I began reading a book last week entitled Accessible Church by Sandra Peoples. It probably it not what you are thinking. It is not a book about the church being more open and “freer” in what they teach and do. The subtitle of the book is A Gospel-Centered Vision for Including People with Disabilities and Their Families. A month or so ago I read and posted about reading another book similar to this one called Unbroken Faith by Diane Dokko Kim. Mrs. Kim’s son was diagnosed with severe autism and it is more of a devotional journey as she made her way through life with her oldest son. While I have just started Mrs. Peoples’ book, I can already tell it is different.
Why have I started reading and researching the church’s response to special needs children? Because like most churches, we have several children (no adults yet) who are special needs. I have two goals in my reading:
- Understand more since my wife have not had to face this
- Ask myself the question: what can the church do?
I actually wrote about this in my last post (here). But I want to elaborate a bit more. It is easy and typical to feel uneasy about autistic, Down’s, hearing impaired, ADHD and others. But it is not lost on me what the church’s response should be. Here is why: Consider for a moment an incident in the life of Jesus in Mark 2:1-2. It is the story of the paralytic and his four friends who lowered him through the roof because they couldn’t get inside through the front door. It doesn’t tell us when he was paralyzed-from birth, from an accident, or from an untreatable illness. The short story is they lowered him through the roof, Jesus marveled at their faith and forgave this man’s sins, had an exchange with the religious leaders, then healed the man.
Long and short of it? We are all special needs people.
Just like the paralytic man could not save himself, neither can we. We all suffer from a universal disease. It is called S.I.N. Only in Christ can we find the healing from that disease. “But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!).” Eph. 2:4-5 (NLT)
That is the good news! Special needs people loved and wanted by a Savior who was willing to die to make it real.
Absolutely, Bill! We are all special needs children and need the love of the Lord to be whole. I’m so glad you’re reading these books and sharing your thoughts with us on this subject.
Blessings!
Thanks so much for the encouragement Martha.
We are all special needs children, we have a Father who understands and knows what each one of us needs. It is easy when you do not understand, someone else’s circumstances to try and avoid them, but as christians we need to reach out to them and let them know we love them right where they are at. It is amazing what God teaches us, when we open our hearts and love someone whose footsteps we are uncomfortable walking in. God uses every moment, every action to shape and mold us, when we open our hearts for that change, God works will never disappoint.
I like what you say Gail about having different footsteps we are uncomfortable walking in. Very insightful and good comment. Thanks.