The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them… But for Adam[f] no suitable helper was found.
Genesis 2:18-20
God’s words indicates we are wired to be with others. However, in contemporary society the opposite is happening simply because we are living a transitional lifestyle which has the net effect of keeping us isolated from those around us: Overuse of a smart phones, working from home, fear and mistrust in an increasingly unstable world, and a growing tendency to avoid what is not understood or can’t immediately be fixed. Furthermore, UK government statistics show that 24% of the population identifies as having a disability, of which 61% are reported to be chronically lonely. Thus it is no surprise to me that in 40 years I have been a Christian I have often found myself being the only person with a visible disability in most of the church communities I’ve been a part of. What these statistics, and my experience, suggest is that something isn’t working in our missional and church communities to draw in nearly a quarter of the UK’s population to a place where they can experience wholeness, acceptance and contribute to something greater than themselves.
Scripture is built on God’s desire to reach the lonely and isolated by all possible means so that everyone gets to experience the love of God and contribute to His Kingdom. A daunting task, but not impossible if we are following His lead and responding to disability as He did: Radically and without prejudice. He paid little attention to the cultural norms and religious attitudes at the time. Instead He focused on the person in front of Him and provided what was needed.
As we reach the midpoint of this Kingdom Storyteller series we will be moving on to take a closer look at what advice Scripture gives to Christian communities to draw out from its margins disabled believers and equip them to speak boldly about Jesus as well as providing space for them to exercise their unique gifts. In doing so, communities will be helping to create disciple-makers who can not only encourage other disabled believers to step out in faith, but also give valuable insights for churches and missional communities on what they can do to draw in ‘the Missing’.
REFLECT…
PRAY…
& STEP OUT
Do you think loneliness or isolation were experiences that Jesus knew as a man?
When, or in what circumstances where these?
That we will be alert to those around us who may be experiencing loneliness in whatever form… even amid the crowd of our own communities.
In the run up to Disability Awareness Sunday on 22 Sept check out the resources and stories by disabled people already working in Ministry.