PNEUMA: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, Volume 28, No.

1, Spring 2006

Old Wine, New Wineskins:

The Rise of Healing Rooms in Revival
Pentecostalism
Margaret M. Poloma
Divine healing was an integral part of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth
and of the early Christian church. It is not without significance that nearly
one fifth of the Gospels is devoted to accounts of healing, and the Acts
of the Apostles (a biblical account of the history of early Christendom)
includes many stories of miraculous healings. Divine healing had remained
(more or less) a normative expectation in the early church for nearly three
centuries.1 It was with the increased institutionalization of Christianity
and the eventual development of an Aristotelian-based theology dichotomizing body and soul that divine healing was downplayed in favor of secular
medicine.
While Catholicism left room for faith healing in its folk religion of
pilgrimages and apparitions, Reformation Protestantism (for the most part)
inherited a theology in which faith healing was regarded as little more
than superstition. Theologians may have acknowledged that miraculous
healing occurred in Jesus' ministry and could be found among early
Christians to lend an impetus to the development of Christianity, but such
"signs and wonders" were no longer normative experiences. Influenced
by the Enlightenment, Catholics and Protestants alike (in both liberal and
conservative dress) shared a common skepticism about so-called faith
healing at the onset of the twentieth century.
Rumors of divine healing, however, could be heard from time to time
in new religious groups that encouraged its belief and practice. One of
the earliest American groups to advocate healing was the Society of
Friends, with George Fox (the founder of the Quakers) having a significant
healing ministry. It was not unusual for American religious movements
birthed in the fervor of revivalism (including the Shakers, Mormons,
Noyesites, and Adventists) to encourage the practice of healing prayer.2

See Morton Kelsey, Healing and Christianity (New York: Harper and Row, 1973);
and F. S. MacNutt, The Nearly Perfect Crime: How the Church Almost Killed the Ministry
of Healing (Chosen Books, 2005).
2
F. G. Chappell, "Healing Movements," in S. M. Burgess and G. B. McGee, eds.,
Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements (Grand Rapids, MI: Regency
Reference Library, 1988), 353-74.
2006 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden

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PNEUMA The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, Volume 28, No 1, Spring 2006

Wesleyan revivals of the late nineteenth century added a theological rationale to the experiential base that served to restore divine healing as a normative Christian belief and practice. In the Wesleyan Holiness movement,
a direct antecedent to the Pentecostal revivals of the twentieth century,
leaders began to link a doctrine of Christian perfectionism with divine
healing, teaching that "Christ's atonement provided not only for justification
but also for the purification of the human nature from sin." According to
some perfectionist theology, this purification would "eliminate illness."3
In sum, there appears to be a strong link between religious revivalism
and divine healing in American religious history. The practice of divine
healing has tended to decline within religious movements as revivalism
gives way to church doctrine and structure. This routinization of charismatic healing has been experienced throughout the two millennia of
Christian history, with the practice being revitalized in recent history during heights of religious revivals. With the noteworthy exception of the
Church of Christ, Scientist (Christian Science), however, most groups in
the nineteenth century that practiced divine healing did not make it a central tenet of faith. It was not until the twentieth century and the rise of
Pentecostalism, with intermittent waves of revival washing across its
shores during its one hundred-year history, that divine healing once again
assumed a central role in orthodox Christian practice.
Divine Healing in Revival Context
The belief in and practice of divine healing within American
Protestantism experienced revitalization through the healings reported
during the revivals of the late nineteenth century and the emergence of
Pentecostalism in the first quarter of the twentieth century. One of the
best-known and most controversial historical figures in the early healing
movement is John Alexander Dowie (1847-1907), founder of the Christian
Catholic Church and the Utopian religious community of Zion City in
Illinois. The 1893 Chicago World's Fair provided a public forum for Dowie
to practice his healing powers in meetings he conducted across the street
from popular attractions. His healing ministry flourished in part due to
countless testimonies of healing that allegedly took place as a result of
his prayer. Dowie's restorationist vision for Christianity lost ground to his
critics, however, and he died in 1907, rejected by many who had acclaimed
him. With his combative style, Dowie had alienated even other believers
3

Ibid., 357.

