Good questions. I'll touch on each of your questions and statements:
God has definitely been faithful. Praying with others is one of those neat things that is almost never disappointing. I think that sometimes trying to set up a routine of personal prayer and devotions can be tough, but the concept of two or three gathering together and experiencing Jesus' presence is a really satisfying and fulfilling experience. There was an article in the Banner a few months ago on this idea that sometimes even if we don't feel like it, all we have to do is show up and God does the rest. In general our group has found week-in and week-out that this Ministry is a joy to participate in, and not one of those "oh darn, time to go to prayer group" type of events.
Our start and end of year retreats have taken various forms. In general they are about discerning where God is leading us. They usually incorporate listening prayer: "asking" a question of God, usually finding some quiet space alone and leaving lots of silence for hearing God, then discerning together as a group how the various things we "get" from God come together. For this year's kick-off we'll simply be reflecting on what our direction is for the coming year. In the past we've spent a whole year as a group digging into our individual "barriers" - what was preventing us from moving into greater intimacy with God - we started off that process with a retreat where we got our initial direction or understanding of focus. Usually we meet away from church for our retreats - at someone's house, at a friend's cottage, at a retreat center. Sometimes we've had overnight 2 day sessions, sometimes just one day. They always involve lots of good food! We incorporate a fair bit of worship, and different ways of experiencing God (art, nature, Children's Worship messages, whatever). We've also attended conferences and workshops together as a team to learn and grow.
As a group we usually run the church season, with time off in the summer. Some things continue through the summer (we each have one of the worship ministry leaders that we pray for individually and that kind of thing keeps rolling).
In terms of praying with people or simply interceding, we do both. In general we have a person in for receiving individual prayer every 2 weeks (we call these "in-depth" prayer times). Regarding your question, we occasionally anoint the person with oil (a little cross and a word of blessing at the end of the prayer time), but it's not our most common thing. Funny with the oil, it often seems just slightly awkward, and then when we do it, it's a beautiful thing. I think that's the case with a lot of things with prayer and with faith in general.
An interesting dynamic for us: perhaps half or more of the people who come for in-depth times are actually from other churches with the connections made through ministers or leaders in other programs, and in particular from one church with a very active Celebrate Recovery program. We seem to be a good compliment to other activities and programs that people access for healing.
We also receive prayer requests. We pray through these requests on the other 2 weeks of the month, and as the need arises through the week as individuals. We've done a few home visits, and a little bit of hospital visiting (in conjunction with our Pastoral Elders). Overall our integration into the general flow of congregational ups and downs of life is small but growing. Every few months we have a reminder in the bulletin for people to submit prayer requests and these requests do come in. Often it’s when people are in crisis that they do connect with us.
I like your question about celebrating answered prayer. We are probably not as intentional about that as we could be. Our church has an adult discussion hour (Discipleship Hour) the hour before the service. Some Healing Prayer Team members co-hosted one session per month for the last couple years - including a session on sharing experiences of answered prayer. In that session we had people share their own stories of answered prayer and miraculous answers to prayer. I wonder whether perceived or actual concerns about confidentiality have held us back from generally sharing about answered prayer (although it's easy enough to ask whether things can be shared or to ask the person to share). Perhaps also the lack of "testimonial" type sharing in our congregation/denomination means that we have to be more intentional about creating opportunities. Something to work on... :)
I'm interested to know from you Doug how you've seen healing prayer ministries active in other churches. What's your experience? What's your personal passion for prayer? What do you mean by "inter-generational prayer" in your posting? Why is that important?
Posted in: How does a church run a healing prayer ministry?
Hi Doug,
Good questions. I'll touch on each of your questions and statements:
God has definitely been faithful. Praying with others is one of those neat things that is almost never disappointing. I think that sometimes trying to set up a routine of personal prayer and devotions can be tough, but the concept of two or three gathering together and experiencing Jesus' presence is a really satisfying and fulfilling experience. There was an article in the Banner a few months ago on this idea that sometimes even if we don't feel like it, all we have to do is show up and God does the rest. In general our group has found week-in and week-out that this Ministry is a joy to participate in, and not one of those "oh darn, time to go to prayer group" type of events.
Our start and end of year retreats have taken various forms. In general they are about discerning where God is leading us. They usually incorporate listening prayer: "asking" a question of God, usually finding some quiet space alone and leaving lots of silence for hearing God, then discerning together as a group how the various things we "get" from God come together. For this year's kick-off we'll simply be reflecting on what our direction is for the coming year. In the past we've spent a whole year as a group digging into our individual "barriers" - what was preventing us from moving into greater intimacy with God - we started off that process with a retreat where we got our initial direction or understanding of focus. Usually we meet away from church for our retreats - at someone's house, at a friend's cottage, at a retreat center. Sometimes we've had overnight 2 day sessions, sometimes just one day. They always involve lots of good food! We incorporate a fair bit of worship, and different ways of experiencing God (art, nature, Children's Worship messages, whatever). We've also attended conferences and workshops together as a team to learn and grow.
As a group we usually run the church season, with time off in the summer. Some things continue through the summer (we each have one of the worship ministry leaders that we pray for individually and that kind of thing keeps rolling).
In terms of praying with people or simply interceding, we do both. In general we have a person in for receiving individual prayer every 2 weeks (we call these "in-depth" prayer times). Regarding your question, we occasionally anoint the person with oil (a little cross and a word of blessing at the end of the prayer time), but it's not our most common thing. Funny with the oil, it often seems just slightly awkward, and then when we do it, it's a beautiful thing. I think that's the case with a lot of things with prayer and with faith in general.
An interesting dynamic for us: perhaps half or more of the people who come for in-depth times are actually from other churches with the connections made through ministers or leaders in other programs, and in particular from one church with a very active Celebrate Recovery program. We seem to be a good compliment to other activities and programs that people access for healing.
We also receive prayer requests. We pray through these requests on the other 2 weeks of the month, and as the need arises through the week as individuals. We've done a few home visits, and a little bit of hospital visiting (in conjunction with our Pastoral Elders). Overall our integration into the general flow of congregational ups and downs of life is small but growing. Every few months we have a reminder in the bulletin for people to submit prayer requests and these requests do come in. Often it’s when people are in crisis that they do connect with us.
I like your question about celebrating answered prayer. We are probably not as intentional about that as we could be. Our church has an adult discussion hour (Discipleship Hour) the hour before the service. Some Healing Prayer Team members co-hosted one session per month for the last couple years - including a session on sharing experiences of answered prayer. In that session we had people share their own stories of answered prayer and miraculous answers to prayer. I wonder whether perceived or actual concerns about confidentiality have held us back from generally sharing about answered prayer (although it's easy enough to ask whether things can be shared or to ask the person to share). Perhaps also the lack of "testimonial" type sharing in our congregation/denomination means that we have to be more intentional about creating opportunities. Something to work on... :)
I'm interested to know from you Doug how you've seen healing prayer ministries active in other churches. What's your experience? What's your personal passion for prayer? What do you mean by "inter-generational prayer" in your posting? Why is that important?
Thanks for the dialogue!
Cheers
Jake DeBruyn