Keeping your focus

Things without focus drifttowards complexity. This is one reason we safeguard the value of simplicity as we minister on the streets.

The Healing on the Streets model is a simple, but beautiful way, to reach out to the lost and hurting on the streets of your town or city. It enables you to connect with your community every week, powerfully expressing God’s love in the market place, whatever the weather.

Six chairs are spaced out in a row. There's a tall flagpole banner, which simply reads "HEALING" on a modern eye catching design. There are attractive, quality handouts, where the graphics match the banner. The leaflets have information on who we are, where we meet, with an invitation for the sick to be healed today. In the background we have gentle, mellow, contemporary music, playing from a small, but powerful PA, resting on a tall heavy duty stand. Each track has been carefully chosen for the streets to help people connect with God, and to encourage an increasing sense of his drawing presence.

This gentle ministry works within a loving, and compassionate environment, full of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. It is marked by a true sense of peace. Amongst the hustle and bustle of busy shoppers, walks the Prince of Peace. Stillness falls; passers-by begin to slow and stop, as the presence of God draws their hearts… and we feel like we are living the text "through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him."

We want shoppers and passers-by, to experience, and enter into His presence. They are drawn by the Holy Spirit. Our total reliance is on the Holy Spirit, we can do nothing without Him. He is our partner on the streets.

We don't preach, we don't use religous jargon, and we don't chase after anyone. The streets are full of broken, hurting people who need Jesus. We minister with gentleness, and sensitivity.

We simply invite people to sit on chairs so we can pray for them. Some of the team then minister to anyone who takes a seat, while others continually hand out flyers to passers by, and engage in conversation as the opportunity arises. Once we have prayed for people, we give them an envelope containing a letter, a "Why Jesus?" booklet, and an invite to one of our services. Again the letter is simple, explaining who we are, and how they can pursue God further. In this way, we seek to create stepping stones for people to come to Jesus, and along the way they are healed.


Its important to recognize that we don't view the model as an extension, an add-on, or just another church program. It is an integral facet of a healthy, outward focused church; which means that the church, lives, and breathes reaching the lost. We are journeying together to become a missional community. Therefore, we prune anything that doesn't have its focus on the lost.

When a person we've prayed for on a Saturday, turns up at church on Sunday, I am confident that the atmosphere will be buzzing with life, friendly, warm, and accommodating. There isn't a look of shock or surprise when a guest comes through our doors, because we have prepared for them to come.

Because of the simplicity of this model, there may be a temptation to change or complicate it. This can happen for a number of reasons, discouragement, distractions, not seeing immediate results, or the bigger picture. I would encourage you to keep to the model with dogged determination. It may not be apparent at first, but the impact you will make in your community, and further afield is enormous. You have to plough the ground and sow the seed. A harvest is sure to come.

In the next article we are going to highlight some basic pointers that can help you remain focused as you hit the streets.