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who practiced healing. His vision of a pristine Christianity left no room

for the medical profession, and he barred its practitioners from entering
his Zion City. Anyone who sought Dowie's prayers for healing was required
to relinquish all medical treatment, relying solely on the power of faith
to heal.4
Although Dowie died during the height of the Azusa Street Revival
(1906-9) that gave birth to Pentecostalism, he is commonly seen as an
important forerunner of the Pentecostal Movement. Particularly relevant
for this discussion is Dowie's establishment of "healing homes" and his
influence on John G. Lake, the Pentecostal evangelist who is regarded as
the grandfather of the healing rooms movement. Dowie's ministry established what he called "healing homes" to replace hospitalsplaces where
those with severe illnesses moved and where they received prayer until
they were either totally healed or died. Dowie became a mentor to Lake
when Lake's wife was instantly healed from tuberculosis after Dowie
prayed for her. Following the healing, Lake joined Dowie's ministry and
served as an elder in the Zion Catholic Apostolic Church.5
Eight years into his healing ministry with Dowie, Lake experienced
another spiritual breakthrough. As he and a friend were praying for healing for a woman in a wheelchair, Lake felt as if he had "passed under a
shower of warm tropical rain, which was not falling on me but through
me. My spirit and soul and body, under this influence was soothed into
such a deep calm as I had ever known."6 Lake believed he heard the Spirit
speak to him and tell him that he was now "baptized in the Holy Spirit."
Nearly immediately Lake, his prayer partner, and the woman all began
to experience the "rush of power" that they attributed to the Spirit of God.
Shortly after this perceived anointing (and after Dowie's death in 1907),
Lake and his family set out for missionfieldsin Africa. His wife's untimely
death in 1908 shortly after they arrived in Africa failed to dampen Lake's
belief in healing. After returning to the U.S. in 1913, Lake opened Dowielike healing rooms in Spokane and Portland, with a view to establishing
chains of healing rooms across the country. He put together a team of
men and women whom he called "healing technicians" who ministered
from a suite of rooms in downtown Spokane from 1914 to 1920. Five
4
E. L. Blumhofer, "Dowie, John Alexander," in S. M. Burgess, ed., The New International
Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan,
2002), 586-87.
5
J. R. Ziegler, "Lake, John Graham," in S. M. Burgess, ed., The New International
Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, 828.
6
J. G. Lake, The John G. Lake Sermons on Dominion over Demons, Disease and
Death, ed. G. Lindsay (Dallas: Christ for the Nations Inc., [1949] 2002), 7.

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years after establishing the Spokane Divine Healing Rooms, Lake described
the work of the "competent staff of ministers" as follows:
They believed in the Lord as the present, perfect Healer, and ministered the
Spirit of God to the sick through prayer and the laying on of hands. The
records show that we ministered up to 200 persons a day; that of these, 176
were non-church members. The knowledge of and faith in Jesus Christ as
the Healer has gripped the world outside the present Church societies, and
the number of those who believe are increasing with such rapidity that in
a short time they may become a majority in many communities.7
When Lake died of a stroke in 1935 the unfulfilled vision of establishing
a nationwide chain of healing rooms seemed to die with him.
Although healing had been and remained a central belief and practice
for Pentecostal believers throughout the twentieth century, the revitalization
of dynamic healing practices often came through famous healing evangelists,
including well-known "anointed" men and women like William Branham
(1909-65), Kathryn Kulhman (1907-76), Oral Roberts (1918-), and Benny
Hinn (1952-), rather than through ministry teams. In teaching common
men and women to function as healers, Lake's healing rooms and their
contemporary counterparts demonstrate that the practice of divine healing
is not the property of a few healing evangelists. Perhaps no single individual
did more to promote this democratized belief during the last decades of
the twentieth century than John Wimber, the founder of the Association
of Vineyard Churches. Wimber conducted many well-attended conferences
on healing in both North America and abroad during the 1980s and until
his death in 1998 that taught attendees how to pray for healing. It was in
Wimberite circles during the 1990s that revival fires ignited to energize
the rebirth of John G. Lake's vision of a chain of healing rooms, not only
across the nation but also around the globe.8
The 1990s Revivals and the Rebirth of Healing Rooms
The story of the resurrection of the healing rooms at the turn of the
third millennium is rooted in a revival that occurred at Bethel Assembly
of God in Redding, California in 1996.9 Cal Pierce, a retired real estate
7

