Disability Ministry at St. Andrews

Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a fascinating story.

And it’s fascinating; it really is. And it starts with this unusual couple that I met not long ago, down at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach. Now it’s a church in a well-to-do area: investors, successful business people, folks who own sailboats. Anyway, this couple I met were very handsome. Both were tall, gray hair, good-looking tans, and the husband, (I’ll call him Roger) he was in a blue blazer, very Ivy League looking.

Well when we began talking, I learned that Roger and his wife were the leaders of the disability ministry at St. Andrews. I was slightly taken aback. I guess they just didn’t “look the part.” You know what I mean?  When I asked this couple how they got into leading the Special Needs department at church, this was the story they shared. Apparently, several years ago, a young man named Sammy, with an obvious mental disability, began attending St. Andrews. I gather he did not have a family; he was single. And at first, Sammy seemed to fit right in the young adults group. However, after a few months, some of the young people began complaining about this guy. It seemed that Sammy was making inappropriate comments and even advances to the young women. He was a little disruptive, a little unruly.

Finally, a few parents began to complain, and those complaints were brought to the attention of the elder board on which Roger served. In fact, Roger was given the responsibility of telling this mentally disabled guy that he could no longer come to church. The next week, Roger met with this man, with a mental disorder, to tell him he would not be permitted to attend church anymore. But when the time came to actually say those words, Roger just couldn’t do it. He just couldn’t tell Sammy to stay away from church. He couldn’t say, “You don’t belong here; this place is not for you.” So Roger said to me, “Joni, that’s when our disability ministry started here at St. Andrews. What’s more, I knew it had to start with me. And so I took this young man, with his mental disorder, through a time of counseling: laying down the guidelines about appropriate behavior toward women and his peers. I told Sammy there were certain parameters and certain expectations, a certain kind of conduct that we had to expect of him; that there would be discipline if he couldn’t abide by certain social standards. And so, with that our disability ministry was given birth. That young man was able to rise to the occasion.”

Now here’s the lesson that Roger taught, and he taught it to not only the elder board but the whole church. Okay, here it comes; here is the whole point: Disability ministry is not a neat and tidy thing. It’s a lot like the love of God that He showed on the cross. The cross was messy and muddled and anything but tidy. It was a place of pain, embarrassment, and great sacrifice. Roger seemed to instinctively know this, and it’s what gave him the courage to reach out and help heal Sammy. True, disability ministry often begins in a church through the most unusual and even difficult and awkward circumstances. But thank the Lord that Roger remembered Matthew Chapter 9 where Jesus said that, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” Oh friend, that’s what a church does; it does the messy, untidy thing when it comes to disabilities. And God absolutely loves His church for it! So, follow Roger’s example. Do the messy, untidy thing, and start a disability ministry in your church. And if you need ideas, just connect with us at joniandfriends.org. God bless you today and thanks for listening to Joni and Friends.

© Joni and Friends