"If you are having trouble, you should pray. And if you are feeling good, you should sing praises. If you are sick, ask the church leaders to come and pray for you. Ask them to put olive oil on you in the name of the Lord. If you have faith when you pray for sick people, they will get well. The Lord will heal them and if they have sinned, they will be forgiven." James 5: 13-15

Everyone needs healing at some point. It could be for anything from physical or mental illness to problems with family, friends or an employer.

This Christian healing ministry is not new. It has been around since Jesus told his disciples to minister to others.

St. Matthew's offers healing through prayer as part of its worship. During the 10 a.m. Sunday service, participants in the service are invited to the chapel to pray with a healing team. But it's not the team that provides the healing.

"God is the only healer," says Canon Pat Johnston. "And we are, at best, agents of his healing."

The idea is that the team - usually two people - act as channels for God's healing power by praying with the person who requests it.

"It's not what I want or you want, but that God's will might be accomplished through us," says Pat, in an interview at her sunny church office. This sometimes means accepting death as a possibility in the case of physical illness. "I've prayed with people younger than I am in hospital," says Pat. "I've prayed for healing and watched them die."

She says it can sometimes take months after the prayer for the person to realize that they experienced something of God's hand at the time, or that they learned to cope with an illness.

"I like people to be cautious," says Pat, as her Golden Retriever lies patiently at her feet. "Expect to be healed but receive whatever God gives. Maybe if it doesn't immediately appear to be healing, in time you will understand it as healing."

Having said that, Pat says sometimes people do experience a dramatic healing at the time of prayer. She has heard that some who have received healing prayer have experienced immediate relief. And in some cases, the results have surprised doctors.

Pat herself has been on the receiving end of a healing prayer, and, although she declined to give details, she says that she felt God heard the prayer and provided healing.

"Those who do avail themselves of [the healing ministry], find that their lives are better for it," she says.

All are welcome to request healing prayers during the 10 a.m. service each Sunday. These prayers are said in confidence.

Lucianne Poole is a member of the healing team.  This article appeared in the Glebe Report.