Ibid., 127-28.
M. M. Poloma, Main Street Mystics. The Toronto Blessing and Reviving Pentecostalism
(Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira Press, 2003).
9
Under the leadership of Pastor Bill Johnson healing rooms were established at Bethel
Church that predated the establishment of the Spokane healing rooms. Thirty-three healing
rooms were listed throughout California on the IAHR website in midsummer of 2004, with
8

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developer who founded the contemporary movement, had an experience

not unlike experiences reported by John G. Lake decades earlier. Pierce
offered the following description of his divine encounter at a mandatory
meeting called for by his pastor at a time when Pierce would describe
himself as being "spiritually stagnant":
The meeting opened with prayer, and someone led us in a series of worship choruses. Then, suddenly, Bill [the pastor] was standing before us. He
had his hands upraised to heaven, and he was saying, "Come, Holy Spirit!"
The next thing I remember is that wave after wave offirebegan to course
through my body. Theflamesseemed to be going deep into my bones, and
that made me want to run or jump or shout or scream or all of those things
at once. But I couldn't move. My feet were stuck to thefloor,as if they
had been glued there.10
On seeming impulse and without a clear sense of direction, Pierce decided
to drive north to Spokane for a few days of prayer. When he made this
announcement to his Sunday school class before he left, a woman in his
class spoke up and said, "That's where John G. Lake was from, and he's
buried there." While driving to Spokane, Pierce was unable to get the
Spokane-Lake connection out of his mind, and he resolved to visit the
site of Lake's healing rooms and his grave. Soon Pierce felt God was calling him to move to Spokanea move that was made possible by numerous acts of "divine serendipity" accompanied with prophetic words with
a seeming divine mandate to "re-dig the ancient wells."11 By the summer
of 1999, Cal Pierce had settled in Spokane and opened his envisioned
healing rooms in the building where healing evangelist John G. Lake
had established his healing rooms in the 1910s. John G. Lake's mantle
for the establishment of healing seemed to have fallen on Cal Pierce and,
with it, the unfolding of prophetic events.
Around the same time that Pierce's vision for healing rooms around
the country was being born, another revivalist was sharing his mandate
six more "opening soon." The healing rooms at Bethel Church in Redding, California,
however, were not listed as a member of IAHR.
10
Cal Pierce, Preparing the Way (Hagerstown, MD: McDougal Publishing, 2001), 34.
11
Ibid. The 1990s prophecies and visions known in some revival circles included
words about "healing rooms." When Cal Pierce moved to Spokane in the spring of 1999,
he produced a brochure describing the healing rooms and disseminated it as widely as possible. The brochure fell into the hands of two men from Vancouver, Washington who had
made a series of trips to Spokane "to prepare for what the Spirit is saying will be a new
outpouring of healing upon the city" (Pierce 2001:66). They sought out Pierce after seeing a copy of his brochure and hearing a prophecy given by a well-known renewal prophet,
Bob Jones, in Spokane in 1996. The gist of the prophecy was that a new healing anointing would be "brought into the city and would eventually go from here to all the world."

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to establish healing rooms in the Cleveland, Ohio area. John Rowe, an

