A partially deaf man was cured after a church decided to focus on its healing ministry.
Matthew Wallhead, pictured above, had been diagnosed with an audio processing disorder, making him permanently deaf in his left ear.
But a youth service at Elim Lincoln church seven years ago would change his life.
Matthew recalls: “After being prayed for and worshipping, I woke up the next morning with a banging headache. It was strange because that never happened before.
“I went to the doctor, and they asked me why I wasn’t wearing my hearing aid.
“I said, ‘I feel like I can hear’. I could hear everything so clearly: what they were saying and explaining.”
Doctors were baffled.
“Lincoln County Hospital couldn’t describe what had happened. There was no explanation as to why I was healed so they referred me to a specialist hospital in Sheffield. They couldn’t explain why I could hear properly either and ran more tests. They came back normal and they couldn’t understand why, so they discharged me.”
Matthew does have an explanation, though.
“I have been healed by God’s power for the past seven years and my life has changed since then.
“Hearing the birds sing in the morning or when people talk to me makes me feel happy.
“Communicating with friends is a lot better compared to when I was deaf.
“I’ve been able to hear more, focus on my work and communicate a lot better with people. Every day reminds me of the night I got healed.”
The pastor at Matthew’s church, Darren Edwards, felt God encouraging him to look at increasing the number of healing miracles in the city, and a healing campaign was held in February.
The church is now working with the NHS on a drop-in scheme helping to improve mental health, and other church initiatives have been launched.
“One that is doing particularly well is our Night Light Café, which is a drop-in for people who are feeling overwhelmed emotionally and are at risk of a mental health crisis,” says Darren.
The church partners with several others locally, the NHS and a church charity which fund, administer and host the service. With a drop-in evening included, the service has been so successful that the NHS is now encouraging similar set-ups across the county.
A flourishing youth ministry has also been established, with 11 young people recently committing their lives to Jesus.
