James 5:14-15 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Healing Ministries is dedicated to the practice and teaching of healing prayer. The healing ministry is one of the greatest opportunities the Church has today for sharing the gospel. More than before in the last hundred years, many in our society realise there is a spiritual as well as a physical and a mental dimension to healthy living. ‘Wholeness’ is the in-word: it is what everyone longs for.
The healing ministry is available to all in the following ways:
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PUBLICLY — as part of services.
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AT HEALING SERVICES — including the communion: in institutions such as hospitals, hospices, nursing homes, residential homes for the elderly and disabled people, prisons etc and at healing centres and related conferences.
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PRIVATELY — within the home, hospitals and hospices and discretely in church side chapels etc.
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ECUMENICALLY — across the Church denominations, including local services, health care and prison chaplaincies
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In co-operation with the medical and caring professions.
The healing ministry of the Church is a Gospel imperative. Jesus commissioned his disciples to heal the sick on two occasions: (Matthew 10.5-15, Mark 6.7-13; Luke 9.1-5; 10.9). He explicitly linked healing the sick with going out into the community to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom (Mark 6:13; Matthew 4.23, 9.35-10.8). Consequently the response of Christian communities to people’s needs for healing is one of the most important ways in which the Gospel is proclaimed to contemporary society.
‘We believe that God loves us and wills the very best for us in his kingdom. But we also know that suffering and death are conditions which we cannot escape from in this life. God is not distant from us in that. In Jesus Christ he shared in this life’s suffering and death on the cross, and he can draw close to us in times such as these.
However, his resurrection in the power of the Holy Spirit gives us hope that we might have a foretaste of his kingdom here and now and that through the Church’s ministry we shall receive his love, strength and healing touch.
What form that healing will take we cannot tell. It may be:
- Help to carry us through a prolonged illness or disability
- A recovery more rapid than expected
- Experiencing our fear of death being driven out by God’s love
- A healing which is so unexpected that we want to call it a “miracle”
- A growing awareness of inner peace and wholeness.’