Healing services often raise eye-brows in Sydney Anglican circles because of a collective cringe over some ‘believers’ who have encouraged others to demand what God does not promise to give. However Stuart Robinson shares a model that can respectfully and faithfully connect with a community’s need to be made whole.

I’m utterly committed to planting churches. By church planting I mean ‘the formation of new communities of faith, or new fellowships, that exhibit the values of the Kingdom of God; principally making and growing disciples of Christ’.

And we’ve done just that in recent times; a new Mandarin fellowship that meets in one of our halls, a youth church, Friday Night Live for 13-19 year olds and a ‘Prayer for Healing’ service on Wednesday evenings.

Let me speak about the ‘Prayer for Healing’ service. Like any new church plant a core group was recruited and trained. A launch date was identified and a marketing strategy (banner, letterbox drops, web-site, personal invitations, radio spots) was drafted and launched.

The ‘target’ for this new ministry is any person in need of emotional, physical, spiritual, relational and psychological healing. That’s a fairly hefty slice of the community we believe.

We make no claims about healing per se. We simply invite people to come forward at the end of a fairly simple (liturgical) service for prayer. And they do. Some come forward to receive Christ as Lord (following a careful exposition of the Word), others for more personal things. One fellow, ‘Steve’, saw our sign and made a one-off visit. He was passing through the area and was desperate. His wife had left him and had taken their small child. He asked us to pray that he might respond in a gracious and appropriate manner.

People come forward and ask us to pray for unsaved relatives or for friends with life-threatening illnesses. Again, we make no promises. We simply commit them and their concerns to the sovereign Lord.

Each week a person from the team (or from the new congregation) shares something of their experience of God’s grace. It may involve thanksgiving for healing or it might simply be a report of God’s mercy and kindness to them in Jesus.

The congregation is anything but homogeneous. We have a wide range of ages and ethnic backgrounds; English is not the first language for many (hence a full text of the sermon is handed out before the service).

The whole atmosphere is very calm and peaceful. Voices are never raised and prayers are offered in sotto voice.

Mid-week evening is also a great time for inviting guest preachers. In recent times Steve Lungu (African Enterprise) and Steve Chong (Evangelism Ministries) have spoken. People invited their friends - many of whom came forward for prayer. Some gave their life to Christ.

Stuart Robinson is the National Mission Facilitator for the Anglican Church of Australia and the rector of St Paul’s Anglican Church, Chatswood.