New things are happening at Havertown United Methodist Church. A new merger with a new name, a new pastor with a new name, and a new ministry that draws from old but timeless spiritual traditions of prayer-based healing circles.
Havertown UMC, reborn from a merger of Union UMC and Hope UMC over a year ago, welcomed the Rev. Jacqueline Hines for its first cross-racial pastoral appointment last year. And now she has a new last name from her recent marriage to Tony Tilford. Rev. Tilford also inspired the congregation to try out a new ministry of healing circles in June.
“The healing circle is a combination of small-group ministry and healing ministry,” explained Deaconess Barbara Drake. “But it’s also a replacement for the church chat we had been having via Zoom that provided a connection for people, especially those feeling lonely, during the pandemic time of church closures.”
The first-time, experimental effort—offered at three gatherings—went well, she reported. “We had attendance of seven at lunchtime, five at supper, and six on Zoom that evening—a total of 11 people participating; and some of us attended all three sessions.”
“Jacqueline has been encouraging us to try new things, including sharing ‘God Moments’ in worship, and preparing a Lenten devotional booklet with meditations written by members of the congregation,” said Drake, who coordinated the effort. To supplement writings contributed by current members, she added others from booklets that the former Union Methodist Church prepared from 1963 to 1981, which included some fondly remembered voices from the past.
Drake then moved Rev. Tilford’s idea for healing circles into action.
“The lunch and supper sessions began with 30 minutes of eating and sharing fellowship together, while the evening session on Zoom just started with the program, which lasted about an hour,” she reported. Drake used lyrics of a healing hymn spoken as a litany (“When Jesus the Healer Passed Through Galilee”), followed by Scripture, James 5:13-16.
She shared learnings from her participation in EPA’s Spiritual Healing Committee of the late 1970s, including portions of two books that group used in its work: Healing by Francis MacNutt and God’s Healing Community by Frank B. Stanger, which introduced her to healing ministries. She highlighted references to “God’s will for total, abundant health for all; the many ways that God heals through medical personnel, medicinal plants, gifted healers, prayer, touch, and music; the steps of the healing process; and the healing power of God that flows through prayers which are sincere, positive, God-oriented, specific, and full of eager expectancy.”
The groups talked about the use of scripture in prayers and also hymns like “He Touched Me.” And they shared stories of people who experienced healing as a result of prayer.
The in-person gatherings certainly had physical advantages of being able to touch and speak to one another closely and listen to a CD of healing harp music, which doesn’t translate well on Zoom. “And we sat in a circle with a chair in the middle for the one being prayed for,” said Drake. “But the group on Zoom was more comfortable praying for many different needs.”
Drake, who is a Parish Nurse, said the goal is to hold healing circles quarterly this year. She will plan them with Tilford, with help from the pastor’s husband, a retired Baptist minister and former hospice chaplain who has helped create booklets on grieving. The next healing circles gathering will happen Sept. 21, followed by a Blue Christmas healing circle on Dec. 21.