evangelist from Arkansas, had been conducting revivals in northeastern
Ohio and eventually moved to the Cleveland area. Despite a visit to the
Spokane Healing Rooms, Rowe died of colon cancer at the age of fortyeight with his vision still unfulfilled. He did leave a folder about healing
rooms with a friend, however, to give to an unknown and unnamed
recipient "as the Lord leads." The recipient turned out to be Jim White,
an evangelist in the Cleveland area whom Rowe had never met or even
heard of.12
After Rowe's death, White (who knew nothing of Rowe or the concept
of "healing rooms") had an open vision during a revival servicea vision
so real that "I thought everyone else was seeing it too." In the vision a
man clad in Olympic attire was running across the church stage with a
gold torch in his hands bearing the words "healing rooms." The man ran
past White, handed him the torch, and ran off into a corner of the sanctuary
that looked to White "like heaven." The same night that White had the
vision, an elderly man handed him a blue file folder. White tossed it on
the seat of his car, but failed to open it until two days later. Meanwhile,
White was on the Internet trying to find information on "healing rooms"
and discovered the Spokane Healing Rooms website. When White finally
did open the blue folder, he found a note from John Rowe that read "by
the time you read this I will have died and gone to heaven." (About six
weeks after the vision an anonymous person sent White a photograph of
Rowe, and he was certain that the man of his vision and the one who left
the blue folder and note were one and the same.) Within a matter of
months and after countless other divinely serendipitous events (including
White's healing from cancer in Spokane in May 2001), the Healing Rooms
of Greater Cleveland opened their doors in October 2001 amidst a strip
of medical offices in Parma, Ohio.13
The Healing Rooms of Greater Cleveland (HRGC) moved from the
southwestern suburb of Parma to the northeastern suburb of Willowick,
12
The narrative of White's ministry as an evangelist provides another complementary
account of White's perception of divine guidance. White had been leading a revival that
developed in late 1997 at an Assemblies of God church in an eastern suburb of Cleveland
that lasted for three years. For White, it was a "dream come true." One night he heard the
Holy Spirit ask: "Do you want to be popular or do you want to be effective?" White knew
the "correct" answer and sensed that he was to pull back from the church revival (and his
livelihood from his ministry) to pray and fast while waiting for further directions. They
came in the form of the Healing Rooms of Greater Cleveland.
13
S. Roth, "It's Supernatural: Guest Jim White," Video, Code IS245 (Brunswick, GA:
Messianic Vision, 2003).

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Ohio in March 2004. HRGC is but one of over two hundred healing
rooms listed on the International Association of Healing Rooms website
in the United States, Canada, England, Continental Europe, and approximately a dozen other locations. The healing rooms movement has grown
rapidly within Pentecostal/Charismatic communities, with each entry
undoubtedly having its own story of visions, prophecy, and divine serendipity
narrated in the same mystical chord as that of the Spokane and Cleveland
examples.14
What are "Healing Rooms"?
The Healing Rooms of Greater Cleveland offer sensitive prayer for those
suffering in their physical bodies. It's a ministry committed to serving the
sick through the ministry of God's Healing Word, the power of his presence, and compassionate prayer. We believe that it is God's will that the
power of Christ is available to all who ask. Many who have come experienced the miraculous in their lives. If you're looking for a touch from God,
we invite you to come and receive.
(Brochure for Healing Rooms of Greater Cleveland)
Healing rooms are presently being established in medical/professional
office buildings, churches, and independent "houses" as places where the
sick can come for prayer for healing on a regular basis across North
America and internationally. At the time of this writing, over two hundred independent healing rooms have sprung up throughout North America
and overseas that are listed as members of Pierce's International Association
of Healing Rooms (IAHR). This figure is double the one hundred members reported two years earlier, and the movement shows no signs of slowing down.15
The International Association of Healing Rooms in Spokane provides
a covering for member groups. IAHR's website (www.healingrooms.com)
describes its purpose as follows:
We are an association of Healing Rooms Ministries in churches and cities
with a common vision to establish healing back into the body of Christ.
Poloma, Main Street Mystics.
Pierce was not the only one to hear the call to "re-dig the wells of John G. Lake"
in Spokane. Jerry and Mary Breeden, who since 1973 had reportedly been "asking God to
use our lives as he had the life of John G. Lake," received instructions similar to Pierce's
in January 1999. In August 1999 they purchased Lake's home, where they now live and
minister healing to people. In August 2001 they reopened the original site of John G. Lake's
Apostolic Tabernacle. (See www.johnglake.com) Breeden's Divine Healing Institute of
Spokane, although similar in ministry and purpose, is not affiliated with Pierce's IAHR.
15

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Our commission is based on Mark 16:17-18: "And these signs shall follow
those that believe . . . they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."
The vision is to see Healing Rooms set in around the world. Our goal is to
establish uniformity and accountability in each work by offering, through
an association, the tools to properly equip each healing room. Our focus
must be on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to work through us
to heal the sick.

