The God Who Answers by Fire (1 Kings 18:20–39):

Abstract

Ritual healing and deliverance creativities and innovations in African Pentecostal (AP) churches have become a phenomenon if not a hallmark of African Pentecostalism in sub-Saharan Africa, yet there is little contextual knowledge known that informs such innovations. Using fire healing ritual in the Pentecostal Church Universal (PCU) in Nairobi Kenya as a case study, the paper attempts to offer explanatory frameworks for ritual deliverance innovations and creativities. This chapter shows that healing rituals have cultural and biblical premises. Church pastors often blend the African traditional cultural symbolism with the bible narratives to innovate ritual materials—which make meaning to an African Christian. The usage of the Bible in grounding this ritual is part of the continued processes of Bible/Christianity Africanizing, especially in the socio-economic and technological spaces which call for creative approaches in creating meaning to life and religion.