Reinhard Bonnke was an evangelist known for holding some of the largest gatherings in African history. But it was not the preaching alone that marked those events. Bonnke consistently reported that the most extraordinary moments occurred during worship — before he had even spoken a word.
Worship Before the Message
At a crusade in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in the 1990s, Bonnke recalled standing on a platform watching hundreds of thousands of people worship under the open sky. The sound was immense — voices rising from every direction without amplification. And before Bonnke approached the microphone, reports began flooding in from the crowd.
People were being healed during the worship. Not during prayer lines. Not during the sermon. During the singing. A woman who had been deaf in one ear began hearing. A man with a paralysed hand felt strength returning. Others reported pain disappearing from their bodies as they stood singing with their hands raised.
An Atmosphere Beyond Explanation
Bonnke described these moments as an "atmosphere of faith" created by corporate worship. He said there were nights where he did not need to preach because the worship itself carried the weight of everything God wanted to do. The singing created conditions where people's hearts opened — and healing followed.
He was always careful to say that the healings were not about the music. They were about what the worship invited into the space. The singing was a doorway, not a mechanism. But the pattern was unmistakable: the most dramatic reports consistently came during worship, not after.
Documented and Witnessed
Bonnke's crusades were attended by millions across Africa over four decades. Medical professionals documented many of the reported healings. The scale of what happened during those worship gatherings remains one of the most significant records of healing in modern church history.
What This Means for You
Worship is not a warm-up for the main event. It is the main event. When people worship together with genuine hearts, something opens. You do not need a famous evangelist or a crowd of hundreds of thousands. You need willing hearts and open mouths. The same God who showed up in Ouagadougou is present wherever people gather to worship.