A small team of local Christians is regularly seeing miraculous healings
A homeless man miraculously had his sight restored after receiving prayer from a local evangelist in Brighton.
This is the latest in a series of healing miracles being seen through a local team of street evangelists from 11 churches who invite strangers to simply sit on a chair and receive prayer.
The ‘Prayerchair’ ministry has seen countless miracles and people deciding to become Christians since it began in 2007, according to its director, Michael Farkas.
The healing of the man’s sight happened when a Prayerchair team member, Clive Humphrys, was walking down St James Street, Brighton, in January 2023. He recognised Eddy, who had previously been healed, sitting with a friend outside a cafe. Eddy had received healing prayer some five years previously, after taunting Clive to pray for a companion suffering from hearing loss. Clive did – and the man heard again.
Surprised at the miracle, Eddy had invited Clive to pray for his own gym-related injury and was also healed.
“As soon as I prayed, he could see across the road”
Bowled over by these healings, Eddy had sporadically kept in touch with Clive and called him over to join them. Eddy introduced Clive to his friend Billy, a homeless man who was visiting Brighton from Essex to look for a job.
“Billy started talking about being visually impaired,” says Clive. “He said that he was legally blind and received government benefits.
“I asked him if I could pray for him. He said ‘Yes’ and was amazed at the results! Before I prayed for him, he could just about see the cafe menu close up. But as soon as I prayed, he could see the board in Morrison’s supermarket across the road and posters on the wall.
He was blown away by the experience, which I recorded on camera.”
In the video recording, Billy testifies that Clive had prayed for him in tongues, and also for him to be reborn and for the forgiveness of his sins.
“I could hardly see before,” Billy says. “I am registered blind with an eye condition called RP (Retinitis Pigmentosa) and it’s incurable. Minutes after being prayed for in tongues, my eyes are a million per cent better already. My head is clearer too and I feel that a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I am just so very grateful. Thank you so much.”
Prayerchair outreaches mainly take place on Saturdays, and Michael Farkas heads up the ministry after becoming involved in 2009. He says he is passionate about the ministry’s success in reaching troubled people who haven’t heard the good news of salvation or experienced the healing power of Jesus.
“We reach people on the streets and pray for healing for them, and introduce them to the love of Jesus. We offer a passive form of evangelism by inviting people for a blessing and asking what they need. “We have seen some incredible things. Our team rely on prophetic insight when we pray and sometimes God will give us messages or words for people and we share that with them. It can often startle them into understanding that there’s something God wants them to know.”
In 2019, there was a man with blisters the size of footballs on his legs, spotted by the Prayerchair team in Queen’s Road, Brighton. He was in a wheelchair and he couldn’t walk.
“It’s been extraordinary to feel the energy and presence that has taken away the pain in my ankle”
Michael said: “When he pulled up his trouser leg it was grotesque, there was open flesh. The man was on maximum medication and still in pain. He’d been in the wheelchair for two years and his girlfriend was pushing the wheelchair. We prayed for him and the next thing, the guy starts stamping the ground with his foot and saying, ‘What have you done? The pain has completely left my leg. It’s completely gone!’” Michael told him the love of Jesus was reaching his need and helped the man to stand up.
“We helped him to walk and he started to hobble a bit and took a few steps around. He was grinning from ear to ear and his girlfriend said she hadn’t seen him smile in two years. Then we shared the Gospel and he couldn’t wait to accept Jesus in his heart as his personal Saviour. It was remarkable – one of those ‘Wow!’ moments.”
Another miracle happened in 2021 through remote prayer. A woman approached the team in Brighton’s Queen’s Road and asked for prayer for her elderly mother who was sick in hospital. The team prayed and the following week the daughter returned.
Michael added: “She said her mum was better. In fact, the doctor said it was a remarkable recovery and she was discharged from hospital. The woman came back to share this with us because she felt the prayer to God had made a big difference.”
A chartered accountant by profession, Michael is Australian and has been married to his wife, Lyn, for 37 years. They moved to Brighton 23 years ago when they believed that they had a clear call from God to the south coast of England.
With the Prayerchair evangelistic ministry also now set up in Eastbourne and Hastings, Michael is assisted by team co-ordinators and wants to see prayer chairs in every city.
To join, contact Michael: email farkasmichael@gmail.com or visit www.prayerchair.org