by Elizabeth Coleman
Sep/Oct 2003

In this issue we will examine how to select and effectively train prayer ministers for a healing ministry. We will specifically address the personal attributes of a prayer minister, some essential requirements to establish, along with helpful suggestions when conducting a prayer ministry training class.

Personal Attributes of Prayer Ministers
Most of the people that are called into a healing ministry will exhibit the following characteristics:

1. They are able to express unconditional love.
2. They are not judgmental.
3. They are able to keep confidences.
4. They are sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
5. They are able to attentively listen.
6. They have a compassionate heart.
7. They are always able to offer hope.
8. They are willing to come under the authority of leadership and able to take correction well.
9. They have a healthy image of God.

It is helpful to keep these qualities in mind before prayerfully inviting someone to be a prayer minister.

Requirements for Prayer Ministers
In order to establish an effective prayer ministry, it is essential to adhere to certain requirements. Below is a list of the requirements that CHM has found helpful for every prayer minister:

1. Has a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Believes in the power of prayer: A prayer minister usually has strong and consistent prayer life.
3. Believes in the authority of Scripture and has a good understanding of the Christian faith.
4. Has received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit or is open to receiving.
5. Lives a Christian lifestyle.
6. Believes that God is calling them to this ministry.

Training Prayer Ministers
Christian Healing Ministries has developed a comprehensive training program in order to train and equip individuals who are interested in and feel called to pray. We know that there is not a standardized formula to pray for healing, and that Jesus is the one who heals, however, the training program does relay many powerful lessons, tools and Biblical principles that God has taught us during the course of the many years in this ministry.

The training program is comprised of three schools that include approximately twelve teachings. It is important that each level is taken in sequence.

SHP^® Level I: This particular school includes a foundational and balanced approach to begin a prayer ministry. It teaches the student how to effectively minister prayer for healing within a Biblical framework.

SHP^® Level II: This school builds on the foundations established in Level I. It leads prayer ministers through a progressive and more in–depth understanding of the healing ministry.

SHP^® Level III: This school was created to address issues that very experienced prayer ministers may encounter, such as abuse, addictions and difficult situations where deliverance is needed.

Each class will take approximately three hours. The first half of the class should include the video teaching as well as a questions and answer session. The second half of the class should be comprised of prayer time. It should take approximately one year to complete all three levels.

CHM has found the prayer time to be a critical component of the training. By the end of three months (this is usually how long it takes to complete SHP Level I) each student should have received ample opportunity to receive healing prayer, as well as receive experience in praying for others. C.H.M. also recommends that each student read the following:

1. Healing by Francis MacNutt
2. Deliverance from Evil Spirits by Francis MacNutt
3. Praying for Your Unborn Child by Judith and Francis MacNutt

Elizabeth Coleman, resigned from C.H.M. on September 26. Elizabeth served the Lord at C.H.M. in many different areas of ministry during her five years. She began ministering at C.H.M. as a Prayer Minister and after coming on staff she assumed responsibility for our Schools of Healing Prayer, directing our Internship Program, supervising our ministry staff, and teaching. Elizabeth was a tremendous blessing to our C.H.M. family and to all who came to our campus. She will be teaching a local Bible study and will continue to be a part of our C.H.M. family by teaching at our schools and ministering at our conferences under the umbrella of C.H.M. God bless you Elizabeth!

by Francis MacNutt
Nov/Dec 2003

From time to time when we are ministering to people who have come forward for prayer, the person for whom we are praying will suddenly fall to the floor and then roll on his or her side in a fetal position. That individual may cry out something like, "I'm not going to come out. I'm not going to be born!" When this voice comes from a 40–year old man, it is always startling, although we have seen this happen often enough.

The most likely explanation is that something went wrong way back in the womb, and we need to pray and ask Jesus to help him be "born again" in this particular way, And it does happen.

When Judith and I were writing Praying for Your Unborn Child, we found that infants in the womb seem to sense whether they are loved (especially by the mother), or whether they are rejected. If parents are ambivalent about whether or not they want the child, the infant also seems to be able pick up on that. This love — or its absence — seems to equip the child with a healthy sense of his or her existence in the world or with a feeling of being a mistake. We have prayed for many adults whom the Lord has healed of this deep sense of rejection.

The late Dr. Frank Lake, a British Christian psychiatrist, wrote that, in his experience, the most dangerous time in our lives for developing a deep tendency towards psychosis is during our first three months in utero!

Now this is a deep mystery, for we know that the brain isn't formed in those early weeks of our lives. Therefore, the infant in those early weeks is riot yet able to receive thoughts or ideas, so it seems impossible for all this to happen.

One possibility, though, is that even before our minds are fashioned in utero — and forever afterwards — our hearts (our spirits) are able to know and experience love long before we can process ideas. If Jesus placed such an emphasis upon loving one another, and if receiving love is so important to our happiness, it makes sense to believe that our spirits (our hearts) can both give and receive love from the very beginning. (Recently, many scientists and psychologists have begun to think in these terms).

I personally believe that when there is an atmosphere of true Christian love in a meeting ("where two or three are gathered together in my name" — Matt. 18:20a), sick people begin to be healed even before anyone has a chance to pray for them. It's not just a matter of saying the words ("let's agree together on this prayer") but of people having heartfelt, sacrificial love for each other that ushers in a strong presence of Jesus—which in itself is healing. People don't even want to leave the room (or the church) when they feel his presence.

