Denominational Approaches to the Healing Ministry

Please follow the links:

The Baptist Union

The Church of England
The Church of Scotland in England
The Methodist Church
The Religious Society of Friends: the Quakers
The Roman Catholic Church 
The Salvation Army
The United Reformed Church 
 

The Baptist Union: Baptists for Healing

Baptists for Healing was born in 1999 out of the moribund Baptist Union Health & Healing Group. A national committee oversees the production of a regular email newsletter to the ministers (and others) with articles looking at theological aspects of healing and wholeness, health-care aspects as well as testimony of people’s experience of healing. Advisers who link ecumenically are being identified, where possible linking in with the 12 new Regional Associations in England. Baptists for Healing links ecumenically and provides resources, and encourages networking and local initiatives as well as providing a healing service during the annual assembly.

Most Baptists are comfortable with a broad definition of Christian Healing Ministry embracing healing and wholeness and seeking cooperative links with health care professionals. Within the Baptist Union of Great Britain there are a variety of approaches from the more ‘sacramental’ through to the ‘charismatic’. The commonest practice involves prayer ministry with laying on of hands.

Many see helpful links with counselling ministry and pastoral care. Responses in the 2001 annual returns indicated that about a third of Baptist Union Churches offered charismatic prayer for healing, roughly a quarter offered anointing with oil, and around half offered prayer with the laying on of hands, but only about 10% would do this regularly in their services. Anecdotally, much healing ministry is in the form of ‘prayer ministry’, which takes place informally.

Baptists for Healing operates under the auspices of the Ministry department of the Baptist Union of Great Britain. We have advisers on a regional basis but in practice this ministry is fostered mostly by local ministers in Churches. Discussions are in progress about how this relates to the ministry of deliverance and what structures and links might be appropriate.

Baptists have no ‘authority structures’ though advisers may be pro-active in encouraging a profile for healing ministry. Mostly advisers act as a focus for networking and a point of contact for advice, resources and training to ministers and Churches. Most of our advisers are active ecumenically, and are involved in the Ecumenical Healing Advisory Groups that meet around the country.

One of our committee coordinates resources and we have produced a collection of study papers and training information on various aspects of healing ministry in CD ROM format.

Training opportunities are mostly accessed locally, based in individual churches, though one national conference has taken place in 2002. At the annual Baptist Assembly there is always a Healing Service, with opportunities to display teaching materials.

Our networks include area Ecumenical Advisers meetings and Churches Together for Healing,

At present there are no structures dealing with deliverance but conversations are in process and we envisage close linkage with Churches Together for Healing.
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 The Church of England

The most recently published overview of the healing ministry in the Church of England is set out in the report called ‘A Time to Heal’ which was approved for publication in 2000 by the House of Bishops.

This report describes the Church of England’s approach to the Christian healing ministry as:

VISIONARY
because it beckons us towards the future, and a glimpse of the Kingdom, the hope of creation renewed in perfect health and wholeness;

PROPHETIC
because it calls us to reconsider our relationships with God, each other and the world and to seek forgiveness and a new start in our lives and

DYNAMIC
because Jesus Christ is with us to the end of time: when we pray for his help, he comforts, strengthens and heals us, responding to our deepest needs.


The healing ministry is part of the broad mission of the Church of England, expressed in the following ways. The most common forms of healing ministry are:
• public and private prayers of intercession;
• the laying-on of hands and anointing;
• reconciliation and absolution;
• friendship, forgiveness, listening, acceptance and affirmation.

This ministry is expressed publicly as part of services including:
• the Eucharist, Baptism and Confirmation;
• services with prayers for healing;
• in institutions such as hospitals, hospices, nursing homes, residential homes for elderly and disabled people, prisons etc
• at healing centres and related conferences; at Christian holiday venues, such as Spring Harvest and New Wine, which are often ecumenical.
It is expressed privately within the home, hospitals and hospices, discreetly in church side chapels; ecumenically across the Churches, including local services, hospital and prison chaplaincies, and in co-operation with the medical and caring professions.

Structures
At national level the healing ministry and, in particular, the role of diocesan advisors and teams, is supported and developed through the work of the House of Bishops’ Healing Ministry Steering Group (HMSG). The work of the HMSG includes production of resources for study and training, organization of national conferences and provision of a central point of reference for enquiries about this ministry. The HMSG reports directly to the House of Bishops of the Church of England. Links between the HMSG and CTH are provided through the appointment of two Church of England representatives on CTH.

