The impact of mediatization in the healing ministry of African preachers

Abstract

Healing service happens everywhere. However, the healing service practice in Africa, as practised by several preachers from South Africa, Nigeria, Malawi and Zimbabwe, is more phenomenal and has a significant impact towards the Christianity in the world. One of the impacts is the emergence of religious tourism. This study observes that the service success is supported by two things, namely a deep understanding and the strong foundation on the theology of biblical healing, which trigger the presence of faith, on the one hand, and on the other hand the presence of invisible but very real support from the power of media popularising this practice to all over the world. It is concluded that even though it must be tightly controlled, mediatisation is an adaptive step to introduce the mission of the church and news related to the Bible to the modern society. Christianity has to accept this step as the updated step. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article takes an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach to media’s role and uses in today’s Christian ministry. The presence of the media and its optimisation for evangelism are supported by global theology.

Keywords

• mediatisation
• religion
• divine healing
• african healers
• christian ministry
• media
• spirituality.