Imagine visiting a new church and reading its welcome card: We believe in repentance, faith, baptism and the laying on of hands. Most of us would pause at that last one. Outside the church, laying hands on someone usually means something very different. Walk around Walmart doing it and you're more likely to get escorted out than invited to a prayer meeting.
Yet the writer of Hebrews puts the laying on of hands on his short list of the elementary doctrines of Christ (Hebrews 6:1-2). These aren't advanced topics. They're the foundation we need before we can go on to maturity. This Sunday at The River Church we asked why.
Nothing Magical, Everything Relational
Let's start with what the practice is not. There is no mysterious power stored in our fingertips, and no one has superhero hands. As we heard Sunday, “The power is not in our hands, the power is trusting and believing God for another person.”
Touch already communicates value to us. A mom checks a feverish forehead, old friends shake hands, kids pile into their parents' bed for morning cuddles. In Scripture, the laying on of hands becomes a physical expression of something spiritual: I bless you, I recognize what God is doing in you, I'm praying and believing with you. That's why it's elementary. “Christianity was never meant to be a hands-off faith.”
Blessing and Authority: From Jacob to Joshua
Genesis ends with an old man who had walked with God for decades. Jacob places his hands on Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, and blesses them, continuing a blessing that ran from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. Families today can do the same thing. Pray over your kids on birthdays, on the first day of school, before a trip, or every morning. Numbers 6 gives the words: “The Lord bless you and keep you.” Many of our children hear plenty of correction and not nearly enough blessing.
In Numbers 27, Moses lays hands on Joshua in front of the whole congregation. Two details matter. First, God had already called Joshua a man in whom is the Spirit. “The laying on of hands is not a shortcut around character.” Joshua had spent years serving, fighting and staying faithful before anyone called him a leader. Second, the commissioning was public, so nobody wondered who was leading and nothing was handled behind closed doors.
Spirit, Service, Gifts and Healing
In Acts 19, Paul finds about twelve disciples in Ephesus who had never heard of the Holy Spirit. He lays hands on them, and they speak in tongues and prophesy. It isn't a formula, since in Acts 10 the Spirit falls with no hands involved, but it is a clear biblical pattern. So don't be too proud to ask someone to pray for you.
In Acts 6 the apostles lay hands on seven men chosen to serve tables. Two of them, Stephen and Philip, went on to become the first Christian martyr and Philip the Evangelist. Neither started with a platform. “Jesus does not call the qualified, he qualifies the called.”
Paul reminds Timothy of the gift that came through the laying on of hands, then tells him to practice it and immerse himself in it. “Someone can pray for your gift, but you still have to steward your gift.” And James 5 tells the sick to call for the elders. On Sunday we heard of a young boy whose regular seizures stopped after a group prayed over him, with brain scans so different that the doctor assumed there had been a mix-up. “Prayer should not be our last resort. Prayer should be our first response.”
Who's Next for You?
Across the whole Bible, the laying on of hands is how God's people have carried blessing, leadership, ministry, gifts and healing from one generation to the next. When Deion Sanders benched an injured Travis Hunter to protect a future he believed would outshine his own, he showed a principle that matters even more in the kingdom: mature believers “think about who they are preparing to go farther than them.”
So who are you blessing? Who are you encouraging in their calling, or standing beside in prayer? If the answer is nobody, we are receiving without passing on. You don't have to be a pastor to change that. Parents, grandparents and ministry leaders can all start this week. “What God has given us is meant to be passed on.”
Watch the full Hebrews 6 message and get connected at The River Church.