Ever had a member of your congregation ask you for help because something ‘strange’ or ‘supernatural’ is happening in their home? Ever thought, 'Help! Not sure how to deal with this – where was this in my training?' You are not alone. Year-on-year, across the denominations, churches are seeing sharp rises in the number of people requesting deliverance ministry or 'exorcism'. At the same time, there are changes in UK law, both civil and criminal, which could have implications for this area. The Anglican Church long ago decided to set up a body of expertise to help train, inform and support their ministers. We are now exploring and developing a similar initiative.

At the start of 2018, NWBA launched a pilot project designed to help ministers (including trainees) in the North West. Its aim is to research, reflect, resource and support Baptist ministers in the safe practice of deliverance ministry. It consists of a group of Baptist ministers and medical professionals who can scratch their heads when you are scratching yours; three of whom have been trained to the same standard as Anglican Diocesan DM advisors, and two of whom sit on an Anglican DM panel. The group has a number of external experts it can refer to, including a link worker to the Christian Deliverance Study Group – the body which advises the Church of England.

So if someone shares with you that they are seeing strange creatures in the night and you're not sure if this is a hoax, mental illness, too many late-night horror shows or something more sinister, feel free to contact the group. They can give you a listening ear, offer advice, case collaboration, explain the law around deliverance ministry and pray for you before, during and after a ministerial encounter. We also need to hear from ministers about what they are seeing, to develop our research base, and about what they feel they need from us.

You can contact the service by emailing Matt Tricker - riverwildrev@gmail.com

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