Since publication of the report and its extensive recommendations, dioceses are moving from the previous pattern of an individual diocesan adviser, towards the model of a diocesan healing ministry group, which supports this ministry and those people involved in it at archdeaconry, deanery and parish levels. The diocesan group membership usually includes a bishop or other very senior clergy person in the diocese as chairman, with other members brought in for their ministerial and professional expertise: for example, healthcare professionals, hospital chaplains and officers for continuing ministerial education. The diocesan healing ministry groups relate to various parts of diocesan structures. For example:
• the diocesan council for mission;
• the diocesan board of social responsibility;
• the diocesan board of ministry
• and the diocesan council for health and healing.

Some dioceses are introducing the model of deanery advisers: two advisers, one ordained and one lay, work together to support and develop this ministry around the deanery in which they are well-known. These deanery advisers meet in archdeaconry groups which are convened by archdeaconry conveners who are members of the diocesan healing ministry group.

At national, diocesan, deanery and parish levels ecumenical co-operation within the ministry of healing is encouraged by the HMSG and the recommendations in the report A Time to Heal. Diocesan advisers are encouraged to hold regional meetings with advisers on this ministry within our partner denominations.

Training opportunities are provided within dioceses, deaneries and parishes: they usually organized by or with the help of the diocesan adviser or diocesan advisory group. Members of the HMSG also undertake commitments to address and lead training conferences and sessions around the dioceses. These events are often open to members of our partner denominations. The HMSG produces resources in support of the healing ministry, including study papers, recommended reading lists, liturgical resources and guidelines on professional practice.

The Ministry of Deliverance
It is a tradition for Christians to pray for deliverance from evil; the petition in the Lord’s Prayer is an obvious example of this. Praying with people for their needs and protection is often an appropriate way of ministering to them. There are however, some situations where a pastor is ministering to a disturbed person who appears, or claims to be afflicted by a power of evil or evil spirit.

‘This is an area of ministry where particular caution needs to be exercised, especially when ministering to someone who is in a disturbed state. The House of Bishops’ guidelines on the deliverance ministry should be followed and cases referred to the diocesan advisors when necessary; the advisors’ special expertise should be used in order to help as effectively as possible those who think they need this ministry.

The House of Bishops’ Guidelines (1975) on the deliverance ministry state ‘the following factors should be borne in mind:
1 It should be done in collaboration with the resources of medicine
2 It should be done in the context of prayer and sacrament
3 It should be done with the minimum of publicity.
4 It should be done by experienced persons authorized by the diocesan bishop.
5 It should be followed up by continuing pastoral care.’
Please note that text in this summary of the Church of England’s approach to the healing ministry is based upon the report ‘A Time to Heal’ published by The Archbishops’ Council, Church House Publishing, 2000 (main report & handbook).

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The Church of Scotland (In England)

The Church of Scotland has long recognised the healing ministry largely as a result of pioneers such as Cameron Peddie (author of The Forgotten Talent). The ministry comes under the Department of Social Responsibility in the church’s structure. A major annual conference on the healing ministry is arranged annually and it is fully subscribed.

The Church of Scotland sees the healing ministry as the other side of the coin with the preaching ministry. To ‘preach the Gospel AND heal the sick’ are equally fundamental obligations on the church. Healing ministry is therefore a normal part of the church’s ministry.

The healing ministry describes both the church’s specific contribution through intercession, laying-on-of-hands, the healing of the memories as well as anointing (the last not part of the Church of Scotland’s liturgy). The phrase is however used in a wider sense to include the gifts of creation. These include the whole sphere of medical, surgical, and nursing treatment, psychotherapy and counselling, healing relationship (people minister to people through friendship, pastoral care etc), some (but not all) forms of complementary medicine and music (such as music therapy which was a part of the St Marylebone healing centre’s ministry. Healing may involve one or a combination of several of the gifts of creation and the church’s specific ministry of redemption. The ministry is expressed across the church in healing ministry services.

The Church of Scotland in England (which is its Presbytery of England) has no specific involvement in the healing ministry. Its representative on Churches’ Together for Healing has however held services within the bounds of the Presbytery for the past quarter of a century.