As I said in my article last month, our main desire should not be merely to receive the ministry gifts, such as the gift of healing, but to experience the fruit of the Spirit, such as love, joy, and peace. We /should not only desire the gifts demonstrating God's power, but we should yearn to be like Jesus: "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20a). Not only will love intuitively communicate itself to everyone, but it will also heal.

Love,
Francis and Judith
with Rachel and David

Francis MacNutt is a Founding Director and Executive Committee member of CHM.

Compiled by Anne Early
Nov/Dec 2003

Heidi Scanlan, who had suffered with Fibromyalgia for ten years, came to CHM last spring, was prayed for, and received healing. Here is what she told us: "I was driving down Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown (D.C.) when I saw a woman on the sidewalk who was walking the way I used to walk, obviously in pain and having a hard time putting one foot in front of the other. I pulled over, asked her how far she was going, and said, 'If you don't mind riding with a stranger, I would be happy to give you a ride.' The woman thanked Heidi, got into the car, and said, 'Yes, I am having a hard time walking. I have something you probably have never heard of, a debilitating disease called fibromyalgia.' Heidi said, 'Oh, I know. I had it for ten years, then I went to Christian Healing Ministries in Jacksonville and got healed. A friend who went with me received inner healing, and I was healed of my fibromyalgia. Where do you live?' When the woman replied that she lived about an hour's drive from Jacksonville, Heidi said, 'You don't have to live with all that pain any longer. Go to Christian Healing Ministries for prayer. I'm not completely healed; I have to take something for pain once in a while, but whereas I used to have to take four or five pills a day in order to function, now, praise God, I rarely take any medicine.' That meeting, I'm sure, was no coincidence; it was God working." (Heidi is an active young mother of two and the new director of ALPHA in Washington, D.C.)

Tina B. dropped by CHM to inquire about enrolling in the School of Healing Prayer Level^® I. She shared her own story of healing: "Several years ago I injured my back. When I was on the way to see a doctor and in extreme pain, my mother asked if I would not like to stop by Christian Healing Ministries for prayer. It was a Monday, the Day of Healing Prayer. I had injured my back on Friday and had been bent over in pain all weekend. I believed in prayer for healing, so I said yes'. I could hardly walk. We stopped, I received prayer, and my back was healed. I did not continue on to the doctor, and the pain did not return. I'm applying to take the school of healing prayer, because I believe that God healed me and now I want to be able to share in this ministry."

Reports from our mail box and, by email, from our prayer line:

An article from Rocky Mountain News. entitled "Cancer: Survival Rates Improving", was received in September. The article noted that ''periodically, there are miracles." According to the attached note, one of those "miracles" is the Tami for whom CHM intercessors have been praying for many months. The writer continued: "She continues to have CAT scans and MR l's to check the one small remaining tumor which has stayed the same or smaller for two years."

"Nine months ago we came under attack. Your prayer team has truly helped.

I renewed our prayer request every two months, so you have gone through all the stages of ridding us from this evil. The severe oppression was lifted immediately, just after you started to pray for us. Since then we have been led perfectly by the Holy Spirit toward the result we received on Friday Our pursuers gave up one by one, and the last one last Friday We want to thank you for helping us. We hope these words encourage you to continue to pray for those who ask .. "

''After having attended your 3–day prayer ministry, I have had much inner healing and am on my way to being fully healed, I believe, of FMS. I ask prayer for reducing the inflammation in my muscles and releasing of pain and water retention."

"Thank you and the CHM intercessory prayer group for prayers for my mother Jennifer. She has been restored to even better health than before, in body and spirit. When she was her very sickest she saw angels surrounding her bed and she felt the presence of God. She knew she was in good hands and was not afraid. I believe this is because of all the prayers sent up for her, and I believe those angels were real. The doctors now believe her to be cancer free — healed of cancer!!! I am so grateful for the scriptural prayer in Joy Lamb's book .... "

"My husband Kenneth underwent five–way bypass surgery at Shands Hospital in Gainesville, and was in Cardiac Intensive Care for three weeks. Doctors did not think he would make it. He was on oxygen 24 hours a day when he went there. Although he was much improved, his stamina and endurance were most limited. He could walk for only eight minutes on the treadmill without being out of breath even with lots of heart medication. He underwent a bi–ventricular pacemaker implementation process on April 1st of this year. He is now walking 40 minutes and is more like himself than he has been for years. Needless to say, having been given basically a death sentence by local doctors, he is a walking miracle. He gives all the credit to our Lord."

"I just wanted to write you all back and thank you for your prayers. I also wanted to let you know that my migraines are gone, praise the Lord. I had written you in June and asked you to pray, and the Lord took them away It was such a powerful answer to prayer, because I totally couldn't function with those headaches. The Lord just lifted them from me.

Messages left on our telephone prayer line:

"Tremendous praise and thanks for all your prayers that have helped heal a relationship with my daughter and myself. It's wonderful — absolutely wonderful!"

"A praise report for Meagan, for whom you have been praying. After three days in a coma, she has come out of it completely and is physically fine."

"Praise the Lord, O my soul ... who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your life with good things ....(Psalm 103:2–4)

(The Praise Reports may have been edited for readability.)