What do you expect?
A leaflet for those coming for Ministry.
By Ian Cowie (Chaplain 1976-88)
It is important that those who come for healing should have some idea as to what to expect when they visit the Christian Fellowship of Healing.
False expectations can lead to disappointment and we want to avoid this.
Sometimes people are so worried about what we might do that they have to come several times before they are relaxed enough for us to do anything to help them!
Therefore we ask you to read this leaflet carefully and so prepare for coming.
Do I need to have complete faith before I come?
We are often asked this. If by the word "faith" you mean complete acceptance of Christian doctrine, then the answer is NO. In fact we find that sometimes very convinced Christians receive little bodily healing, while those who would rate themselves as "seekers" receive wonderful healing. Perhaps OPEN-NESS is a better word to indicate the quality which is desirable in those who come.
We hope that, as people share our fellowship round the Bible and in prayer, they will find that faith is sparked off, or developed. Many find faith through being healed rather than the other way round.
How about medical treatment?
We do not see what we are doing as opposed to medical treatment, rather as an approach from a different angle which is basic, and which will allow people to respond better to medical help. (See our leaflet "You and your doctor"). We like, where possible, to work in collaboration with the medical profession.
We Believe
We believe that the Love of God
which was embodied in Jesus of Nazareth
is at work in us and through us today,
through what we call the "Holy Spirit",
seeking to do the same sort of thing here today
as happened in the life of Jesus, recorded in the Gospels.We do not claim to be "healers",
only people who point to Jesus.
People find healing in our midst
as the presence of Jesus becomes real to them.Of course it is right to seek healing
whether the sickness is of the mind or of the body.
Jesus always responded to those who sought healing:
there is no record of Him saying to anybody
that God wanted them to remain ill.
We believe that God wants to heal you,
but there is more to it than that.Illness, the symptom which shows,
is often the sign of something wrong deep down.
The doctor or the "healer" may deal with the symptom
while the deep trouble lies unhealed,
creating new symptoms.We invite you to seek "rightness", "wholeness" with us,
as together we seek Him.
The moment may well come when we feel that it is right to bring the love of God to bear on you in some specific way, but we cannot predict what that way will be, or when it will be. First of all, as fellow-sufferers and as fellow-sinners and as people in need ourselves, we seek Him together.
Then what
Each of our sessions begins with prayer and Bible Reflection, in which we invite you to join if you seek healing. That is not possible in every case, we know, but it helps.
You will then be seen individually and privately. The person ministering tries to get to know you and seek God’s guidance on how to help you.
This leads to prayer, in which others who are involved in the ministry may be invited to share, although they are not told anything that is confidential.
At this point the laying-on of hands may be given.
Sometimes this is done on the place afflicted, sometimes not.
Sometimes heat or cold is felt penetrating the body.
Sometimes people feel vibrations,
and it is a help to those ministering if you say quietly
"I'm feeling heat in my shoulders" for instance,
and then later "It's stopped now".
Sometimes people don't "feel" anything at all.
Sometimes people go into a sleep,
or a sort of "spiritual anaesthetic".
This may last for a long time or it may be seconds.
If you feel this happening, "go with it", do not be afraid.
At any point in the proceedings you should feel free to speak directly to Jesus of Nazareth just as if He were there in the flesh. If the person leading the prayer leaves gaps, then you should feel free to join in the conversation, just as you would in the family circle at home, without embarrassment.
On the other hand, many people feel such a deep peace that they feel it is almost impossible to speak.
Yet all present are a family, God's family, and should feel free to talk to each other and to Him as naturally as they would if they were at their fireside.
There are occasions when we feel led to spend a long time with you, praying, praising, talking, even coming and going, and this is especially so with deep seated troubles of long standing.
The laying-on of hands is only one way of expressing God’s love to you but there are others, and you can read of some of these in another leaflet called "His tool rack".What Happens?
- Sometimes an immediate improvement is observable. Often a deep peace is experienced.
- Some people have to come back a number of times before anything happens ... perhaps they have to get used to our ways, and to feel relaxed. Perhaps it is that we are not as good "conductors" of the love of God as Jesus was, so that only a little of what is required is transmitted each time.
- Sometimes little happens at the time, but later, perhaps during sleep or even days later, things come right.
- Sometimes there is an immediate worsening, as if things were coming to a head, in which case it is very important to keep praising God and putting yourself in His hands. Come back and see us if possible.
- Often the result is that the client responds in a new way to the doctor’s treatment, or there is a new development on the medical side.
- If there is a relapse after what had appeared to be a healing, then it would seem that there was something deeper to be dealt with.
- Of course, we all have to die sometime, and where it seems that physical healing is not appropriate, then the person who is dying needs to be upheld in prayer. Often our ministry makes a difference in terms of peace of mind, and in lack of pain.
- Sometimes no healing is possible until some wrong has been forgiven, some apology made, or some wrong way of life has been faced and dealt with.
- Thanksgiving is an essential part of the healing process, and the inability to express thanks often indicates a self-centred person, and self-centredness is the worst disease of all. Strangely, it is not those who receive the biggest miracles who respond with most thanksgiving. Many who are now ministering to others out of gratitude seemed not to be healed in an "obvious" way.
- No healing is complete until we have come to know God personally, The Living One. For many of us this is most clearly shown through Jesus Christ. Without contact with God, our earthly life runs out and runs down, slowly but surely. In Him is LIFE, life that rises above death itself, and the object of our work that you should know this LIFE for yourself.