Lausanne World Pulse – Christ’s Compassion for “The Least” and People with Disabilities
By Joni Eareckson Tada
September 2007
Church Models
There are many ways for a church to show the compassion of Jesus Christ to disabled people in their village or city. The following are a few models I would suggest:
- Build-a-Ramp Day. Make your church ready to welcome wheelchair users by asking skilled workers in your congregation to build a ramp or widen doorways. They may wonder why they are doing this, since no one with a wheelchair comes to church. Explain in a short Bible study how God wants us to prepare a place for his people. Use the passage in Luke 14.
- Mothers’ Day Out. Mothers of disabled children rarely get a break. Design a two-hour Saturday morning program held once a month for mothers of special needs kids. Provide a sitting service for the disabled child while mom enjoys fellowship with other women at the church doing sewing activities, getting her hair styled, filing fingernails, receiving a pedicure, swapping recipes, etc. Make sure to provide volunteers who will organize refreshments and guide the activities. A day of “pampering” like this underscores the care and compassion of God as demonstrated through loving Christians. Make sure to give the gospel message at the close of the morning session.
- Foot Washing Service. In many developing nations, disabled people do not have mobility equipment, but must “crawl” on their hands and knees. These people “walk” using flip-flops or slippers on their hands, while supporting their weight with their knees. Your church can design a community outreach to these disabled people by holding a foot washing service (involving feet, legs and knees). During the service, give a message from John 13:5-14. Remember to (1) use volunteers who have a background in nursing or working with disabled people and (2) administer basic first aid to any parts of a disabled person’s limbs which have become sore or bruised. Complete the foot washing with lotion. Give small gifts to the disabled people and make certain to welcome them back for other church services.
Do you recall the stories I mentioned in the beginning of this article? I earnestly pray that the Church in South America will regularly visit women with cerebral palsy in those back bedrooms. God can call you to do the same in your ministry! In Africa, God has called a pastor to rescue disabled children from the river banks and give them hope, help and a home. God can call you to do the same in your ministry! In Western nations, God has called a Sunday school teacher to tell mothers that their disabled unborn child is by God’s design. God can call you to do the same in your ministry! In Asia, God has called an elder to give the gospel truth to the slum dweller with polio who feels he must be reincarnated. God can call you to do the same in your ministry!
“Go out, find the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame and bring them in.” It is what Jesus Christ would want you to do.
For more information on how you and your church can share the love of Jesus Christ with disabled people in your community, contact Dr. Chip Kingery, international director of Joni and Friends International Disability Center, at [email protected] or you can write us at P.O. Box 3333, Agoura Hills, California, USA 91376.
Endnotes
1. World Health Organization. Declining Resources for Rehabilitation: A Matter of Concern. 30 January 1996.
2. Hof, Henry, Ralf Hotchkiss and Peter Praelzer. 1993. “Building Wheelchairs, Creating Opportunities.” Technology and Disability, International Perspectives. 2(2).
3. Personal conversation with Diana Mood, director of Global Transformation Network.