Starting a healing group in your local church
Mike Hutchinson
Begin small, move within your faith experience but remember it is
small faith in a great abundant God who can move mountains.
In June 1985 our vicar knocked on our door to ask that my wife and I join the clergy and church wardens to pray for the sick. We came from a medical background and I guess had a gift of compassion as well as giving a degree of respectability to the concept of supernatural healing. It had taken ten years from leaving a church that practised this ministry to that point in time. Note well that ‘you need patience if you are to fulfil the will of God' in this area for your church.Now a team of 30 trained prayers operate in rota at twice monthly Communion services with four to five hundred consultations annually. Prayer for healing also occurs in cell groups and pastoral prayer ministry. How do we raise the profile of ‘preach and heal' as Christ did? How do you raise expectant faith among your church family?
1. Plough up the field with prayer and look for evidence of the Holy Spirit's healing power in the church family.
Four years previously two dramatic medical events followed prayer by the church. In the second a child sustained a road traffic accident requiring life support. For two weeks the church met for prayer. During this a vision of Jairus' daughter being raised from the dead was confirmed when the patient turned over and coughed indicating that she was not brain dead. She made a full recovery. Little teaching on this form of healing was offered in house. The church leader may be constrained by fear of losing control if the Spirit does something strange, and by fear of change which might upset those who are sceptical or who may have been damaged in the past by a triumphalistic approach. Others fear that the church will split with one group feeling inferior to another. We learnt from outside speakers who were allowed to take ‘altar calls' and lay on hands in public.We were helped by the respected figure of Bishop Morris Maddox and the Acorn Christian Healing Trust as well as by recommendations from the two Archbishops that healing should be an integral part of the Church. Whenever I spoke on this issue I made it clear that God had revealed His healing programme through both conventional scientific medicine and supernatural revelation. The former often failed to address the holistic nature of man that he was spirit, soul and body. God always met the supplicants at their point of need in these areas according to His will for them.
2. Establish a team
Interested members of the congregation were invited to an open meeting with experienced visitors from another church. Thirty people arrived and affirmed that we should start a group for healing. The visitors suggested we also consider a soaking prayer group for those with longstanding illness or problems meeting on a week night. We now had joint agreement from clergy and laity. It was up to the small group to select, train and equip suitable members of the church family. You need a leadership team that leads by example and is open to the Holy Spirit. So we learnt from Acorn, Christian Listeners, John Wimber, Graham Dow and Ellel Ministries. From these came listening prayer before healing Communions where prophetic words and pictures for that congregation were received. They were then vetted by the president and read to the congregation. Up to 70% of these words were honoured and needs met. As a scientist I recorded the prophetic words and with permission the requests of the supplicants and the outcome. Supplicants could request that no one but those who prayed should know the content of the request. We learnt to pray with our eyes open, to see the Holy Spirit at work and to receive further words of revelation during the prayer time. Each prospective team member attended a six week in-house course and each member is reviewed annually. Confidentiality is vital. Any members who ‘leaked' were advised to leave!
3. Encourage expectant faith
We minister in pairs (opposite sex) out of sight of the main congregation and during the receiving of bread and wine. This respects the client and reduces the risk of gossip. However, regular open testimony to God's intervention is necessary to build up faith and enable the congregation to own the ministry. Use a team member who is good at interviewing. Written testimony pinned on a board is an alternative. I reported back to the APCM the numbers of clients and the responses to prophetic words - again to make healing openand transparent.The Cross is central to our ministryFaith is taking a risk. Healing and suffering are intertwined at the cross which should be central in our ministry. You may meet opposition, scepticism, demonic activity and spiritual warfare but the joy of seeing the power of the Holy Spirit meet people at their point of need is an exciting reward. Start small, move within your faith experience but remember it is small faith in a great abundant God who can move mountains. Go for it!
About Dr. Mike Hutchinson.
Dr Mike Hutchinson was for many years a consultant haematologist at Leicester Royal Infirmary. He and his wife, Ann, founded and developed the healing team at Holy Trinity Leicester, have worked closely with the Acorn Healing Foundation, and have trained many in the healing ministry both in the UK and in Africa. They live in Sussex.
