Sharing the Gospel of Christ Through Our Wheels for the World Program
For over 21 years, Joni and Friends has been serving the people of China and sharing the Gospel of Christ through our Wheels for the World outreach program. Even during the height of COVID-19, we were able to serve and support families living with disability in China through our faithful in-country partners.
Despite the increased tightening of restrictions governing travel and foreign organizations in China due to the global pandemic, Joni and Friends did not waver in our commitment and biblical commission to spread the Gospel in China and to “go out quickly…and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame…so that [God’s] house will be full.” (Luke 14:21-23)
Coronavirus tried to stop our Wheels for the World outreach in China, but our God is bigger than COVID-19!
Hope was restored in three Chinese cities that are 220 miles apart. Seven wheelchair distribution events brought help and hope to 225 people living with disability, and their lives will be forever changed by the love of God they experienced, the wheelchairs they received, and the good news that was deposited in their hearts!
And not only did special needs families in China benefit from their new wheelchairs and the good news of Jesus, local church members received extensive training so they can properly adapt and modify wheelchairs in the future. Now, a whole volunteer team knows how to therapeutically seat children, teens, and adults appropriately in their new chairs. In this way, ministry has been multiplied and will continue even after our Joni and Friends teams traveled back home.
Chinese physical therapists and occupational therapists joined us in training people from local churches and from our partnering organizations. And part of the training was also teaching them how to evangelize and share the Gospel.
Baile, who has cerebral palsy, received a wheelchair and the Joni book during our recent Wheels for the World event in China. His mother had isolated herself, withdrawing from all social life after Baile was born. She even had to quit her job in order to take care of him.
With painful transparency she shared, “It is exhausting. Every day there are different challenges.” Though his mother explained that taking care of Baile’s daily needs is incredibly demanding, she was overwhelmed with gratitude by the gift of his wheelchair.
“It is amazing that Baile can go to school now! His classmates will not leave him behind! Baile has dreams of moving around freely, and with this wheelchair he can do that!”
And little Baile proudly held up his sign declaring, “Finally, it’s my turn to have a new life with a wheelchair!”
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
2 Corinthians 5:17
Our In-Country Coordinator summed up these outreach events so well, “In the days to come, I hope each wheelchair will be a seed planted in the hearts of wheelchair recipients, and that Joni’s book will water it like a sweet spring. Let them receive this wonderful Gospel, know the Lord, understand him, know what he has done for us, and accept him and embrace him, living bravely in his arms!”
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God is doing incredible things in Pennsylvania. Your generous support ensures that more and more families living under the strain of disability can experience the miraculous power of Jesus!
