Praying Wellness
Two men stand on the street corner just across Corewell Health Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They watch passerby faces for a response that might indicate a sense of openness.
“You can tell,” Peyton Remick says. Remick, is an elder-in-training at Corner Bible Church in Allegan, Michigan. “They make eye contact. Maybe even smile. Then there are those who won’t look at you. They might cross the street to avoid you. And, yeah, there are those who flip you the middle finger.”
He chuckles.
This Prayer Outreach Event was Remick’s brainchild, the first of its kind organized by the Corner Bible Church. It is an offering of a prayer to anyone who wishes to pray with church members. In invitation, Remick wears a baseball cap and a black t-shirt that reads: “How can I pray for you?”
Standing alongside Remick is Jim Augustine, pastor of outreach. He takes a step toward a young couple in obvious distress. They have just emerged from the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, alongside Butterworth Hospital on the Corewell Health campus. Augustine chats with them, quickly taking in that they have a young son in the hospital. All three bow their heads and quietly pray for healing.
Seeing People as Souls and Glorifying the Lord in Everyday Life
The idea for the Prayer Outreach Event came to Remick in the summer of 2024. “We see people as souls,” he says. “We want to be ambassadors for Christ. The idea came to me as I looked for a way to glorify the Lord in everyday life. I wanted to pray with people, pray with strangers in a nonconfrontational way and promote the love of Christ.”
He clarifies that this is different from other forms of Christian outreach. “You often see evangelizing on a microphone and yelling at people,” he explains. “That’s not what I wanted to do.”
The idea to pray with people on the hospital campus itself came to Remick through prayer. He and Augustine organized three training sessions, inviting church members to attend and discuss how to bring about the event and how to approach people in a manner that was comfortable for all. They talked to attendees about the importance of approaching people in an open manner.
“We aren’t here to force anybody,” Remick adds. “Prayer is an invitation to personal relationship with God. Christ’s love for us drives us to reach out to others. I’ve been drawn to teach, to tend to people’s spiritual side.”
“We don’t force that door open,” Augustine agrees. “Prayer is about connecting and listening to the heart need of the people we talk to. Our secondary purpose in doing this was to show our church members that it is not as hard to talk to people as you might think. Even introverts can do this. Regular church life doesn’t always give you the opportunity to talk to others out in the world.”
Remick nods in agreement. “Moses was shy about talking to people, too, but God told him, ‘I’ll give you the words.’”
Peace, the men say, is the purpose. The outreach event is meant to bring peace to those who may be troubled or feel anxious about either their own health or that of loved ones. Shared prayer is the vehicle.
While the tendency is to become insular in our church membership, Augustine points out, it is when we extend ourselves beyond our church community, out of our comfort zone, to connect with others that we are strengthened in our own faith. It is what Christ expects from us, he says, and what we are expected to do and to do so without judgement.
During the training sessions, they bring up possible issues that might arise. What to do if someone resists or may even become hostile. What to do if someone wishes to learn more. What to do if someone holds another faith.
“We realized that we might even encounter hatred,” Remick says. “But Jesus warns us that the world may hate you for your faith. Be prepared for that. But if someone wants to learn more, we have contacted nearby churches in Grand Rapids about sharing their information since our own church is pretty distant from Grand Rapids. We wanted other pastors to be aware of what we are doing. We’ve made a list of churches to pass out.”
For those who resist, Augustine says, “have empathy. Pray for them as they walk away. There are always those unseen hearts that may reflect and be moved later.”
Peaceful Prayer in Action
What does this peaceful, spiritually grounded outreach effort look like in action?
Remick and Augustine set out their table on the street corner across from the hospital on a sunny Saturday in April 2025. It is 10 a.m. Throughout the day, other church members will come to help. Some arrive as individuals, others bring their families with children ready to participate. The two men remain into the evening.
“Hello!” Remick smiles at a passing couple. When the expressions of the couple indicate wariness, he adds, “Not selling anything!” The wary expressions melt into smiles.
Meanwhile, Augustine walks the sidewalk and rounds the corner. He finds a young man sitting on a bench, deep in thought.
“What’s up?” he says. He takes a seat beside the young man, and the two fall into conversation. As they talk, Augustine learns that the young man is about to graduate from the community college adjacent to the hospital. The future stretches out for him as a big blank space, waiting to be filled. He is trepidatious and doubtful, unsure how to approach that boundless time ahead.
“And so we prayed for guidance,” Augustine says. Answers, the pastor assured him, would come. One must only be open to hearing them.
Back on the street corner, a woman walks quickly by but then slows as her eyes travel over the words on the t-shirt Remick wears. An offer of prayer? She is open to it. In conversation, Remick learns that Krystal is both a cancer patient and a hospital employee. Yet her prayer request is not for herself.
“A friend of mine,” she explains. “She is an Afghan refugee, and with all the trouble going on now with immigration and ICE, she is terrified that she will be arrested and deported. She has gone into hiding.” The men join the woman in prayer for her Afghan friend’s safety, offering a second prayer for her own cancer treatment.
Daniel comes up next. Initially, he passes by the church members but then turns and returns to them. He provides no detail, only saying he has visited the hospital for health issues. Standing in a circle, the group surrounds the man and prays for him. He takes a deep breath as the prayer concludes, says “Jesus is good,” and walks on with a nod of gratitude.
Showing Peace and Love By Conversing With Our Creator
Remick reflects on the prayer outreach experience: “As far as the prayer goes, for us it is the idea to show people peace and love that only the Miracle Worker can give. Things happen in the world, and I don’t have any power to stop it from raining. I don’t have any power to stop cancer or to stop a bus hitting you on the way home from work. But I do believe there is a God who can. For me, prayer is an invitation to conversate with our Creator.”
“I hear people say God no longer works miracles,” Augustine says. “And I say baloney. Anytime someone comes to faith, it is a miracle.
Even an unbeliever, if they pray with us, that is a step toward faith for them, and that’s a miracle. All of us are on that continuum, whether we have accepted Christ or are unbelievers. Any interaction I can have with others is to be a part of that journey toward faith. If God chooses to heal someone that we have prayed over, that’s awesome. But to me, that’s not the main goal. That’s a fringe benefit. Our hope and our prayer are that through these interactions we have brought people closer to their faith.”
According to the Journal of Religion and Health, while scientific studies have not shown a conclusive healing effect of prayer on physical health, there are indications that prayer does bring comfort both to those who pray and those who are the recipients of prayer.
Hard-Wired to Connect
For the members of Corner Bible Church, the peace of wellness has already begun. With each instance of shared prayer, both the church member and the person with whom they prayed show visible signs of released stress. Tension in facial expressions relax, shoulders drop, hands unclench, pace slows. Smiles appear as people pause to thank the church members for the prayer. It is a simple experience of sharing one’s fears, worries, and grief, and in that moment, lessening the power they have over someone’s situation.
“We are hard-wired to connect to each other, and we are also hard-wired to connect deeply with ourselves,” says Vivek Murthy, former United States Surgeon General. When we connect, we are renewed in spirit and develop our capacity for empathy — and that heals.
By Zinta Aistars