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The Methodist Church

The Methodist Church has a long history of exploring and promoting the Healing ministry. In the early post war years the psycho-therapeutic model was dominant, led by characters like Leslie Weatherhead and Bill Kyle. Howard Booth was appointed in the 1980s to take forward this ministry and to link with other denominations through CCHH. A team of volunteer workers have taken the work on since he retired. In the mid 1990s we helped form a joint Health/Healing development group with the URC. By this time most of our Districts had appointed Advisors to provide a network through which good practice could be promoted. Revisions of our liturgies gave the opportunity to include for the first time a Service of Healing in the authorised Book of Worship, published in 1999. It is difficult to say how many of our churches now give some regular opportunities for healing ministry. Over the past 15 years there has been a significant acceptance and it is no longer regarded officially or locally as a fringe activity. It is our policy to continue to develop this side of the church's life and to promote good practice liaising where we can with other churches.

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The Religious Society of Friends: the Quakers

The Friends Fellowship of Healing (FFH) is an informal group of the Religious Society of Friends and, since it was founded in 1935, has sought to uphold the cause of the healing ministry within the Society, and to practice healing for those in need.

In prayer we co-operate with God, with the Divine, with the Source of all love and light. In silence waiting in the manner of Friends, we seek the still centre, letting go of strain and stress and all negative thoughts, to rest in the flow of new life, which is constantly cleansing, forgiving, revitalising to ‘make all things new’.

The spiritual power of the group can far exceed the sum of the individual members, and so within the Fellowship there are groups who meet regularly to pray for those in need. These groups hold the needs of their Meeting and individual members in the loving creative power of God; to be a channel for healing and so deepen the spiritual life of the Meeting.

Also within the Fellowship there are postal groups which offer distant healing through prayer, an immediate prayer group and a prayer group for the mother and her unborn child.

The Fellowship has two beautiful residential centres for rest and renewal: Claridge House in Surrey and Lattendales in Cumbria. Spring and autumn gatherings are usually held at either of these houses.

A magazine, Towards Wholeness, is published by the Fellowship three times a year; all members are invited to contribute articles, short pieces, experiences, book reviews, letters, etc.
The FFH is one of the largest single interest groups within the Religious Society of Friends in Britain, with a membership of around 1000 including several overseas members.

Many members belong to large healing organisations and, until recently, if they wanted to practice their healing skills with the general public, they needed to belong to such bodies in order to be fully insured.

Now, due to the efforts of some FFH members, a healers’ group was formed. This has become Quaker Spiritual Healers…Quaker Spiritual Healers is a sub group of the Friends Fellowship of Healing. It was inaugurated in 2001, and adheres closely to the Quaker ethic of simplicity, and directness of approach to the divine source of all healing.

The group was formed because so many people nowadays feel the inspiration to offer ‘hands-on’ or contact healing, and, following the example of George Fox and other early Friends, are led to offer their time and service to others. It offers training, support and continuing spiritual development for members.

Part of the Introduction to the Quaker Spiritual Healers Training Manual:
In comparison with other training schedules, it will be seen that the Quaker approach to Spiritual Healing is relatively uncomplicated. That is to say that, as with all things connected with the Religious Society of Friends, simplicity and directness of approach is the keynote. Quakers believe that by sitting in silence, as they do at Meeting for Worship, they can best apprehend the presence of God. And those who feel themselves called to engage in the work of healing will also find that this same gentle waiting on God (or Spirit, Cosmic Energy or Universal Life Force, or whatever name seems most appropriate), and opening to the healing energies that exist around and through all creation, will prove to be the most effective way of allowing these energies to be used fruitfully.

Therefore in any healing training course it need to be stressed (many times if necessary) the importance of the would-be healer’s own relationship with God or Spirit. Healing is not something that can be switched on and off at the touch of a button: it is something which actually pervades one’s whole way about thinking about Life, and it is also something which, when seriously embarked upon, tends to take over one’s own life. It should be a permanent awareness of the presence of God.

So, although it may well be that a call to do the work of healing, in its various forms, is first initiated by the Higher Source, once awareness of this and its acceptance by the recipient is completed then it would seem to be necessary for him/her to realise that there is now a responsibility to continue to conduct life in such a way that s/he can be used as a channel or vehicle for the healing energies to pass through.

At all times the trainee (henceforth called the healer) must understand that s/he is not doing the healing, and therefore there is no glory or self-aggrandisement to be had from engaging in this sort of work. It’s true that there is a pleasure to be gained from the fact that sometimes one can alleviate pain, and occasionally offer total relief from a condition, but it is something that that is done through the healer rather than by the healer.

Healing, quite simply, is a by-product of an ability to become aware of God.

