The laying on of hands

“Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.” 1 Timothy 5:22
For part of my childhood our family attended a church where the laying on of hands was a big deal. People would be invited to come forward at the end of a service to be prayed for and have hands laid upon them. Usually when this happened the person would fall down, which was called being slain in the Spirit. It was so prevalent that some of the women in the church were asked to make garments for people to wear when they went forward to pray, so that when they fell over they would be properly covered (particularly women wearing skirts). If you didn’t fall down, it was an indication that you were resisting the Holy Spirit and there was something wrong with you. But is this really what the Scripture says about the laying on of hands?
In the New Testament, we do see people laying hands on others during prayer for the purpose of healing (Mark 5:23, 6:5, 8:23-25, 16:18, Luke 4:40, Luke 13:13, Acts 28:8). Jesus placed His hands on the children to pray for them and bless them (Matt. 19:13, Mark 10:16). The apostles laid hands on people so they would receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:17, 9:17, 19:6) and gifts of the Spirit (1 Tim. 4:14, 2 Tim. 1:6). When people were ordained for ministry, they had hands laid on them (Acts 6:6, 13:3).
All these aspects of the laying on of hands are still valid today. I believe it is the last one that Paul is referring to here in telling Timothy not to be hasty in the laying on of hands. Now we must understand that the laying on of hands is not something magical that suddenly makes a person able to do the ministry. Rather, it is an acknowledgement of the calling that God already has upon that person’s life. But if we get it wrong – if God has not called them, and then that person falls into sin, we take part of the responsibility for that because we endorsed them by laying on hands.