The mission of the Seventh-day Adventist church is to share the good news of the gospel with every nation, tribe, people and tongue. The goal of this mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ who live as His loving witnesses and proclaim to all people the everlasting gospel of the Three Angels’ Messages in preparation for His soon return (Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8, Revelation 14:6-12). Thus, SDAs help people everywhere understand the Bible through Christ-like living, communicating, discipling, teaching, healing and serving (see the Mission Statement of the Seventh-day Adventist Church at https://www.adventist.org/official-statements/mission-statement-of-the-seventh-day-adventist-church/).
The Set Free in Christ Institute contributes to the Christ-like characteristics of the SDA Church’s mission in general and, in particular, to the need for a Christ-like healing ministry. Christ’s holistic mission while on earth was characterized by a ministry to the whole person, as plainly stated in Christ’s mission statement in Luke 4:18-19:
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”
With his holistic ministry, Christ did not discriminate against those in need. He ministered to Jew or Gentile, whether demon-possessed (demonized), blind or paralyzed, with leprosy or incurable diseases, and even on behalf of the dead (see Matthew 8, 9, 12, 15; Mark 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10; Luke 4, 7, 13, 14, 17, 22). The 1983 official publication of the General Conference was based on this biblical fact when it stated that “there is a place for ministry to those who are tempted and controlled by Satanic agencies” within the church (see Dr. Conrad Vine’s article on page 4).
The 2005 fundamental belief “Growing in Christ” clearly implies that conversion and maturity are a process. In the 10/40 window, where Christian mission is concentrated, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus are the majority and have strong animistic backgrounds. Their journey to become mature Christians will be a process, not just an event. Some will join the church with carry-over attitudes, assumptions, and even accompanying fallen spirits that often are not addressed during their conversion and baptism.
Unfortunately, the influence of the Enlightenment, followed by the philosophies of the French Revolution, affected Western Christianity regarding supernatural healing. First, the Enlightenment era (1715 to 1789 A.D.) aimed to promote rationalism against Dark Age beliefs and practices considered primitive and superstitious. For instance, during the Enlightenment, healers who attempted to invoke supernatural powers were accused of witchcraft. Second, the French Revolution, a period of political and societal change in France from 1789-1799, promoted empirical philosophy to the point that religious rituals with spiritual power were no longer acceptable. Faith in the miraculous became inferior to intellectual faith. The 18th century saw the partial erasure of God as the central entity around which metaphysics or the supernatural revolves: the questions of His existence and nature were debated. Consequently, Western Christians often look from a biological or physiological perspective at some aspects of Christ’s holistic ministry involving healing.
AFM’s new Set Free in Christ Institute exists to address this aspect of Christ’s holistic ministry that fell silent in Western Christianity because of these biases from the Enlightenment era. Fortunately, the SDA Church has tried to correct this historical deviation from Scripture by including deliverance ministry as one of the nine special services to church members in the elder’s and ministers’ handbooks. Adventist Frontier Missions is especially pioneering in this ministry not only because of its focus on the 10/40 window, where the majority of its missionaries live and deal with spirit possession regularly, but also because, as a supporting ministry, it has more flexibility to do so. My prayer is that the worldwide SDA Church will, in the future, consider and advance the pioneering work of the SFCI as we work in harmony to advance God’s kingdom.
Since 2018, in alignment with SFCI goals, AFM has organized or been invited to training events and seminars on spiritual warfare and deliverance ministry around the world. Recently, these training events have been called Didaskoō seminars, taken from the Greek “to learn, to teach,” as when the disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). Such seminars or their imitative took place in Canada in 2018, France in 2019, Nigeria in 2020, in Côte d’Ivoire, North Africa and Switzerland in 2023, and 2024 in Mali in February and Burkina Faso and Romania in March. There will be another Didakso in Côte d’Ivoire from July 28-August 3, 2024.
Among SFCI services, we offer
(1) one-on-one consultation with specific deliverance ministry situations; (2) practical counsels on spiritual warfare; (3) intercessory prayer for demonic harassment and oppression;
(4) promotion of the hallmarks of “Growing in Christ;” (5) training in mission among fear/power cultures; etc.
As an outreach ministry, frontline missions cannot take place unless Satan is bound. This is one of the reasons why, when sending the 12 or the 70, Christ first gave them power over demons (Matthew 10:1, 8; Luke 10:17). With His greater power, Jesus gives us the authority and the power to bind Satan in mission and plundering his ‘house’ so that the kingdom of heaven is forcefully advanced.
At the same time, as an in-reach ministry, Christ taught His disciples to ask daily for deliverance from a personal and malevolent enemy, the devil himself, in their prayers (Matthew 6:13).
The Set Free in Christ Institute emphasizes the importance of human wholeness in finding freedom, healing and hope in Jesus Christ. You can support SFCI through your donations and prayers for more international training events and the production of resource materials. Donations can be made at afmonline.org > Give > Special Projects > Set Free in Christ or via check (write “Set Free in Christ Institute” in the subject line). Please visit our website, www.setfreeinchrist.org, for further resources. Thank you for being a part of this ministry.
