I recently saw an advertisement by a conversion therapist Dan Hitz to attend an “inner healing prayer” class. Hitz writes (emphasis mine).

Inner healing prayer is a technique where a peer ministry provider can help someone who is hurting, understand the roots of his/her stronghold and receive healing and resolution through Jesus Christ. Inner healing prayer, also known as prayer ministry, helps broken people overcome strongholds to live the lives Jesus designed them to live.

Sidenote: I am disappointed that Dan still uses his professional credentials to create harmful dynamics. He should know better by now.

When people are in pain, they will seek comfort in their faith and benefit from a listening ear from friends. And to be clear, prayer, in and of itself, can be a form of personal support that will help in big ways. However, learning to facilitate “inner healing prayer” is risky. The “peers” taking this class to root out “strongholds” will be released feeling good about themselves while carrying bombs into a minefield.

Many Christians will choose inner healing prayer groups over proper licensed professional counseling in a heartbeat. They believe that Jesus will meet them there in a way He wouldn’t out in the secular world. So the pressure is on to get down deep to find the roots of assumed “brokenness.” Unfortunately, that highly pressurized approach dramatically increases opportunities to rip open deep psychological problems that “peers” are not equipped or qualified to handle.

In other words, legitimate dysfunction may only be the surface “symptom,” The person in distress doesn’t even realize what lies underneath.

Instead of inner healing, these inner healing prayer facilitators could create new wounds or unlock something far beyond their ability to handle, causing more harm to an already tough situation.

For many years I left inner healing prayer meetings thinking I felt a tremendous amount of peace and a need to be silent in that peace. The truth is I walked out of those meetings with my PTSD triggered. I wasn’t feeling at peace. I felt numb and just wanted to find comfort food to binge and purge (episodic bulimia I never told anyone about) and sleep (depression).

Since I am a person of faith, I will speak from that point of view. God met me during an EMDR session with a secular therapist more powerfully than any conjured-up wounds during a peer-led healing prayer session. I believe the Spirit used the therapist and EMDR to unlock something that otherwise would not have been. The result? It completely changed my life for the better. However, at the moment, It took a professional therapist to pull me back into reality and help me process what I had just experienced. He had to repeatedly call my name to snap me out of the experience. I cringe at the thought of what came up in that session coming up in any other way.

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The last Living Waters group I ran while heading an exgay group in the Dallas area had this dynamic happen with one of our participants, but we were in no way prepared for her very strong negative response. I never saw her (in person) again. She did find professional counseling and is doing well today, but that “inner healing” prayer was NOT a good experience for her and drove her from the church. I did have the opportunity to apologize to her. She graciously accepted and was very kind to me, but I will never forget her wailing while running out of the church to never return.

I don’t blame her. I never led another “healing prayer” session like that again. Have I prayed with people? Of course. But never with the intent of rooting out “strongholds” and then trying to manipulate God to show up to fix the mess we just created or ignorantly unearthed.

I believe the Divine can and will meet those seeking answers anywhere. At least in a professional counselor’s office, the hurting soul is in good hands if something profound comes up for resolution. Unfortunately, most inner healing prayer is wrapped up in shallow platitudes, idealism, and the subjective “interpretation” of the facilitators. This distracts participants from the opportunity to understand any underlying issues.

I am always honored when someone asks me to pray for them. I always will. But I also know what I don’t know (a lot!) and won’t hesitate to suggest someone find professional help if it may help them. Doesn’t negate the prayer in any way. The two can complement each other.