Most members of IAHR share Dowie's and Lake's tenet that divine
healing is something to be expected, teaching that just as salvation comes
through Jesus' atoning death, so does healing. They also share the vehicle
of healing homes or healing rooms (often set up outside the church proper)
to conduct ongoing prayer for the sick to which all (church and unchurched)
can come for healing. That ordinary Christians volunteer their time as
ministers in these healing rooms is a strategy found throughout this new
healing movement. Followers of the movement do not, however, share
the disdain that Dowie and Lake had for the medical establishment. While
their theology of healing does not disparage modern medicine, it does
express greater regard for divine power to heal than for the efficacy of
medicine. With an eye on avoiding potential lawsuits, pray-ers are instructed
not to offer medical advice and not to "give direction for someone's life."
The task of the pray-er is not to give advice of any kind but "to release
God's healing power" to those who come to the healing rooms.16
The theology underlying Cal Pierce's and IAHR teaching shares with
Dowie, Lake, and their followers an insistence that healing and salvation
are intimately related. Just as conservative Protestants profess that salvation
comes by faith, so too is healing believed to be a result of faith. Accordingly,
the "atonement" of Jesus' crucifixion guarantees not only spiritual salvation but also physical healing for all who believe in and accept it. Sickness
is seen as the work of the devil, while healing is seen as the work of God.
The articulation of this healing theology resonates with the so-called
"Word of Faith" message made popular in the Charismatic movement
during the last half of the twentieth century by "faith healers" like Oral
Roberts, Kenneth Hagin, and Kenneth Copeland.17 Pierce succinctly explains
his position as follows:
16
The "Release of Liability Form" for persons seeking prayer at the HRGC includes
the following statement: "I acknowledge and agree that I will not accept counsel or advice
directing me to cease taking medication that I am presently taking. I further agree that my
personal physician will be the only one to advise me to cease taking any medication."
17
On October 2, 2002 I was presented with a copy of Aaron D. Lewis' book Healing
for the Twenty-first Century during the training seminar. The book is one of the most recent
of many books written by Charismatic/Pentecostal healing evangelists in the past one hun-

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Old Wine, New Wineskins The Rise of Healing Rooms in Revival Pentecostalism

Our faith does not depend on how we feel, because it is more real than our
sickness. If the Word of God created the world and everything in it, then
doesn't it make sense that the world and everything in it is subject to the
Creator?
If Jesus came to destroy the work of the devil, and the infirmity that is
in us is the work of the devil, then that work needs to be destroyed. That
is a message for Christians. We would not allow the lost to come into our
church services and become involved in our programs and think nothing
of it. We would have a burden to get them saved. Still we allow sick people to be involved in our churches at every level, and we think nothing of
it. Why let them suffer? It is time to prevail against sickness. Jesus came
to destroy it, just as He came to destroy our sin.18
Despite the prevailing teachings, the protocol for healing prayer ministry at HRGC offers instructions that would (if followed) soften the impact
of a theology that would appear to "blame the victim" for his or her illness. Underlined in the training manual is the statement, "Never make
anyone feel they are unable to receive healing because they lack 'faith'
or are resisting the Holy Spirit. We're called to encourage, love and heal,
not to speak words that will bring rejection or discouragement."
Not surprisingly, those involved in the healing rooms movement are
subject to terminal illness, just as are those who do not share their beliefs.
As we have seen, Dowie suffered a stroke just as he planned to reproduce
Zions in other areas, Lake's wife died just as they began their healing
ministry in Africa, and Lake died of a stroke without seeing his vision
actualized. Closer to the contemporary healing rooms, John Rowe, the
itinerant evangelist who was given the first vision for establishing healing rooms in Cleveland, died of colon cancera disease that also threatened Jim White during the time his vision was unfolding. It is interesting
to note that Jim White, who believes he has received the mantle of John
Rowe in successfully opening the HRGC, also contracted colon cancer
but was healed during a visit to Spokane before the scheduled surgery.19
(White did experience the death of a close friend of cancer, however,
dred years that teaches variations of what has come to be called the "Word Faith" approach
to healing. This approach has great similarities to the nineteenth-century Mind Thought
and the twentieth-century New Age movements in emphasizing the role that "correct thinking" plays in the healing process.
18
Pierce, Preparing the Way, 130-31.
19
In February 2001during the period of early visions and eight months before the
October opening of the HRGCJim White believed the Holy Spirit told him, "Thousands
fly into Cleveland to receive healing from Cleveland Clinic. Thousands will come to receive
healing from the healing rooms." Hundreds, if not thousands, have come to the HRGC for
training on how to establish healing rooms and conferences, and White is in demand as a
national and international speaker/consultant for the larger movement.

