The claims School and prayer
Does Go Church make students neglect school or drop out of their studies?
No: Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, a medical doctor, tells students to finish their studies and sits with medical students to prepare them for exams. Go Church told VRT that taking part in church must account for age, education, rest and wellbeing.
What the documentary said
There are calls at 5 o’clock in the morning. Yes. And that’s a live YouTube thing from Dag Heward-Mills himself.
Er zijn calls om vijf uur in de ochtend.
You have the challenges, the prayers, the evangelism. You have separate meetings, leadership meetings. You have to put so much time into it that school sometimes becomes an afterthought.
Je hebt de challenges, de prayers, de evangelisatie. Je hebt aparte meetings, leiderschapsmeetings. Je moet er zoveel tijd in steken dat school soms een achterliggende gedachte wordt.
So you invest a lot of time in that movement, you even put your studies or your work on hold.
Watch VRT at this point · VRT NWS Pano16:32 (opens the recording on YouTube at 16:32)
Go Church’s written answer
Alle kerkactiviteiten zijn vrijwillig en leden bepalen zelf aan welke bijeenkomsten ze deelnemen. Flow Prayer is een online gebedsbijeenkomst en er wordt geen toezicht gehouden op individuele deelname. Er is geen verplichting om aan elke activiteit deel te nemen. Bij deelname moet rekening worden gehouden met persoonlijke omstandigheden, zoals leeftijd, opleiding, rust en welzijn.
Go Church written reply to VRT (published on vrtnws.be, 21 Oct 2026). VRT broadcast one sentence of the reply. Read the full reply in Dutch and English.
What the film left out
In English: all church activities are voluntary and members decide which meetings they attend. Flow Prayer is an online prayer meeting and nobody checks who takes part. There is no obligation to attend every activity, and taking part must account for personal circumstances such as age, education, rest and wellbeing.
Bishop Dag started his church as a fourth-year medical student and qualified as a doctor in 1989. He still meets medical students before their exams. In West Bromwich this year a church member, now a doctor in GP training in the UK, stood up and described it: sessions in the office, tips on anatomy and physiology, a bank of past questions. Classmates expected the church crowd to fail. He says every one of them passed first time.
His teaching is about balance: being prayerful never excuses failing your exams. In the doctor’s words, failing exams in medical school “can greatly affect you as a Christian, and in your service to God”.
The record: his own words, across the years
-
2026
West Bromwich, UK, Camp meeting, Day 3
A church member who is now a doctor in GP training in the UK describes how Bishop Dag prepared him and his friends for their medical exams.
All through medical school, from when I joined the church in 2014, MB2, you always called us to the office… invited us to the office, shared tips with us on anatomy, physiology, and all the time they came spot on. I remember one of the times, I had a friend called Kofinti… you were talking about the gallbladder and the common [bile] duct, and then he went for his surgery OSCE, and it was one of the main cases he got in the exam, and he passed. He said if it wasn’t for that case he would have failed, ‘cause the pass mark was 50% and I think he had like 51%. / You had sessions with me. / It wasn’t [you] teaching us Romans 12:15. / Not at all. I was teaching them medical things. / …you even fed us in addition… gave some of us tablets to study, and made us compile a bank of past questions
Watch · West Bromwich, UK, 20265:41 to 7:10 (opens the recording on YouTube at 5:41)
-
2026
West Bromwich, UK, Camp meeting, Day 3
The same doctor answers the charge that church makes school an afterthought.
Not passing your exams in medical school can greatly affect you as a Christian, and in your service to God, that you are failing your exam. / …our services were in the afternoon, so we used to come back from church around 10, 11 p.m. sometimes, and the next day, Monday, we have to go for lectures. So in class people used to always look at us in a certain way when our results came back, ‘cause, like, ‘these people are always following the prophets, going for long meetings; they will not study for exams; they will fail.’ But not once did we ever get any [resit] in school. Not once. All of us passed our exams first attempt, without any issues. Through your guidance. / What a blessing.
Watch · West Bromwich, UK, 20269:53 to 10:55 (opens the recording on YouTube at 9:53)
-
2025
Rotterdam, Netherlands, Give Thyself Wholly conference, Day 1
A year before the broadcast, in the Netherlands, he described the same habit himself.
You know, I am close to medical students. Every year, all the time, even just last week I had a meeting with a group of medical [students]. I sit with them and I go through questions when they are going for their exams. I go with them because I’ve suffered in medical school for seven years… so I’m closer to a medical student because we have some joint sufferings.
Watch · Rotterdam, Netherlands, 20253:43:21 to 3:43:54 (opens the recording on YouTube at 3:43:21)
-
2007
London, UK, Conference sermon
In London he told how he was criticised for starting a church while still a student.
Like I was a medical student and I was a pastor. I started the church that I’m still the pastor of when I was in medical school, fourth year. And people criticized me, said I should concentrate on my school, etc. But I finished. I passed every exam with very good grades. I won a prize.
Watch · London, UK, 20077:00 to 7:27 (opens the recording on YouTube at 7:00)
-
2026
Accra, Ghana, Love First Church youth service
To a young congregation, the balance in one line:
You do well in school. You balance the two. Not that you are so spiritual that you… you are a bomber in school. How does it help anybody when you bomb your classes?
Watch · Accra, Ghana, 20261:00:17 to 1:01:04 (opens the recording on YouTube at 1:00:17)
In his books
Whilst I was involved in these activities I did not give up my schooling. I completed my GCE ‘O’ levels and passed with a distinction … The point I am making is that ministry is possible alongside other pursuits.
The scripture
And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. … And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
As a boy Jesus sat with the teachers, listening and asking questions, and grew in wisdom and in favour with God together. Bishop Dag asks students for the same: grow in learning and in faith at once.
And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed… And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also
Jesus prayed before dawn and then went out to the day’s work. Early prayer is His pattern, and it never replaced the work that followed.
The verdict
The film says church turns school into an afterthought. A doctor who sat in Bishop Dag’s office before his exams says every one of them passed first time.
Questions people ask
What is Flow Prayer?
Go Church describes it as an online prayer meeting. In its written reply to VRT it said nobody checks individual attendance and nobody is obliged to attend every activity.
Is Bishop Dag Heward-Mills a real doctor?
Yes. He studied at the University of Ghana Medical School from 1982 and qualified as a medical doctor in 1989. He started his church while still a medical student.