Copyright 2000 Quaker Spiritual Healers
Part of the Friends Fellowship of Healing. A Quaker Group

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The Roman Catholic Church  -  Instruction on Prayers for Healing 

The longing for happiness, deeply rooted in the human heart, has always been accompanied by a desire to be freed from illness and to be able to understand the meaning of sickness when it is experienced. This is a human phenomenon, which in some way concerns every person and finds particular resonance in the Church, where sickness is understood as a means of union with Christ and of spiritual purification. Moreover, for those who find themselves in the presence of a sick person, it is an occasion for the exercise of charity. But this is not all, because sickness, like other forms of human suffering, is a privileged moment for prayer, whether asking for grace, or for the ability to accept sickness in a spirit of faith and conformity to God's will, or also for asking for healing.
Prayer for the restoration of health is therefore part of the Church's experience in every age, including our own. What in some ways is new is the proliferation of prayer meetings, at times combined with liturgical celebrations, for the purpose of obtaining healing from God. In many cases, the occurrence of healings has been proclaimed, giving rise to the expectation of the same phenomenon in other such gatherings. These prayer meetings for obtaining healing present the question of their proper discernment from a liturgical perspective; this is the particular responsibility of the Church's authorities, who are to watch over and give appropriate norms for the proper functioning of liturgical celebrations.
With respect to prayer meetings for obtaining healing, an aim which even if not exclusive is at least influential in their planning, it is appropriate to distinguish between meetings connected to a ‘charism of healing,’ whether real or apparent, and those without such a connection. A possible ‘charism of healing’ can be attributed when the intervention of a specific person or persons, or a specific category of persons is viewed as determinative for the efficacy of the prayer.
The ‘charism of healing’ is not attributable to a specific class of faithful. It is quite clear that St. Paul, when referring to various charisms in 1 Corinthians 12, does not attribute the gift of ‘charisms of healing’ to a particular group, whether apostles, prophets, teachers, those who govern, or any other. The logic which governs the distribution of such gifts is quite different: “All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who distributes to each one individually just as the Spirit choses” (1 Cor 12:11). Consequently, in prayer meetings organized for asking for healing, it would be completely arbitrary to attribute a ‘charism of healing’ to any category of participants, for example, to the directors of the group; the only thing to do is to entrust oneself to the free decision of the Holy Spirit, who grants to some a special charism of healing in order to show the power of the grace of the Risen Christ. Yet not even the most intense prayer obtains the healing of all sicknesses. So it is that St. Paul had to learn from the Lord that “my grace is enough for you; my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9), and that the meaning of the experience of suffering can be that “in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church” (Col 1:24).
It has seemed opportune, therefore, to publish an Instruction as a help to local Ordinaries so that the faithful may be better guided in this area, though promoting what is good and correcting what is to be avoided.

DISCIPLINARY NORMS
It is licit for every member of the faithful to pray to God for healing. When this is organized in a church or other sacred place, it is appropriate that such prayers be led by an ordained minister.
Prayers for healing are considered to be liturgical if they are part of the liturgical books approved by the Church's competent authority; otherwise, they are non-liturgical.
Liturgical prayers for healing are celebrated according to the rite prescribed in the Ordo benedictionis infirmorum of the Rituale Romanum (28) and with the proper sacred vestments indicated therein.
The Diocesan Bishop has the right to issue norms for his particular Church regarding liturgical services of healing.
Those who prepare liturgical services of healing must follow these norms in the celebration of such services.
Permission to hold such services must be explicitly given, even if they are organized by Bishops or Cardinals, or include such as participants. Given a just and proportionate reason, the Diocesan Bishop has the right to forbid even the participation of an individual Bishop.
Non-liturgical prayers for healing are distinct from liturgical celebrations, as gatherings for prayer or for reading of the word of God; these also fall under the vigilance of the local Ordinary.
Confusion between such free non-liturgical prayer meetings and liturgical celebrations properly so-called is to be carefully avoided.
Anything resembling hysteria, artificiality, theatricality or sensationalism, above all on the part of those who are in charge of such gatherings, must not take place.
The use of means of communication (in particular, television) in connection with prayers for healing, falls under the vigilance of the Diocesan Bishop in conformity with can. 823 and the norms established by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Instruction of March 30, 1992.(30)
Without prejudice to what is established above in art. 3 or to the celebrations for the sick provided in the Church's liturgical books, prayers for healing – whether liturgical or non-liturgical – must not be introduced into the celebration of the Holy Mass, the sacraments, or the Liturgy of the Hours.
The ministry of exorcism must be exercised in strict dependence on the Diocesan Bishop..
The prayers of exorcism contained in the Rituale Romanum must remain separate from healing services, whether liturgical or non-liturgical.
It is absolutely forbidden to insert such prayers of exorcism into the celebration of the Holy Mass, the sacraments, or the Liturgy of the Hours.
Those who direct healing services, whether liturgical or non-liturgical, are to strive to maintain a climate of peaceful devotion in the assembly and to exercise the necessary prudence if healings should take place among those present; when the celebration is over, any testimony can be collected with honesty and accuracy, and submitted to the proper ecclesiastical authority.
Authoritative intervention by the Diocesan Bishop is proper and necessary when abuses are verified in liturgical or non-liturgical healing services, or when there is obvious scandal among the community of the faithful, or when there is a serious lack of observance of liturgical or disciplinary norms.

