History
Within the worldwide SDA Church, the Biblical Research Institute of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists coordinated study and dialogue into the topic of deliverance ministry from 1980, concluding with a publicly available report on the topic in 1983, (https://www.adventistbiblicalresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/Spiritual-Warfare-Deliverance.pdf). This report included the following two statements among its conclusions:
Since 2015, deliverance ministry was included in the Elders Manual and the Minister’s Handbook, published by Ministerial Association of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The Fundamental Belief “Growing in Christ” was voted at the 2005 General Conference Session, partly in response to the growing need to provide biblical and practical counsel for front-line missionaries working in regions where spirit and ancestor worship are powerful cultural forces.
After a conference coordinated by AFM and personnel from the SDA Seminary’s Missiology Department at the AFM Center (MI) in February 2018, the Set Free in Christ Institute was established in late 2018 to provide a forum where SDA practitioners in deliverance ministry receive spiritual support, and can develop a SDA biblical and SOP foundation for deliverance ministry and spiritual warfare. A deliverance ministry manual was published in late 2018, and the Institute today provides a range of services for SDA deliverance ministry practitioners, missiologists, pastors and church members.
- “The Seventh-day Adventist Church believes that there is a place for ministry to those who are tempted and controlled by Satanic agencies; and furthermore, it is not a ministry to be limited to professional clergy, psychologists, and psychiatrists.
- “Christians may be called upon to participate, or even to lead out, in prayer services for victims of Satanic harassment or possession. An important work of personal preparation is spelled out in Scripture and in Ellen White’s writings which includes close self-examination to discover the possible presence of sin which needs to be repented of, confessed, and forsaken before confrontation with the supernatural forces of evil. Fasting and prayer may be an important part of this preparatory work. There is a place for this kind of ministry, conducted properly…”
Since 2015, deliverance ministry was included in the Elders Manual and the Minister’s Handbook, published by Ministerial Association of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The Fundamental Belief “Growing in Christ” was voted at the 2005 General Conference Session, partly in response to the growing need to provide biblical and practical counsel for front-line missionaries working in regions where spirit and ancestor worship are powerful cultural forces.
After a conference coordinated by AFM and personnel from the SDA Seminary’s Missiology Department at the AFM Center (MI) in February 2018, the Set Free in Christ Institute was established in late 2018 to provide a forum where SDA practitioners in deliverance ministry receive spiritual support, and can develop a SDA biblical and SOP foundation for deliverance ministry and spiritual warfare. A deliverance ministry manual was published in late 2018, and the Institute today provides a range of services for SDA deliverance ministry practitioners, missiologists, pastors and church members.