Shoppers in Poole now get more than they bargained for whilst browsing in the High Street. Not only is the usual array of shops and cafes on offer – but also healing.

Every Saturday members of St Mary’s Longfleet put chairs outside Poole Methodist Church, offering to pray for shoppers.

The team say they have had some amazing results. Last weekend, 13 people asked for and received prayer on the chairs, including a man in his 40s who this week is no longer wearing his hearing aid after being prayed for last Saturday.

“Everything is a lot louder and it feels like everybody’s shouting at him,” said Karin Freshwater, who works in the church office at St Mary’s.

Over the last 18 months, around 250 shoppers have been prayed for on the High Street. The team have reported accounts of healing from arthritis, headaches, hip pain and even a lady who received the ‘all clear’ from cancer by her doctor after six months of prayer. “One heavily pregnant lady approached us asking for prayer for the baby to come as she was well overdue. As we sat her down on the chair she went into labour,” they told me.

Two training sessions for Healing on the Streets were recently held at St Mary’s, with members of other churches joining them. Some of the team were trained previously by a well known Christian called Mark Marx from Northern Ireland. Richard Langmead, Outreach Pastor at St Mary’s, was one of those trained in 2010 by Mark Marx.

“I was on the Isle of Wight with Mark last year and I saw a lady whose left leg was one and a half inches shorter than the right,” Richard said.

“She suffered with back pain and had a heel lift in her shoe. She put her legs out in front of her and it was obvious that one leg was shorter.

“In the space of three minutes, while Mark was praying for her, her leg grew in front of my eyes. There was no trickery, it actually happened. I knew before then that I wanted to pray for healing in Poole, but that amazing experience confirmed my desire to pray for those here.”

The team pray ‘in the name of Jesus’ but are happy to pray for anyone of any faith or none. “It does not matter if you believe or not,” Richard told me.

“We prayed for one lady who had pain behind her eye. She was not a Christian, but when we prayed for her it went instantly.”

Many shoppers just want to chat and share life experiences and the team are happy to just give their time and talk.

Richard said: “Anyone is welcome to come down and have a conversation with us.”

The team can be found outside Poole Methodist Church on Poole High Street every Saturday from 11am until 1pm.