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despite the many prayers offered for her healing.) The reality of sickness
and death in the midst of the movement is noted but is seen as an enemy
that will be conquered rather than a cause for defeat.
A Report from the Field
In September 2002 I signed up for a four-day training program to prepare me to serve as a pray-er on the volunteer prayer teams at HRGC.
Joined by a team of twelve lay persons who came in from England to
learn how to establish healing rooms, I underwent training that included
basic teaching and prayer for healing empowerment as well as additional
insights as to how to establish healing rooms. I began serving on the
prayer teams in the fall of 2002, originally around three times a month
and, after HRGC's move in March 2004, approximately twice a month.
Since pray-ers always pray with at least one and usually two other team
members, my field notes suggest differences depending on the prayer
partner. Moreover, despite efforts at "quality control", not surprisingly not
all rules are always adhered to.20 Significant differences among pray-ers
exist that go beyond nuances in interpretation and application of the basic
training. In praying with dozens of different women and men, I have
observed differences in natural giftedness (or, from a charismatic perspective, differences in "empowerment") that affect the outcome of the
ministry.
One example will suffice. Upon arrival, each first-time client is asked
to fill out a brief informational form and to sign a consent form. The informational form is brought to a prayer team by the staff person who has
welcomed the client. Ordinarily the prayer team reviews the form and
then immediately proceeds into the prayer room to pray for the client.
After my prayer partners and I reviewed the form and noted the client's
request to be healed of migraine headaches, I proceeded to get up and
move toward the door leading to the prayer room. One of the women
said, "No. Wait. We need to pray before going to the room to find out

20

For example, on one of my first visits, I joined two other women who had been
serving as prayer volunteers for several months. Although I said nothing, I noted they had
spent a considerable amount of time talking with the client trying to "diagnose" the problem. Volunteers were discouraged from long conversations with the client that too readily
lend themselves to advice giving. One of the women said to me after the prayer time was
over, "I know we are not supposed to do so much talking, but you know how it goes." I
also noted that over the months additional chairs were removed from the prayer rooms,
allowing the client to sit but the pray-ers to remain standing in an effort to curb the talking.
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Old Wine, New Wineskins: The Rise of Healing Rooms in Revival Pentecostalism

what the Lord wants." We prayed for five or ten minutes until the woman
received what she believed was a "message from the Lord." It dealt with
the client's relationship with her mother and the client's need to forgive
her. As we entered the room we introduced ourselves to the client and
asked her what she wished us to pray for. Knowing nothing about the
"word" that the prayer team member believed she had received, the client
replied, "Originally I wanted prayer for my headaches, but I believe I
need to ask you first to pray for my relationship with my mother."
Despite attempts to discourage the development of name healers within
the healing room through prayer teams and to keep all volunteers "on the
same page," volunteers cannot help but see differences in spiritual intuition and the growth in "empowerment" as pray-ers exercise healing prayer.
But it is also worthy of note how often teams (despite differences in style,
theologies, and personalities) work together as "tag teams" playing their
prayer off one another and somehow winding up on the "same page." Out
of such team prayer comes a distinct message that usually is evident to
all, including the prayer client.
Following a time of extemporaneous prayer among the team members
that lasts an average of approximately twenty minutes, someone will turn
to the client and ask how he or she is doing. Although I have never witnessed a dramatic and miraculous healing during my hours of service,
I have yet to see a person report no change: tension and anxiety may dissipate, physical pain may be alleviated, peace may blanket the person.
The most common response is a deeper sense of the presence and love
of God.
Clients regularly report healings, although there is no calculation of
percentages or attempts made to verify reports medically. The time and
resources are put into prayer ministry rather than evaluation research. The
testimonies are used to encourage and inspire the pray-ers and their clients
to expect healing such as those found in "Healing Headlines."21 "Healing
Headlines" is a booklet containing about three dozen short testimonials
distributed to prayer team members and made available to visitors to the
HRGC. The testimonies reflect a blend of the supernatural accounts and
healing through modern medicine. Cathy's report "Fractured knee cap
healeddoctors say, 'It's a miracle' " and Kate's "Ulcers healed in Jesus'
name" reflect the miracle mentality that is found in many one-line testimonials. Matt's report blending the medical component with the healing
21
"Healing Headlines. Testimonies of God's Healing Power" (2004), available from
Healing Rooms of Greater Cleveland, Willowick, Ohio 44095.