These are extracts from “Instructions for prayers for Healing” from the Offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, September 14, 2000. The full document can be found here

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The United Reformed Church

The Health and Healing Development Group was established in about 1972 when the United Reformed Church (URC) was formed and in 1995 came under the umbrella of 'Church and Society'. Before that it came under 'Faith and Life'. In the 1990's the URC came together with the Methodist Church to form the URC/Methodist Health and Healing Development Group. Representatives from around the country met on a regular basis to discuss, learn and share experiences, and were encouraged to promote this ministry in their own area. After the publication of 'A Time to Heal', this group, through Churches Together has sought to become fully ecumenical and in 2003 became a coordinating body within Churches Together and is now known as Churches Together For Healing (CTH) There have also been certain individuals who have championed the Healing Ministry, who sought to encourage its development within the denomination. It is on the agenda at General Assembly, but has not been given prominence.

Healing is seen in the context of the church's ministry of salvation which relates to the whole person, body, mind and spirit, and to the community. It is in response to the Lord's commission to his disciples to 'preach the word and heal the sick'.

Healing is what the church's mission is all about. Healing, wholeness, salvation; these words embrace what God has done for us through the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The New Testament shows us that Jesus' healing of the sick and casting out demons were a vivid demonstration of the coming of the kingdom, and his charge to continue that ministry in his name was part of his commission to the disciples. Through the ages the church has responded by caring for the sick and troubled in many different ways... through pastoral care, prayer, the sacraments, spiritual gifts, deliverance ministries, practical friendship and so on'. 'Health is in a sense a direction. In the journey of living we travel towards health and wholeness, the destination is wholeness of life with God.' ('Into Wholeness' a URC publication, editor Janet Lees).

In the URC Service Book, and in 'Worship from the URC', there is an outline service and liturgy for a Healing Service. This may be followed as it stands, but it is recognized that healing services will vary.

The prayer life and spirituality of the church are central to the Healing Ministry, going hand and hand with sound teaching and preaching on aspects of spirituality and wholeness in body, mind and spirit.

There is a wide diversity amongst United Reformed churches when it comes to the healing ministry. This ministry is generally tailored to the situation and may have an ecumenical expression. Churches seeking to pursue this ministry are encouraged to form a healing prayer group, made up of those selected /commissioned by their church, who are committed to prayer ministry, undergo training, meet regularly and pray for needs in the congregation and wider afield, and follow 'Guidelines for Good Practice'.

Churches that exercise a ministry of healing and wholeness, tend to focus on a prayer ministry and generally hold Healing Services, which may be weekly, monthly or quarterly. For some churches this ministry is a normal part of worship and prayer ministry will be offered at every service. In many churches pastoral care and prayer ministry go hand in hand.

Some churches have specialized ministries usually based around the expertise of one or more people who have been specially trained e.g. bereavement, listening, counselling or with the disabled. Other churches have a more outgoing social ministry or one of reconciliation which reaches out to the community addressing needs e.g. children/ young people, mothers and toddlers, elderly, homeless, immigrants etc.

Each synod has an Adviser for the Healing Ministry, who seek to promote the Healing Ministry as appropriate within the structures of the URC, local community and across denominations. Advisers respond to requests and offer training days as appropriate. Each Synod will have its own training system, in some cases they work alongside training teams and by appropriate means hold training days, and offer advice when requested.

At present two URC Advisers are appointed to attend the national CTH meetings and report back to Church and Society and ultimately to General Assembly as appropriate.

Some churches and individuals support local Christian homes of Healing and work hand in hand to promote them and also to use them as a resource for teaching and healing.

The URC Advisers seek to work ecumenically where appropriate as this is seen as an expression of healing, reconciliation and wholeness in its own right.

In a few cases this ministry also covers the deliverance ministry, but for many this is a subject outside their experience and training, and advice should be sought from the moderator/ advisers within each synod.

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