Our Tips for Hosting a Healing Service During COVID-19
“Can you host a healing service with prayer teams while still abiding by the CDC health guidelines?” The answer is a resounding “YES!”
First, I want to give a big, special THANK YOU! to all of our volunteers and friends who joined us at this month’s Night of Healing!
Wednesday marked the first day that Mary Immaculate was able to host our monthly healing service live, and in person. Because of COVID-19 precautions, a number of changes were made to our prayer teams. Teams met supplicants divided by plastic sheets, crews sanitized chairs between sessions, volunteers handed out individual tissue packets, and long lines were discarded in favor of sign-ups for time slots. We were so overwhelmed by the response from our community that there were times we became worried that our facility would hit capacity and we’d have to turn people away!
You may be wondering, “Can you host a healing service with prayer teams while still abiding by the CDC health guidelines?” The answer is a resounding “YES!” Let us show you!
Adoration
An important part of the night is public adoration with praise and worship music playing for guests to meditate and sing-a-long with. We encouraged all guests to wear masks, sit 6ft apart, and we blocked off every other pew.
Prayer Teams
Our prayer teams came out in full force too! For teams located in the sanctuary, we had them wear masks and sit behind plastic screens. Because Plexiglas was cost prohibitive and not easily stored, we purchased rolling garment racks, hooks, and plastic shower curtains from Amazon.com.
To overcome the challenge of a waiting line, we printed a series of cards with time slots on them and kept them at the hospitality table. When a person wanted prayer, they could simply walk to the table, pick up a time slot, and sit down at their pew. When it was there turn to come for prayer, they would walk to a prayer team waiting area and would be escorted to an available team. We set our time cards in 15 minute increments to allow for enough time to both prayer with the supplicant, have the team make debrief notes, and sanitize the area before the next supplicant arrived. Our prayer team members were comprised of family members (spouses, parents & children, etc).
We also handed out individual tissue packets (available here) to supplicants prior to walking to their team.
All in all, it was an amazing event! We are so excited to be back in the community, serving our local parish. If you’re in the area, please visit us on the 2nd Wednesday of the month for Adoration, Prayer Teams, and Confession!