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testimony represents a minority narrative: "Diagnosed with non-Hodgkins

lymphoma in August 2003; received 3 rounds of chemo. Cat scan on
11-14/03 reveals 'NO CANCER.' " A range of testimonies can be found
in the booklet, from the healing of broken bones to arthritis, various forms
of cancer, migraines, and backaches.
Sprinkled into the more common accounts of healing are more dra
matic ones that have pray-ers expecting more to come by way of healing
miraclesmore miracles in which the blind see and the lame begin to
walk and even the dead are raised. In a recent conversation with a prayer
team member from the Spokane Healing Rooms, I asked him to share the
most memorable healing in which he has been involved. Josh responded
with the following account:
That's easy. A woman came in with a shriveled arm that was all withered
and discolored as a result of an automobile accident. I don't know why the
doctors didn't amputate it; she could not use it at all and it looked terrible.
When we asked what she wanted, she said want to be able to pick up
my grandchildren.' As we began to pray, I felt the Lord telling me to rub
the arm with healing oil. It was hard to do; the arm appeared ugly and cold.
But I began to do as the Lord instructed. I couldn't believe it! As I began
to rub oil over her arm, color came into it and the arm came to life. By the
time we were finished with prayer, she was able to use her arm. She just
wept with joyand I stood there totally amazed.
Accounts like these are the fuel that feeds the expectation of the healing
rooms staff and volunteers of seeing greater healing miracles and seeing
them with regularity.
Some Concluding Thoughts
This paper undoubtedly raises more questions than it answers. It has
limited itself to a description of the rise of contemporary healing rooms
22
through the lenses of the Pentecostal Charismatic worldview and through
my own participant observation at the Healing Rooms of Greater Cleveland.
No attempt has been made to study the efficacy of healing prayer, dif
ferences and similarities among healing rooms, the clients who frequent
the healing rooms, or the volunteers who serve as pray-ers. Hopefully this
preliminary report will serve as a catalyst for further research.
Although divine healing has become a doctrine for many Pentecostal
and Charismatic Christians, this ministry waxes and wanes under the
This is described in detail in Poloma, Main Street Mystics.
70

Old Wine, New Wineskins The Rise of Healing Rooms in Revival Pentecostalism

forces of what I have called elsewhere "the routinization of charisma."23

The so-called gifts of the Spirit, including prophecy in its various forms
and healing, have blossomed during times of revival but wilted when
revival fires have grown cold. Attempts to create doctrine out of unpredictable experiences of healing have historically led to extremes, including
attacks on medical science and a tendency to blame the sick person for
a failure to be healed, that caused many modern Pentecostals to downplay
its practice. Although professions of belief in healing have persisted in
cultural Pentecostalism, expectations and testimonies of miraculous healing tend to wane as the movement experiences routinizing forces.
Revivalfireshave continued to erupt periodically during Pentecostalism's
hundred-year history, and with each revival came new healing movements.
The revival of the 1990s was no exception. Although revival fires may
have been reduced to glowing embers in North America, a contemporary
healing rooms movement has emerged that includes expectations of early
Pentecostalism while eschewing the extremes of its earliest days. Moving
the practice of healing out of isolated churches and into the marketplace,
the healing rooms movement may have developed a structure less susceptible to the forces of routinization that have domesticated earlier healing movements. Its structure, beliefs, and practices fit well with an era
that is somewhat skeptical of allopathic medicine and is seeking complementary alternatives to the biomedical model to enhance health and
well-being. The healing rooms movement may just have found a niche
in a postmodern culture in which spirituality and health, rather than being
competitors, are seen as companions on life's journey.

23

See M. M. Poloma, The Charismatic Movement: Is There a New Pentecost? (Boston:

Twayne Publishers, 1982), and The Assemblies of God at the Crossroads: Charisma and
Institutional Dilemmas (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1989).
71

^ s
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