we can
have spiritual sense but lack common
sense in being good stewards of our
bodies or entertain distorted thinking
about God, ourselves, health and
illness.
2. In community – healing is not
a private, mystical experience. God
performs His healing work in the
context of community. Almost half
of the healing accounts of Jesus
are attributed to the faith of those
around the sick person; friends,
father, mother, brother and sister. Our
healing restores us as whole beings
and also serves as a testament of
God’s healing grace. Our healing is
not only for our good but for the glory
of God as a sign of hope to others.
3. In partnership – God works in
and through human agency. Healing
is not a self – help endeavour. In
our healing journey we are invited to
participate with and depend on others
who care about us. God can and does
work through friends, family, pastors,
doctors, psychologists and alternative
healers.
4. Towards God – our healing is not
an end in itself but brings us back
to God. It’s a visible demonstration
of the ultimate nature of God as
Healer. It is also a reminder of God’s
redemptive work and restoration.
One day we will need no healing, until
then God gives us glimpses of our
inheritance in Him.
2009 NOVEMBER TODAY 53